Here’s how crowdsourcing innovation can enhance the employee experience

You already know about crowdsourced funding — now say hello to crowdsourced innovation

Have you heard about the new wave of crowdsourcing innovation tools that are providing modern organisations a competitive advantage? If you are not already talking about these tools in your organisation then read on to find out why you should be.

Astrong employee experience makes people want to be at work and ultimately, drives productivity. The most adaptive organisations are finding ways to deliver an amazing experience for their people, and one such way is through crowdsourcing innovation tools.

These tools are based on a simple concept: sourcing ideas from your organisation and drawing on the wisdom of your employees will yield more effective ideas with actionable results. Their digital nature also allows you to collect, develop, and track ideas.

Here are three ways crowdsourcing innovation tools can improve the employee experience…

1. Employee engagement is driven by a sense of participation and purpose

A wealth of research has identified these key drivers of employee engagement. Innovation tools encourage employee engagement by allowing your people to contribute their expertise to the business outside of their formal roles. Combined with a structured program, employees can have a voice in guiding the organisation’s direction. They also feel connected to a purpose that is larger than their day-to-day tasks.

2. Crowdsourced innovation can help staff develop new capabilities

Most employees seek growth in their careers and this is especially true for newer generations of Millennial workers who are more digitally savvy. An innovation tool embedded into an effective initiative promotes cross-generational collaboration. This collaboration allows sharing of knowledge between more experienced people with valuable tacit knowledge and less experienced people with the enthusiasm to promote new ideas. Importantly, these opportunities for innovation present further chances for people to stretch themselves in new areas beyond their formal roles.

3. A creative and collaborative culture will help your people drive business change

The important point about innovation tools is that they are a platform to share and develop diverse ideas. They support a program that inspires people from across the organisation to ideate solutions to interesting and relevant challenges that their organisation faces. These solutions will contribute to the future success of the organisation.

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