One moment Jenny Karlsson...

- It is going well, thank you! My main focus is primarily on employee involvement in service innovation, but

 from April last year I have also participated in the project “User-Oriented Innovation in primary care through innovation teams”. The aim of the project is to improve patients’ well-being as well as raise the level of innovation and reduce costs in primary care. We will develop a methodology to take advantage of and to implement new ideas and methods. The work is performed through innovation groups consisting of patients and staff at a number of health care centers in Karlstad, Sweden. We meet every innovation group at least on five different occasions and this will be completed during the spring of 2015. The participants present and discuss ideas for how the health care center, but also health care in a larger context, can be developed based on perceived problems and needs. At the same time we are continuously working with unit-, and area managers of the health care centers along with representatives from Experio Lab and Innovationssluss Vivan in an implementation group. The project is conducted in collaboration with County Council Värmland and is financed by Vinnova.
Why should employees be involved in the development of new services?
- It is very important. They have good knowledge of existing services, how they are being used in practice, and what needs, demands and wishes the customers have. Actively involved employees develop knowledge and understanding for the new service which leads to a smoother implementation and good prospects for future value creation with customers. Employees who are passively involved may have an inadequate understanding of the new service which in turn can affect the relation with the customers negatively. In several of the projects that I have followed the innovation of services would not have been possible without the employee involvement.