Atterbury recently launched its groundbreaking innovation platform to nurture new, inventive ideas.
Proudly rooted in Pretoria, Atterbury is a leading property investor and developer that operates across South Africa, Africa and Europe. It has introduced AttNovate as a platform and incentive to harness innovative ideas from the staff within its group to improve its business.
The vision to channel “the power within” Atterbury through AttNovate began with Armond Boshoff, Atterbury Deputy CEO, who believes passionately that innovative thinking is a necessary business skill that can, and should, be encouraged and developed. Armond recently completed a Masters degree of Business Administration (Cum Laude) from the University of Oxford and, upon his return to Atterbury, AttNovate was one of the first initiatives launched.
“We have amazing staff and because they know our business so well, they are in a great position to identify opportunities to improve, advance and evolve. Now, we are providing them a way to put their creative thinking into action. I believe there are already many innovative ideas within the business,” says Boshoff.
The AttNovate process is straightforward. Any employee can propose an idea, no matter how unusual or out-of-the-box, that they believe has real potential benefit for the business. There is no opening or closing date, the initiative is ongoing. Ideas are evaluated as they are submitted. Every idea presented and assessed to create value through innovation will receive a prize.
However, ideas are just the starting point. These seeds of inspiration and innovation need to be nurtured and cultivated, and AttNovate is the fertile ground to incubate, develop and test ideas.
The big reward for Atterbury’s staff members comes in the form of sharing in the benefits stemming from their idea, with a monetary amount linked directly to the economic value creation that their innovation produces.
Atterbury believes in associating with the best employees, partners and suppliers, which ensures that everyone benefits together. Supporting this, all associated with Atterbury will benefit from the innovative and entrepreneurial culture that AttNovate fosters and reinforces.
“It inspires our employees to think creatively, whether their ideas are incorporated into the business or not. This way of thinking creates an even more stimulating and rewarding workplace and, thus benefitting our people and business overall,” highlights Boshoff.
AttNovate was presented to Atterbury personnel in mid-March and officially launched at the beginning of April. There are already several ideas being evaluated for implementation.
While there is no limit to the type of innovative ideas that AttNovate will consider, Boshoff is particularly interested in finding new ways to make construction cheaper and faster while maintaining or improving its quality. Also, he’s eager to receive ideas for ways to do things differently that reduce operating expenses within Atterbury’s property assets, while creating an excellent experience for building users and upholding, or even extending, the property’s lifecycles.
“I’m already impressed with what I have seen so far,” says Boshoff proudly. “AttNovate has ignited a new passion in our business and increased the level of engagement generated by staff. I’m sure it will spark many more great ideas and I’m fired up to see what our staff come up with next.”