Organising an innovation challenge: why and how?

Organising an innovation challenge is a great way to stimulatecollaborative innovation in your organisation. In this article, we look at the benefits of an innovation challenge and the steps involved in organising one.

What is a challenge fromcollaborative innovation ?

Organiser un challenge innovation, ou challenge d’innovation participative, permet de faire émerger des idées dans votre organisation. Pendant une période donnée, vous encouragez vos collaborateurs à proposer des idées, des projets et des initiatives, destinés à améliorer vos produits, services, process, etc. Le principe du challenge, dans sa dimension ludique, permet de stimuler l’engagement collaborateur.

By voting for their favourite ideas, employees participate in the selection of the best initiatives. A selection committee can also be appointed to decide on the winners of the challenge.

Why organise an innovation challenge?

Organising an innovation challenge allows your employees to play an active role in your organisation. Because you give everyone the opportunity to make their voice count. As mentioned above, it is therefore a wonderful lever to stimulateemployee commitment.

But an innovation challenge is also very beneficial to your company. Every improvement or innovation is an opportunity for your organisation to gain competitive advantages over the competition. And yet, it's the doer who knows. In other words, your people on the ground are certainly the best placed to help you innovate. Ideas sometimes come from the most unexpected people!

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How to organise an innovation challenge?

1- Determine the theme and objectives before organising an innovation challenge

Define innovation objectives, in line with your organisation's economic objectives. This is where you need to frame your approach: what do you expect from your employees? On which priority theme(s) should they mobilise their ideas? In this way you show your employees how important their ideas are for the business. They will feel comfortable, valued and more inclined to participate.

2- Identify the participants

Are all your employees invited to participate? For example, if your innovation challenge is about process improvement in a specific region, are employees from all regions invited to participate? This decision depends on your corporate culture and objectives.

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3- Determine how the winner(s) will be selected

At the end of your innovation challenge, you will have one or more winners. How do you choose them? There are two possibilities.

The first possibility is to set up a selection committee to choose the winner(s). In this case, it is essential to clarify the selection criteria, and to announce them officially to the participants.
The second option is more democratic. It involves encouraging employees to vote for the ideas they consider most relevant. The ideas that receive the most support will then be chosen as the winners.

4- Draw up a calendar

Organising a timetable is a crucial step in scoping. It is best to create a shared calendar with all the people involved in the organisation of your innovation challenge. You can simply create it in Excel, or in project management tools such as Trello. In this calendar, you can list all the stages of your innovation challenge, as well as the associated tasks. For example :

Announcement of the challenge and the rules of the game
Teasing
The different stages of communication (regular communication will keep your employees engaged)
Animation time: question and answer sessions, workshops, etc.
Announcing the best ideas
Announcement of the winners

5- Prepare a clear and educational communication

Effective communication is the key to boosting the participation of your employees. Start by checking that your communication is clear. To do this, do the exercise of writing the presentation of your innovation challenge:

A title: short, impactful and fun.
A description: in a few lines, you should explain what you expect from your employees. Take the time to be precise and avoid just saying "we need your ideas to improve our processes". Why do you need these ideas? In what context? What will it do? What are the exact instructions?

You can then prepare your communication elements. Ideally, these elements consist of visuals, infographics, articles and videos to make your communication as interactive and attractive as possible.

In addition, do not hesitate to mobilise all your internal communication channels: intranet, collective intelligence tool, posters on the premises, e-mailings, presentation events, etc.

6- Prepare the measure of success

It is essential to define what you expect from your innovation challenge, in line with the objectives you have formulated. Indicators of success can be for example :

The number of participants
The amount of ideas proposed
The proportion of ideas implemented within 3 months of the challenge
The economic results of your company

These indicators depend on your organisation and its culture!

7- Think of rewards

An innovation challenge is above all... a challenge! In other words, a competition, with winners. In this context, the notion of reward is naturally a motivational lever for your employees. More generally, by recognising their contributions to the challenge, you keep them motivated in their daily work.

Here are some suggestions for awards:

(Simple) recognition: do not underestimate the power of a formal "thank you".
Monetary recognition: winners may receive a bonus, for example.
Celebratory moments: a party, an afterwork or an invitation to lunch are excellent ways to thank participants.
Free shares: your employees are committed to the economic performance of your company? You can then thank the winners of the challenge by inviting them to join in the adventure!