MLS Jan 2018 Local Attachment MLS local report final | Page 27
2.2.6 Spirit of Innovation
The collaborative and close working relationship among the staff of KidZania
contribute to an environment where staff feel safe and welcomed to make
suggestions that would help improve their work processes. It also helps that
the ‘zupervisors’ go through some form of job rotation from time to time
where they will man different establishments and learn from different
‘district leaders’. This gives the staff different perspectives and experiences
which help to encourage innovative practices in the workplace. An example
of an innovative practice suggested by a staff and effectively implemented
was to encourage visitors to reuse the hairnets and face masks required at
different establishments such as KFC and Pizza Hut. In return, visitors would
receive extra ‘Kidzos’ for their effort. This idea was implemented and has
worked well ever since, helping KidZania save cost and be more
environmentally-friendly.
At KidZania, innovation is also injected into the leadership development
programme, a programme designed for potential leaders identified by the
management. These potential leaders are given training to further hone their
leadership skills and opportunities to take on middle-management tasks. As
part of their training programme, the potential leaders are to come up with
effective and sustainable innovative practices that can improve the work
processes or the organization as a whole. They would run through these
ideas with the management, who will then assess and fine-tune before giving
them the go-ahead to implement those changes in the organization.
To keep the spirit of KidZania current and updated, KidZania also engages
their 7 to 12-year-old visitors in a group known as the ‘Congrezz’. This group
of young visitors form the ‘legislative branch of the Government’ and comes
together with the management to discuss topics that are of importance to
them. At the same time, they review the current activities available at
KidZania and also provide valuable suggestions, ranging from the types of
activities to how the activities can be organized at KidZania. The
management would take into consideration the feedback and suggestions
from their little stakeholders and from there, improve their work practices
for greater level of engagement with their customers.
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