Money too tight to mention?

Innovation without the outlay

The problem

Having right-shored and right-sized the remaining functions that haven't been outsourced and entered into strategic alliances with your main vendors your leadership team still needs to drive out ever greater efficiency...

Basically "do more for less"

A simple solution

Help is at hand in one simple but very powerful word - INNOVATE. It's neither as difficult nor as expensive as you may think as nobody knows more about your company and your clients than your staff...

Harness all this brainpower to solve problems!

How to do it (1/2)• Define a business problem needing a solution. Start

small but it has to be measurable

• Tell staff you need their help to solve this problem by submitting ideas. Encourage participation with small incentives, choosing one or more to progress into a proof of concept

• Help build business cases and presentations with the staff who submitted these ideas. This not only empowers them and builds soft skills but also builds an emotional attachment to the success of their ideas

How to do it (2/2)• Have the leadership team agree on the strongest

performer from the proof of concept and scale up into a full-blown initiative. If the other ideas are also feasible and will provide incremental improvements then enter them into an 'innovation pipeline' where they can be regularly assessed and progressed

• Measure the improvements, celebrate the successes and repeat on a regular basis to keep momentum and enthusiasm going!

Benefits... really?

Once this cycle gets going the benefits will roll in - not just for the company but for the staff as the chances are it'll ignite a desire for being inquisitive and innovative.

Just make sure it's relevant, fun and inclusive

Does it really work?

Yes, it really does - why not try searching online for 'crowdsourcing ideas' and you'll find a famous University doing something very similar! I've even added the link below, to save you a couple of seconds!

http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/e-innovation/university-oxford-harnesses-student-lecturer-brain-power-cloud-platform-156470?utm_source=2014-11-27&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=uk_techweekeurope&id_prob=49567_269749&t=6a3fecdb7a9890c80a4f3edcade458ce1445412