How can you get your company to change – to innovate? What will motivate employees?

Sam Palmisano, chairman and chief executive of IBM, recently posed a similar set of questions.

If employees want more control over decision-making, then they have to accept greater levels of responsibility, accountability and ownership of the consequences of their decisions. Management has to provide the tools, the mechanisms, the funding … and the individual has to make use of them.

Stefan Stern’s analysis of IBM, GE and others turning themselves upside down in order to innovate is clearly becoming a new fad in many sectors and countries. Yesterday, I spoke to one leading UK based consultant ,who described his discussion with two large government ministries that are embarking on similar programmes. The politicians are demanding that they find a new way to provide better services for the public.

Here in Israel, I have previously referred to QMarkets, whose software is designed for allow corporates to engage their employees. In turn, they are offered channels to promote their own ideas on behalf of the company culture. Net result – increased revenues, motivation flows, smiles on the faces of all concerned.

The same subject came up in my conversation with Paula Stern, CEO of WritePoint, a leading supplier of technical writing services to the Israeli hightech industry. More and more, the writer is expected to find efficient and simpler ways to communicate the same messages. Their industry is being forced to change.

The exit from the global recession is reiterating a very old lesson to many companies from all over the world. If you stay still, you will soon be overtaken. Quite often, the way forward lies in the strength of existing human resources. Learn to find a way to harness that strength.