Ideas Labs work – here’s the evidence

100% of those who took part in our latest user survey told us that they would be happy to take part in another Ideas Lab.

At the end of every Wiki-Lab, we ask participants what they think of the process and they’re exceptionally positive about the experience.

Here are the headline figures from our survey which closed on Friday 9 September:
- 100% said they saw some good ideas and 58% saw lots of good ideas
- 93% said that other people’s comments and ideas prompted new thoughts of their own
- 90% thought it a quite or extremely valuable thing for their organisation to do (and half of those opted for ‘extremely valuable)
- 88% found it quite easy or very easy to participate
- 71% enjoyed it or loved the experience and no one was unhappy about it.

Ideas Labs works for any organisation that wants to engage its people in idea generation, problem solving or collaborative working. They cost very little but achieve a great deal in terms of participation, creativity and action.

Isn’t it time you checked out your own Ideas Lab? Call or email us to see your own demonstration site.

 

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While you are there check out other useful information about collective intelligence, employee engagement, business efficiency, business innovation, crowdsourcing and co-creation.

 

Collective Intelligence is a ‘Lifeline’

In the TV quiz programme ‘Who wants to be a millionaire?’ if a contestant is unsure of an answer they get a ‘Lifeline’. They can choose to take a 50/50, phone a friend or ask the audience to help them with the answer.

But do the same options apply in business if you don’t know the answers?

Firstly, it must be obvious to all of us that no single business person has all the answers, even if they sometimes believe that they do or indeed feel that they should. So assuming they can bring themselves to ask for help how do they go about it?

Taking a 50/50 chance in business sounds like a bit of a gamble. In the quiz show taking that gamble and getting it wrong is game over and quite possibly the same applies in business.

Phoning a friend is an option, literally. The idea of seeking advice from someone you trust in this way probably also encompasses the ability to search Google if it’s a simple question or employing consultants if the issue is more complicated. That can be expensive and time consuming.

So what about asking the audience? Does that also apply in business? Well substitute the words employees, customers or suppliers for audience and the answer is a definite YES. With universal access to the internet in a business context and the trend of sharing and collaborating it’s not only possible but desirable to get better, faster, smarter solutions by asking your audience. It might now be referred to as open innovation, collective intelligence or co-creation, and it works. In his book, The Wisdom of Crowds, James Surowiecki states that asking a friend will get you the right answer 65% of the time, whereas asking the audience produces 91% accuracy.

We can show you how to put together the perfect audience to give you the answers you are looking for. Just give us some questions and we’ll come and see you and demonstrate exactly how we’ll deliver the answers.

 

Improving performance starts with a dream.

Have you ever dreamt what it would be like if you could get the people who know the most about your business together with a group of outside experts and ask them to find ways of improving performance? What do you think the outcome would be? Wouldn’t it be amazing? Think of the insights that they would share, think about the breakthrough ideas they would create and what’s more they would be able to work out how to turn those ideas into action. Think of what that would do for your business. So why don’t you do it?

Here’s the reasons why not:

-          They would be far too busy to be able to come together in one place at the same time.

-          Even if they weren’t too busy where could we house them?

-          Assuming we could find a venue the travel and hotel costs would be huge.

-          Who would cover their work while they were away?

-          How could we manage the process – it would be chaos.

-          How would we get everyone working as one team?

-          Just think of the egos and pecking order it would kill creativity.

-          Who are these people who know the most about my business?

And the list goes on!

But as Walt Disney said “If you can dream it you can do it.” So dream a little and we’ll show you how you can do it.

The answer is to think outside of the box:

-          If physical space is the problem think virtual.

-          If being in the same place at the same time is a problem let everyone be there whenever is convenient for them.

-          If travel and accommodation is a problem then don’t travel.

-          To avoid chaos use experienced facilitators with a tried and trusted process.

-          To get everyone working as a team give them a common goal and engage them to collaborate together.

-          To get rid of egos focus on the contributions not the contributors.

-          You already know the people who know the most about your business they are your staff, your partners and your customers.

Before Web2.0 technology this may all have been a dream but now it’s reality. So if you have a dream to get everyone in your business driving the business forward achieving remarkable results – give us a call and together we’ll make your dreams come true.

 

Why Law Firms shouldn’t have Managing Partners!

There has been a lot of discussion about the future of the role of Managing Partner. The leading executive recruiting company Odgers Berndtson comments that “Although the title Managing Partner undoubtedly carries with it some kudos, it is now the belief of many that management is not what lawyers were trained to do. Why waste a brilliant legal fee-earning mind on the day-to-day minutiae of management, turning what is undoubtedly a great asset into a cost?”

In the last couple of months two Top 50 law firms have announced that they are ditching the Managing Partner role and replacing it with a new COO appointment which could be from outside the firm.

But there is an even more important issue about the role of Managing Partner than who should do the job and that is its title. It’s outdated and should be replaced with Leadership Partner.

In On Becoming a Leader Warren Bennis listed the following differences between Managing and Leading:

 

What can The Apprentice teach us?

The Apprentice is back on TV and for the next 12 weeks we will be subjected to a weekly dose of ‘train crash television’ as we sit and cringe at the failings of what we are told are Britain’s entrepreneurial elite as they fight for the ‘business deal of the decade’.

So what can we learn from Lord Sugar and his shortlist of ‘elite entrepreneurs’? I’m really tempted to say “Not a lot” but I’ll try to be more positive. The most positive I can be is to say that we can learn a lot by discovering ‘how not to do something’ and making sure that we don’t make the same mistakes ourselves.

Let’s start with Lord Sugar himself as displayed in the programme. I say that because the show has turned him into a caricature of himself. As a business manager he is portrayed as still firmly back in the 1970’s where the cult of the individual was born and powerful autocratic leadership became the norm.  To succeed as a leader in 2011 you need to inspire people, to engage with them and help them learn. Not belittle and criticise them and make them live in fear of you.

 

Engaged employees generate 43% more revenue!

“Effective employee engagement equals business success. It is a very practical way of strengthening your business’ productivity, innovation, attendance rate and voluntary turnover.” So says the Department for Business Innovation & Skills. This finding is also backed by research and in one example it was proven that engaged employees generate 43% more revenue than disengaged ones. Actually it’s probably something we all know from experience. Our own best performances come when we feel engaged with the business goals and we feel involved and able to contribute. On the other hand we have been around people who really weren’t engaged and just went through the motions, and who contributed much less as a result.

One of the essential ingredients in creating an engaged workforce is undoubtedly sharing with everyone the vision for the business, making time to communicate the organisation’s purpose, ambition, values and the way it conducts business. People need to be able relate to the bigger picture to see how their individual efforts are valuable in moving the business forward. There is then a sense of satisfaction from doing a good job, and being recognised for it.

 

Are you listening?

From an early age it was drummed into me that marketing was all about satisfying consumer needs. It was the ultimate democracy in fact. If consumers didn’t want it they wouldn’t buy it. Brands and businesses would not survive if they didn’t fully understand the consumer and take their views into account. But did we truly listen?

Clearly on the back of this a highly professional research industry has grown up to help brands gain insights and canvass the attitudes of consumers to help them stay current and even get ahead of the game by being first to market with product developments.

Today, with the dramatic changes in the communications landscape, brands have the opportunity to interact with consumers in a way that sets a new agenda for brand-consumer relationships. The emergence of social media has meant that these new ways of connecting are better, faster and smarter than anything that preceded them. Consumers are empowered to voice their opinions, create and distribute their own content and be active stakeholders in the brands themselves.

 

How your next cup of coffee could stimulate your business.

We all need a coffee break from time to time; it marks a mood change in our day and gives us some added stimulus to carry on. So first get yourself a cup of tea or coffee and then read on.

As you sip your drink turn your thoughts to your business and how that might also benefit from a change of mood and some added stimulus. Maybe it needs more insights, some new breakthrough ideas or simply a better way to implement some changes? I’m sure as the caffeine kicks in you will start to build a long wish list.

But what if whenever you or your colleagues had a coffee break you started to answer those key questions on your wish lists? Wouldn’t that be cool? Well that’s where Wiki-Labs come in.

We have created an on-line environment, that in just the time it takes to have a cup of coffee, moves you closer to finding the answers to your specific business questions. It leverages the collective intelligence that is lying dormant in your organisation, stirs in some expert knowledge and experience and generates a great brew of insights, ideas and action.

Want to find out more? Invite us in for a cup of coffee and we’ll show you how it works -it might be just the stimulus your business needs.

john@wiki-solutions.com

 

Do Retail Banks Need Better Ideas?

At Wiki-Solutions we were pleased to read the BBC’s report today that UK financial services firms are ‘almost back to normal’.

The almost is quite material, however. Following last week’s conclusion of a Commons Treasury Committee that retail banking in the UK is not competitive enough, the current story, based on the latest CBI/PwC Financial Services Survey, suggests that, among financial services businesses, banks are reporting rather weak growth.

“Income levels and business volumes are stubbornly flat,” said Andrew Gray, PwC’s head of UK banking.”While they report near normal business levels for the first time since 2007, their actual activity is way below that seen before the financial crisis.”

It seems to use that our big banks could use some better ideas. Our experience suggests that those ideas already exist among their staff who are working day to day with retail customers in branches, on the phone or on line.

Collective thinking could make a big difference to bank volumes and profits. A Wiki-Solutions Ideas Lab could make that possible within hours.