Intellectual Capital

Warren Bennis, the founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, believes that organizations don’t realize that they possess a vast source of untapped knowledge, what he refers to as “intellectual capital”. If even a fraction of the organization’s employees contributed their knowledge to creating solutions and/or growth potential, an organization’s overall results would skyrocket! Unfortunately, with the current overwhelming lack of employee engagement, studies are showing that employees are frequently griping that nobody listens to them.

To increase growth and employee engagement, take a hard, long look at the way managers are handling employee input. With today’s world being technology driven, “knowledge workers” need to be retained and challenged. When you continuously marginalize creative thinking within an organization, morale suffers greatly. Even the most highly motivated employees will eventually stop sharing their ideas. This then leads to turnover and a host of other avoidable problems.

A good leader should acknowledge the contributions of team on a routine basis, because as Warren Bennis said, “Leadership is the key to realizing the full potential of intellectual capital.” Get creative with recognition and it won’t be long before you will be swimming in intellectual capital.

How do you add value to your organization?