When someone thinks of the idea of “Crowdsourcing,” their first thought may be Kickstarter or some very successful micro-lending organizations. Crowdsourcing for financial support has been hugely successful. For example, LeVar Burton has raised more than $5MM to bring back the PBS “Reading Rainbow” program via apps. (http://bostonherald.com/entertainment/books/2014/07/levar_burton_s_kickstarter_campaign_brings_hit_pbs_show_app_to_). On the more ridiculous side, over 1,000 people have contributed and promised to buy the Ostrich Pillow, a pillow you put your head inside to sleep in public (http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-ridiculous-idea-to-ever-get-funded-on-kickstarter-2012-10_)
Crowdsourcing can be used within your company to solve a wide range of problems. Often a company that has a “flat corporate structure” where opinions and contributions from all employees are valued have a better chance of innovating. Effective digital platforms and campaigns cater to the Gen Y workforce that most companies want to attract today. Social networks and transparency are something that this generation takes for granted and they want their work-lives to enhance their digital experience. The key to fully taking advantage of your workforce is to manage the massive amount of data that can be generated. Having an issue “champion” to manage the process is the best way to begin.
An employee platform will also help companies identify effective opportunities for additional training, advancement and retention that will amount to huge savings, build reputation and attract the best talent in the long run. Businesses are losing out on innovative employee contributions if they are not creating a way for employees to freely share ideas for improvement. Organizations are even presenting operating challenges to intra- multidisciplinary teams for new perspectives and problem solving.
Deciding what issues should and should not be posed to the entirety of a workforce is important. However, some of the most complicated issues deserve the most options. This is new space for older companies but one worth exploring.
Nick,
Great post and topic. I haven’t thought of crowdsourcing as a way to generate the next company product or idea, but I love the concept. I think so many corporate initiatives fail because they are thought up by a few high-level executives and never receive the “buy-in” or support from influential, lower-level employees that actually have to implement these initiatives. Crowdsourcing could be a great way to see what employees are thinking; identify creative, thought-provoking employees; get a headstart for the R&D group; etc.
You raise a good point about what topics can be effectively crowdsourced and further, how do we manage and monitor the site so it doesn’t go sideways? That’s a question each organization will have to figure out on its own. I agree that the flatter, more nimble companies may be the first to do this and gain a competitive advantage by being a first-mover.
It may also be noteworthy to mention the Kickstarter campaign for someone to make their first potato salad: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/324283889/potato-salad. This person has raised over $61,000. It just goes to show the power of viral content.
This is a fantastic idea. There are crowdsourcing sites that either pose problems in search of solutions (www.innocentive.com) or pose solutions in search of problems to solve (www.marblar.com – which unfortunately appears to be undergoing some revamping right now). However, I like your idea of hosting internal crowdsourcing within a firm as some of the greatest ideas come from the most unexpected sources.
Nick, you actually brought up a good point about the fact that many of current businesses do not offer creative ways for their employees to share ideas for improvements. Some firms have offered money and ‘prizes’ to those employees with new ideas, and some have used employee recognition systems that create sense of pride and ownership in employees. I also found it interesting to see WestJet, a Canadian airline, was able to save over $10 million as a result of ‘crowd-sourced’ ideas submitted by its employees (http://www.informationweek.com/westjet-cuts-costs-with-crowdsourcing/d/d-id/1100498?)