Does your organisation need new ideas to evolve in a constantly changing competitive market? You can no longer afford to ignore the benefits of collective intelligence. That's why we give you 10 ideas you can easily implement in your company to encouragecollaborative innovation.
[Also read: Collaborative innovation: challenges and opportunities].
Share successes and failures
Companies tend to tell their success stories first and foremost. But failures are also inspiring! Above all, failures lead employees to produce solutions, which is the most valuable thing. Tell inspiring stories, both successes and failures, and encourage your employees to find solutions to the obstacles they face.
Ask for anonymous feedback
Are your employees not ready to propose and defend their ideas? Start by asking for anonymous feedback. You will see that the first (good) ideas will start to emerge!
Get out of the office
Just getting out of the office can encouragecollaborative innovation. Conduct learning expeditions, take your team to work in a new place for a day. This is often where new ideas are born.
Digitalise the suggestion box and open it up to all your employees
The people in your organisation are best placed to generate constructive criticism. Encourage them! This is how you can encouragecollaborative innovation. However, there is one absolute rule: every idea should be considered regardless of the name or level of the person who comes up with it. Everyone should be able to come up with ideas, regardless of their level in the company. A trainee can come up with more fruitful ideas from his or her report of surprise than an associate director. In this way you will get different ideas from different perspectives. Moreover, you should never judge or devalue an idea. If an idea bearer feels judgement, trust is broken and neither he/she nor his/her colleagues will want to propose new ideas in the future. In short, don't forget goodwill!
Give your employees time to work on their projects
One day or half a day a week, let your employees work on an innovation project. This could be an innovation project they are working on themselves, or one that is being led by one of their peers. In this way you develop their creative sense, but also their commitment to your organisation.
Reward employees who come up with the best ideas
Offer benefits, bonuses, seminars or training to the employees most involved in proposing innovative ideas. As you can see, your reward system must be attractive, while remaining in a spirit of collective intelligence.
Reward learning employees too
There are many ways for your employees to expand their horizons or develop their skills. What is certain is that if your employees are in a learning posture, your organisation will also win. Because by continuously learning, your employees open their minds to new things. One step closer tocollaborative innovation ! For example, you can create a prize to reward the number of MOOCs completed by your employees.
[READ ALSO: [MANIFESTO] The definition of the learning company]
READ ALSO: How to implement a learning company culture]
Create a knowledge library
Once again, it is a question of encouraging a learning attitude. Indeed, all your employees have knowledge, skills and know-how. But if this knowledge is not shared, if it does not benefit everyone, the company loses out. You must find a way to formalise each other's skills. By learning from each other, your employees will open up to new horizons and will have more keys to turn to projects atcollaborative innovation.
Organise challenges ofcollaborative innovation
Sometimes asking employees to come up with ideas is more difficult than expected if the request is not framed. What if you organised a challenge? During a given period, you invite employees from various backgrounds to propose ideas around a given problem. Thecollaborative innovation is thus framed around a specific need and field, and ideas can thus emerge more easily. In addition, competition between teams can be a good way of generating brilliant ideas.
Give your employees feedback from customers
" Feedback is a wonderful gift " said Danielle Winandy, Chief Innovation Officer at BNP Paribas RISK, at one of our events. Customer feedback in particular is valuable as it provides a good basis for innovation. Indeed, your customers are in the best position to identify malfunctions and irritants, which will be a source of innovation tomorrow. Giving your employees access to this feedback is like giving them the soil to encouragecollaborative innovation in your organisation.
Need help to encouragecollaborative innovation ?
