1. Challenge

My organization planned to revamp the staff innovation program with the key focus on  transforming the culture. In a recent engagement survey, most staff members stated  that the current culture was based on fear with no autonomy for the more junior staff.  Crowdsourcing ideas from this segment would be difficult as no one dared to give their  ideas sans getting ridiculed or reprimanded by their superiors. The challenge then was  to create a program that would address these issues faced by staff such as removing  barriers for idea generation and providing more autonomy for their decisions.

2. Selection and Application

The Learning Launch was the ideal platform to test the ideas. From the engagement  survey, we already gathered key assumptions that would be tested in the Learning  Launch, namely the barriers to generate ideas (fear, poor incentives and lack of  recognition) and the lack of autonomy to provide the idea without consultation of their  superior or upper management.

The Learning Launch was conducted at the Annual Learning Festival and we created an  Innovation Booth for staff members to:

 solve problems (which were sourced from upper management)     submit their own problems and solutions

Each submission of solutions/ problems was incentivized with a gift voucher. We also  communicated that this was meant to be fun, allowing most of the staff members to be  put at ease when providing their inputs. The innovation booth was designed with the key  assumptions in mind. The data gathered (the problems and solutions collected) as well  as the observations by the innovation task force (reasons why they were reluctant to  submit their problems/ solutions) were analyzed and mostly confirmed our hypothesis,  that the learning culture in the organization was poor and needed to be transformed  drastically.

3. Insight

The insights gathered from the Learning Launch were very useful. Using the Learning  Festival as a cover, the innovation booth did not feel out of place (just one of the many  booths in the Learning Festival) and staff members did not fear (as much) submitting  the ideas or problems they had in the workplace. Guised as a fun and incentivized  suggestion channel, staff members were observed to be full of ideas, confirming our  hypothesis that the culture of fear had hampered the idea generation from our staff.

We also managed to observe how incentives played a role in motivating staff members  to submit their problems/ solutions. It was not a large gift voucher ($1SGD) but it did  make a difference for a certain segment of staff, especially those competitive ones.

There were also staff members who had grievances to air but had no channel to state  them until now. Most of them seized the opportunity to share their issues and did not  really care for the monetary incentive.

Lastly, there was also a segment of staff members who were not interested in giving  any inputs but enjoyed browsing the submitted solutions and problems. The innovation  task force noted this as silent majority, which was also observed in other research  papers on innovation. The research had stated that if the innovation program were to  reach out to 10% of the workforce, it would have been successful. This was an  important insight when calibrating our performance indicators moving forward.

4. Approach

The Learning Launch approach would still be the ideal tool moving forward. However,  the approach would be different. With the insights gathered from the 1st Learning  Launch, the innovation task force would probably try out a different mode of  crowdsourcing ideas from the staff but in a more permanent tool, like an Idea  Crowdsource Engine. This engine will allow staff members to post their ideas, comment,  up-vote, refine and volunteer their resources for good ideas. Essentially the same  methodology as the innovation booth described earlier, but now automated and online.

Gamification principles will replace the monetary incentives provided previously, with  the end goal being a highly motivated workforce that have full autonomy to form teams  to deal with ideas/ issues with little or no instruction from upper management.


1 . Challenge My organization planned to revamp the staff innovation program with the key focus on transforming the culture . In a recent engagement survey , most staff members stated that the current culture was based on fear with no autonomy for the more junior staff . Crowdsourcing ideas from this segment would be difficult as no one dared to give their ideas sans getting ridiculed or reprimanded by their superiors . The challenge then was to create a program that would address these issues faced by staff such as removing barriers for idea generation and providing more autonomy for their decisions . 2 . Selection and Application The Learning Launch was the ideal platform to test the ideas . From the engagement survey , we already gathered key assumptions that would be tested in the Learning Launch , namely the barriers to generate ideas ( fear , poor incentives and lack of recognition ) and the lack of autonomy to provide the idea without consultation of their superior or upper management . The Learning Launch was conducted at the Annual Learning Festival and we created an Innovation Booth for staff members to :  solve problems ( which were sourced from upper management )  submit their own problems and solutions Each submission of solutions/ problems was incentivized with a gift voucher . We also communicated that this was meant to be fun , allowing most of the staff members to be put at ease when providing their inputs . The innovation booth was designed with the key assumptions in mind . The data gathered ( the problems and solutions collected ) as well as the observations by the innovation task force ( reasons why they were reluctant to submit their problems/ solutions ) were analyzed and mostly confirmed our hypothesis , that the learning culture in the organization was poor and needed to be transformed drastically . 3 . Insight The insights gathered from the Learning Launch were very useful . Using the Learning Festival as a cover , the innovation booth did not feel out of place ( just one of the many booths in the Learning Festival ) and staff members did not fear ( as much ) submitting the ideas or problems they had in the workplace . Guised as a fun and incentivized suggestion channel , staff members were observed to be full of ideas , confirming our hypothesis that the culture of fear had hampered the idea generation from our staff . We also managed to observe how incentives played a role in motivating staff members to submit their problems/ solutions . It was not a large gift voucher ( $ 1SGD ) but it did make a difference for a certain segment of staff , especially those competitive ones . There were also staff members who had grievances to air but had no channel to state them until now . Most of them seized the opportunity to share their issues and did not really care for the monetary incentive . Lastly , there was also a segment of staff members who were not interested in giving any inputs but enjoyed browsing the submitted solutions and problems . The innovation task force noted this as silent majority , which was also observed in other research papers on innovation . The research had stated that if the innovation program were to reach out to 10 % of the workforce , it would have been successful . This was an important insight when calibrating our performance indicators moving forward . 4 . Approach The Learning Launch approach would still be the ideal tool moving forward . However , the approach would be different . With the insights gathered from the 1st Learning Launch , the innovation task force would probably try out a different mode of crowdsourcing ideas from the staff but in a more permanent tool , like an Idea Crowdsource Engine . This engine will allow staff members to post their ideas , comment , up - vote , refine and volunteer their resources for good ideas . Essentially the same methodology as the innovation booth described earlier , but now automated and online . Gamification principles will replace the monetary incentives provided previously , with the end goal being a highly motivated workforce that have full autonomy to form teams to deal with ideas/ issues with little or no instruction from upper management .