Successful innovation is not something you do alone, which is why you hear so much about co-creation at the moment: involving customers, consumers, citizens and professionals in the innovation, marketing and customer service process ( TNO ). But what if, as an organisation, you find innovating with people from outside a bridge too far? Start with your colleagues, and discover the hidden treasure of knowledge, insights and ideas in the organisation. In this article, more about the value of internal co-creation and how to approach it.
Internal co-creation: innovating with employees who were not hired for this purpose
What is the definition of internal co-creation? On the Ideaken blog I came across the following: “Employee co-creation is an act of innovating with the help of talent which is primarily not employed as innovators in your enterprise.” Most organizations have an enormous untapped potential in their employees, which is a shame.
Objectives: more added value and a smarter organization
What is the value of involving employees in the innovation process?
More people means more ideas. And rule 1 in a brainstorm: more is better!
Ideas become much richer and more valuable. Problems are viewed from multiple perspectives (disciplines). In addition, ideas receive feedback. This is how a good idea develops step by step into a great idea.
The process is faster. Because it is known who has what knowledge and network and therefore needs to be involved in the development process, a chosen idea can be quickly developed into a concept, prototype and product.
Employees quickly see results and become more involved in the organization.
Co-creation therefore produces more and better ideas that lead to results faster. And that is what it is all about:
More added value for the customer
A smarter organization (more effective and efficient)
What steps are important to achieve this result?
3 steps: acquiring, sharing and applying knowledge in innovation projects
I see 3 important steps to stimulate internal co-creation:
Acquiring, sharing and applying knowledge
A continuous process: acquiring, sharing and applying knowledge
Acquiring knowledge and inspiration from outside the organization. Knowledge about technological developments, customer needs, market developments, etc.
Sharing knowledge within the organization. Create a good internal network.
Applying knowledge, insights and creativity to generate, develop and select ideas.
(These steps are based on the definition of the concept of market orientation by Jaworski pakistan phone number list and Kohli in the Journal of Marketing (1993): (1) organization-wide acquisition of market information, (2) dissemination of this information throughout the organization, and (3) an organization-wide response to the information.)
Successful innovation always(!) has to do with the outside world. Without knowledge of market needs and technological developments, you cannot develop successful products and services. In your daily work, you continuously acquire new knowledge and sharpen existing insights. Encourage employees (especially in the core business) to keep their eyes open.
Which tools can you use for this?
Trade magazines
RSS feeds
Social media
Sessions with customers, users, lead users
Trainings and manuals to use the tools properly
Etc.
Step 2 – Sharing knowledge: knowing who has what knowledge and how to reach them
In many organizations it is impossible, and also not useful, to record all acquired knowledge in systems. Make sure you know who has what knowledge and how you can reach them. Create a place where employees can ask each other questions and get answers that help them directly in their primary process, rather than a huge database. Also read the interesting article “ Google vs. the Human Search Engine – Crowdsourcing Q&A ”. It also helps you to link ideas to the right expertise and resources within the organization at a later stage.