Boosting its digital transformation is the goal of almost every single company on this football called planet earth. If some approaches work better than others, internal open innovation challenges are still at the top of our list.
Agility, intrapreneurship, digital acculturation, learning by doing, etc. These words, abruptly said by major companies, are actually quite difficult to enter into the customs. Best practices are tricky to implement.
An innovation competition for employees is not only top-notch for the internal employer brand of a company. It is also a formidable way for collaborators to put their heads together working on a real issue; whether it’s related to business, marketing, recruitment, etc.
Six promises to enhance and boost a company’s digital transformation.
Crowdsourcing Approach
Real crowdsourcing operation, we are talking about massifying ideas’ research.
Crowdsourcing is also an indubitable in-house talents revealer. An internal challenge is a tremendous tool to spot intrapreneurial profiles that are able to bring groundbreaking ideas to their company.
Creativity Stimulation
The goal here is to foster the company’s growth by putting creativity at the forefront.
As Google would say: “Innovation comes from everywhere”. With teamwork, the creative muscle is at its peak; if you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.
Creativity by collaboration is a given. But when creativity is challenged by a wide range of backgrounds (departments), we are usually not disappointed.
Breaking Silos
Multidisciplinary teams put emphasis on breaking silos between units.
Design, marketing, communication, and sales; involved participants from everywhere within the organization in order to mix (and spice?) things up.
Learning by Doing
Try it out.
A challenge is a chance for employees to familiarize themselves with digital tools. They will do it with enthusiasm, not as a constraint. The tool, whatever it is, is considered a demarcation asset. The best way to learn is by applying methods instead of just learning them.
In a hackathon, challenge, or innovation competition: we are learning by doing.
Cooperation & Competition
Goal: instate a “competition” approach.
The subtle blend of cooperation and competition, collective intelligence valorizes collaborative innovation. By resolving a problem, healthy emulation springs within internal teams.
Problem-solving
To be accurate: creative problem-solving.
Solder teams that put their energy towards creative problem-solving rather than the problem themselves. Haven’t you experienced friendship growth after solving a problem with someone?
Emotionally eminent, problem-solving by collaboration reinforces the sense of belonging.
Conclusion
Our experience showed us how tough it can be to boost its digital transformation, especially when the latter takes place in a major corporation. Maintaining its company’s growth by going digital is not given to everyone.
Digitalization shakes buying behavior and forces companies to think differently, whether it’s marketing, management, recruitment, etc.
The great bonus of an online to offline (the final) innovation challenge is that lots of fields are linked. When you want to source innovation, you do it alongside spotting intrapreneurial minds. When you want to solve a business issue, you create unexpected group dynamics.
Whatever the topic can be, results provide opportunities that the company did not expect. We saw a lot of companies reap fruits they thought they did not sow.
