The original meaning of innovation refers to creating unprecedented things and ideas before others in all fields of human material civilization and spiritual civilization, thus promoting the development of human civilization. Innovation ability is a kind of human capital, which refers to a person's ability to generate new ideas and creatively solve problems. In modern enterprises, the technological innovation of enterprises can not be separated from the vast number of R&D personnel. The growth of direct economic benefits of enterprises, the improvement of marketing ability and the enhancement of product manufacturing ability all depend on the innovative activities of R&D personnel to a certain extent. The innovation ability of R&D personnel is the key to the success or failure of enterprise innovation activities. The key link of enterprise's technological innovation is to cultivate and build the innovation ability of R&D personnel, so how to improve the innovation ability of professional R&D personnel has become an urgent problem for enterprises.
First, the elements of innovation ability
For enterprise R&D personnel, innovation ability is a personal ability, and it is also a competency of R&D posts. According to the iceberg model principle of competency characteristics and the innovation process and characteristics of enterprise R&D personnel, the components of enterprise R&D personnel's innovation ability can be roughly divided into easy-to-observe parts (innovative knowledge and innovative skills) and potential characteristic parts (innovative spirit, innovative quality and innovative motivation). Among them, innovative knowledge is a kind of primitive knowledge, which is the deepening of the division of knowledge in human society; Innovation skill is a kind of practical ability that embodies the behavior skill of the innovative subject under the guidance and constraint of innovation knowledge; Innovative spirit is a person's relatively stable and positive psychological tendency towards creative activities; Innovative quality is a stable quality formed by internalizing innovative knowledge, innovative technology and innovative quality obtained from the outside on the innate basis. Innovation motivation is the intention and desire of innovation according to the needs of society and individuals.
Second, the problems faced by enterprises in cultivating the innovative ability of professional and technical personnel
The survey shows that there are more and more R&D personnel in China at this stage, but the innovation ability has not improved, and the patents obtained and the value created are far behind those in developed countries. Although the R&D expenditure of enterprises has increased rapidly in recent years, the innovative output such as patents and new products has not improved accordingly. With the increase of R&D investment, the innovation achievements of many enterprises even show marginal decline. The reason is that enterprises do not attach importance to the cultivation of professional R&D personnel's innovation ability and quality, and many R&D personnel are content with the status quo, losing the spirit of rational doubt and adventure that innovation activities must first have, and lacking the sense of responsibility and team honor. From the point of view of values, only about half of R&D personnel are willing to give full play to their innovative ability and take enterprise development as the goal. The personality and mental model of a few R&D personnel are not suitable for innovative activities at all. R&D personnel in enterprises generally have innovative consciousness, innovative thinking, strong achievement motivation, strong dedication and independence, and have a certain demand for innovation, but this demand can only generate motivation for action under the guidance of sufficient external factors.
Third, measures to improve the innovation ability of R&D professionals
1, to cultivate the personal qualities of R&D personnel.
The quality of R&D personnel is the personality guarantee of successful innovation. An excellent R&D personnel should have the following qualities: professional ethics and moral quality, professional knowledge and skills and cultural quality, psychological quality, creative thinking and market concept. The quality of R&D talents affects innovation ability. In the process of developing and cultivating R&D talents' innovative ability, we should pay attention to the cultivation of R&D talents' own quality.
2. Cultivate innovative thinking of R&D talents.
Innovative thinking refers to thinking that reflects the essential attributes of things and their internal relations and solves problems in a novel and unique way, which often leads to new thinking results. Generally speaking, it is a kind of thinking activity in people's minds when they are innovating, and it is an advanced stage of human thinking. Innovative thinking is the pillar of innovative ability. To improve innovation ability, we must cultivate innovative thinking seriously. Innovative thinking is in the process of exploring future neighborhoods and carrying out innovative activities. Give full play to the dynamic role of cognition, and constantly seek new achievements in thinking activities with novel ways and multi-angle thinking transformation.
To cultivate innovative thinking, we should consciously train various thinking methods and overcome common thinking obstacles. There are many kinds of training questions, some have a unique answer, some have multiple answers, and some have uncertain answers. The purpose of training is to open the trainer's thinking according to the requirements of the topic, think, analyze and associate freely from multiple angles, directions and levels, and seek possible answers, thus developing his thinking ability. Its training methods are: one is to participate in training, and the other is to improve by self-study. In the process of training, practice is emphasized, not "listening". Training should be linked with the actual work, focusing on practice, relaxing thoughts and thinking boldly. In order to brainstorm, we should make a brief record of various ideas (including other people's good ideas) for review and improvement.
3. Pay attention to the cultivation of innovative personality.
Innovative personality quality is the basis of innovative ability, and it is also the focus of cultivating innovative ability. People often attach great importance to developing intelligence and improving IQ, but often ignore the exercise and improvement of EQ. Facts show that only 20% of career success comes from IQ, and the remaining 80% comes from EQ. The same is true of innovation ability, which comes from non-intellectual factors, such as innovative personality and emotional intelligence. Among the elements of the competency model of innovation ability, only innovative knowledge, innovative skills and innovative thinking are lacking in courage, vitality, adventurous spirit and team spirit, so it is difficult to carry out innovative activities. Only with innovative personality can employees overcome difficulties with extraordinary courage and boldness, study and work creatively, pursue Excellence, master and use innovative knowledge, innovative thinking and innovative methods, carry forward team spirit and lead the team to create new ones.
4. Pay attention to the experience accumulation of R&D technology.
4. 1 R&D personnel should pay attention to summing up the experience and lessons of predecessors. Any innovation is not water without a source, and there is no tree without a root. Therefore, how to use the knowledge and wisdom of predecessors is very important in innovation work. Only in this way can innovation work avoid detours and avoid many unnecessary troubles. The experience and lessons of predecessors are the basis of our innovative work. By studying the work of predecessors, we can look at, consider and solve problems on the shoulders of giants.
4.2 Pay attention to discovering and summarizing the failed innovation experience of predecessors. No one can deny that failure is the mother of success, but if we fail blindly without considering the reasons for failure, it will not help our work. We can find many problems through the failure experience of our predecessors, and we can also successfully solve some problems we are encountering by changing methods and ways.
4.3 Learn to learn from and combine. It is impossible to borrow other people's "experience" and "achievements" without hard work. Reference can be ideas, methods and products. We shouldn't feel sorry for others because we "took away" their things. We just borrowed knowledge. Lu Xun, a great writer, did not ask us to learn from others' good things in the spirit of "takenism" to make up for our own shortcomings. This is called "learning from each other's strengths". Borrowing other people's experience and own innovation is the best policy for innovation and development. Therefore, in order to improve the innovation ability, it is very important to borrow the experience and achievements of others.
5. Improve the recruitment and selection of professional R&D personnel, and strengthen the ability to identify the innovation ability of R&D personnel.
In the process of recruiting R&D personnel, enterprises should pay special attention to the identification and testing of their innovation ability. In the recruitment stage, we should pay attention to:
4. 1 written test. Design a topic that can examine the innovative knowledge reserve of R&D testers.
4.2 Interview. During the interview, the experienced interviewer asked the applicant about the real innovation activities and achievements in the past, including the situation at that time, what links were there, how to think, how to do it, and how effective it was; Or ask the candidate some hypothetical or unexpected situational questions. According to past experience and assumed behavior, we can judge its future innovation ability.
4.3 Psychological test. Evaluation of psychological characteristics with standard psychological test. Through aptitude test, vocational interest test and motivation test, we can understand the innovation ability of R&D personnel.
4.4 Evaluation center technology. When time is tight and there are many candidates, the evaluation center technology will be adopted, including leaderless group discussion and role-playing. Investigate an applicant's innovative ability in the process of solving problems in the project team.
6. Strengthen the cultivation of innovation ability of R&D talents, and cultivate the innovation ability of professional R&D talents in a targeted manner.
The training of innovation ability of professional R&D personnel should be aimed at both new employees who have just joined the company and old employees who have many years of work experience. There are many ways to cultivate innovative ability. In addition to imparting innovative skills to employees through lectures or videos, enterprises can also start with team building. If the members of a team are psychologically wary of each other and feel insecure, they will suppress their true thoughts, thus hindering creativity. Therefore, enterprises can organize a series of targeted training and achieve the purpose of cultivating employees' innovative ability through various methods. For example, the two most common types: one is game activities, which not only helps to alleviate various alert psychology, but also increases interpersonal cooperation and friendship, and stimulates employees' creativity in a relaxed and harmonious atmosphere. The second is adventure learning, which can also be called outdoor development training. These include some challenging sports, which provide employees with a dilemma during exercise and trick them into finding the best solution. This kind of physical examination can make employees know themselves, change routine behavior and cultivate innovative consciousness. In addition to these two kinds of training, we can also provide employees with more practical opportunities to stimulate their innovative ability through role-playing, case analysis, behavior demonstration and other methods.
7. Establish an effective incentive mechanism.
Motivation can guide people's behavior. In order for R&D personnel to keep the spirit of learning and innovation for a long time, besides encouragement and guidance, reasonable institutional incentives are also an essential part. Enterprises should establish a dynamic incentive mechanism to mobilize the innovation enthusiasm of R&D personnel from all aspects, so as to continuously improve their work performance.
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7.2 Secondly, we should give full play to the responsibilities of management in the incentive mechanism.
In the era of knowledge economy, spiritual encouragement is particularly important for enterprise management. On the basis of understanding the personality differences of R&D personnel, managers need to make more emotional investment, communicate with employees more emotionally, comfort and encourage employees. And through appropriate authorization, give employees greater trust and responsibility, give timely work feedback and help, encourage employees to learn self-control, strive to overcome difficulties, and maximize the initiative of innovation.
7.3 Pay attention to the evaluation of R&D personnel's innovation ability.
The performance appraisal of enterprise R&D personnel generally includes several aspects: personal quality, technical ability, team spirit and performance appraisal. Innovation ability is an important part of enterprise R&D personnel performance appraisal, which can be classified as technical ability. We can refer to the iceberg model of innovation ability to determine its secondary indicators, and then determine the reasonable weight of each secondary indicator through analytic hierarchy process and other methods;
7.4 Implement comprehensive compensation and encourage R&D personnel's enthusiasm for innovation.
Implementing a comprehensive compensation strategy for enterprise R&D personnel can effectively stimulate their innovation motivation. Because the needs of R&D personnel are personalized and diversified, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive salary design according to the different needs of employees at different levels. For technicians engaged in basic research, a single salary model can be adopted; For professional and technical personnel responsible for new product development, a higher salary plus commission system for the transformation of scientific and technological achievements can be adopted; For some R&D personnel with high positions and deep qualifications, higher salary and bonus can be adopted, and their non-monetary income needs should also be paid attention to.
7.5 Pay attention to the personal growth of R&D personnel and stimulate their innovative motivation.
Enterprises should analyze R&D personnel according to specific conditions, and provide dual career paths for R&D personnel, namely management career path and R&D career path. R&D personnel can choose the development path according to their own value orientation and ability, those who are interested in management can enter the management, and those who love R&D work can develop from low to high along the R&D career path. The hierarchical structure of R&D path and management path is equal, and each R&D level enjoys the same status and salary as the management level to achieve fairness.
8. Strengthen the construction of corporate culture and support the innovative will of R&D talents.
First of all, we should provide a relaxed and free working environment for R&D personnel. R&D personnel in enterprises are mainly mental workers, who need a relaxed and free environment to allow them to complete their tasks in their own way. Flexible working hours and working places of R&D personnel can help them achieve a balance between work and family. Secondly, we should cultivate the sense of belonging of R&D personnel. Enterprises should establish effective communication channels with R&D personnel, so that employees can understand the business philosophy, market situation and existing problems of enterprises, and let R&D personnel participate in the management and decision-making of enterprises. Only in this way can they identify with the business philosophy of the enterprise, generate a sense of identity and belonging to the enterprise, and generate a willingness to innovate. Enterprises support the innovation will of R&D personnel to the greatest extent by forming a healthy and harmonious cultural atmosphere in which autonomy and cooperation coexist.
9. Strive for financial support and talent support
Enterprise management should attach importance to communication and exchange with R&D personnel, provide opportunities for R&D personnel to express their views and ideas, and adopt their opinions and suggestions reasonably. Let R&D personnel personally feel their new ideas can attract the company's attention, be welcomed by the company and bring benefits to the company. Even if the proposal is ultimately rejected, it is based on the company's extensive public consultation, comprehensive discussion and serious consideration, rather than being ignored or blindly rejected. In this way, employees can be passionate about innovation and innovative thinking can be really active. At the same time, in order to support R&D personnel to carry out innovative activities, the government and enterprises should increase R&D funds, encourage R&D personnel to do research and innovation, enhance their independent innovation ability, set up enterprise R&D funds to invest incentive funds, give enterprises different degrees of rewards and preferential policies according to the amount of R&D funds invested and the difficulty of scientific research, and support enterprises to carry out innovative research. At the same time, enterprises can also set up R&D talent innovation funds, encourage R&D talents to actively participate in scientific research and project development, support R&D talents' patent application and protection, company preparation and market development activities, increase the training of young R&D talents, explore their potential, vitality and creativity, and actively cultivate leading talents and teams.
10. Enterprises should strengthen cooperation with scientific research institutes and universities, promote the transformation of technological achievements into the market, and promote the formation of innovation chain.
Enterprise's technological innovation comes from the demand of its own development. Under the condition of market economy, enterprises are closest to market demand and know the basic needs of ordinary people best. Only by adapting to the changes in the market can we become stronger and bigger, and scientific research institutes and universities have accumulated a large number of innovative scientific and technological achievements. Enterprises can strengthen cooperation with them, give full play to the role of universities and scientific research institutes in basic research and frontier exploration, and give them stable support, so that researchers can concentrate on scientific problems and implement more flexible innovation mechanisms. Promote the transformation of technological achievements of scientific research institutes to the market, such as supporting the flow of innovative elements such as technology and talents from institutes and universities to enterprises, implementing national technological innovation projects, promoting the close integration of Industry-University-Research and forming a innovation chain closely integrated with the industrial chain.
1 1. Encourage R&D personnel to conduct technical exchanges with foreign countries and open up new ideas for technological innovation.
Professional technical exchange activities are of great significance to promoting technological innovation of enterprises. Enterprises should create conditions according to their own actual conditions and encourage R&D personnel to participate in relevant technical exchange activities. By understanding the external technical information, we can solve many problems that can't be solved inside the enterprise, and at the same time, we can also improve the technical quality of technicians and complement each other. Through technical exchange, it can also open new ideas and establish new concepts for technicians in considering enterprise technological innovation, product structure adjustment, product variety optimization and upgrading.
Through technical exchange, we can expand the thinking of R&D personnel, or create new things, or invent new ways and methods, or nurture new ideas and new insights, or dig up new materials and new evidence. Vigorously cultivate the spirit of "innovation"-a strong sense of courage to break through the existing knowledge and practices, including the spirit of doubt, criticism, pioneering spirit, adventurous spirit, scientific and realistic spirit, etc. With the spirit of innovation, there will be innovative behavior and innovative ability. "In the construction of enterprise innovation culture, we should encourage independent innovation, pay attention to the education of innovative talents, take solving scientific and technological problems and practical difficulties in production and life as the guide, realize a relaxed and free academic atmosphere for scientific research, dare to explore, be not afraid of failure, persist in tackling key problems and collaborative innovation, stimulate academic research enthusiasm, expand intelligent structure, improve innovative practical ability and cultivate high-quality scientific and innovative talents.
12, improve the construction of technological innovation system and the training mechanism of innovative talents.
Only when the scientific and technological innovation achievements are engineered and industrialized for the market can they be truly transformed into powerful realistic productive forces and realize innovation-driven development. In the process of fully promoting the engineering industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, we should not only attach great importance to the engineering industrialization and truly put it in an important position of innovation-driven development, but also earnestly promote the construction of a technological innovation system with enterprises as the main body, market as the guidance and Industry-University-Research's collaborative innovation. Create a favorable environment for engineering industrialization, vigorously promote the growth and improvement of engineering and technical talents and high-skilled talents in the front line of scientific research and production, smooth the channels for talent growth, and accelerate the cultivation of a team of scientific and technological talents with large scale, optimized structure, first-class quality and excellent work style. Give full play to the self-discipline function of scientific and technological associations, establish and improve the code of conduct and norms for scientific research activities, strengthen the education of scientific research integrity and scientific ethics, and earnestly strengthen the construction of scientific ethics and study style. Vigorously publicize outstanding scientific and technological workers and teams, guide the majority of scientific researchers to consciously practice the socialist core value system, carry forward the innovation culture, fully stimulate the creative vitality of the whole society, and provide more relaxed innovation environment and greater innovation motivation for innovative talents by reforming the talent training mechanism, use mechanism and incentive mechanism.