How to avoid launching an innovation initiative that no one is joining!
What would happen if you launched a great initiative but your colleagues didn't have to join? In this article you will find out how to engage your colleagues and get them to participate enthusiastically in your innovation initiative.
Involving people in a new innovation initiative is complex and we often risk failing in our mission. People are difficult to conquer and expectations are always very high. It is necessary to use new tools and refined procedures to stimulate our colleagues to be part of a group of innovators who can change the fortunes and history of our company, maintaining the right motivation and charge from the beginning to the end of the project.
It is very important that everyone knows what is happening in the company! The initiative to create the new innovation community must reach everyone, be clear and above all attractive. Yes but how? You must follow a well-designed path and use different marketing tools mixed wisely, defining the timing well.
The recruitment phase must last approximately two weeks from when the campaign starts, no more, if you extend this phase beyond the two weeks you risk losing your time and having very few more members, as well as losing inertia and the speed. The first ten days you will receive 80% of the applications!
Here are all the steps you'll need to follow:
Create a logo and a visual identity for your new community, you must be easily identifiable and distinguishable! The logo must best represent the initiative and follow the company guidelines regarding communication. The new logo must be used in all materials, communication and activities of the Innovation Community.
Create a real video campaign in which managers and company managers invite everyone to apply and participate in the casting of the new community. No more than 3/4 videos lasting about 1 minute, shot in different places and all with clear and legible subtitles and a suitable background music, not everyone will hear the audio and the subtitles are fundamental. Produce different formats to make sure that everyone can see them at their best and don't forget to loop them in the company's video corner if there are any. The video is an extremely effective and engaging call to action. Videos must be engaging, stimulating and focus on the desire for change. Herewith an example:
Rely on the most important needs of your colleagues: being able to change things in the company, being able to deal with their managers and the company board, making their needs known and making their skills visible and finally getting out of anonymity.
Produce eye-catching, quality brochures, roll-ups and posters with a clear and easy-to-understand call to action and leave them at all points of passage and meeting: coffee corners, meeting rooms, canteen, concierge, etc. This material must be consistent with the new visual identity of your community. I recommend many, many copies! Pay close attention to the quality of materials and printing, it is very important to create beautiful and memorable content.
If there are multiple locations in the company or secondary offices, try to reach everyone and make sure everyone can participate. One of the qualifying elements of an innovation community is heterogeneity and the possibility for everyone to contribute regardless of role, responsibility and corporate headquarters.
Tell people that places are limited to make participation something exclusive and elitist, innovation is not for everyone!
Organize some small events in the company to collect sign-ups, a brief presentation, a corner at the entrance, an "innovative" lunch in the canteen, in short, everything that can allow you to get in touch directly with your colleagues to explain the initiative and leave him some material. An excellent idea could be to organize. if the company has more offices spread over the territory, a sort of tour presenting the initiative and collecting the applications directly.
Guarantee the right sponsorship and commitment of the general management on your initiative, if your colleagues do not perceive that the top management is fully involved and supports the initiative, risks not collecting what you expect.
Send all your colleagues an e-mail with the same digital content as the one you created to be sure, that everyone can have a chance to apply.
Make the application quick and easy: QR code and short links on all printed and video files and a button in the mail.
Always try to have a shared consensus and to involve all company departments in the initiative so that they encourage the participation of their collaborators and guarantee them a "free zone" to dedicate 20% of the work time to the community and to the initiatives of innovation, it is a real protected time where each member can devote himself with his team to change things in the company.
This phase is very demanding, it must be prepared with great dedication and planning, in a very limited time you have to concentrate a lot of activities and initiatives, collecting lots of adhesions to your project. Yes but how many? When can we really claim to have been successful in the recruitment phase of the participants? Is there an indicator that determines whether we have been successful or not? Actually yes! We can say that if at least 20% of the company's resources have applied to participate in the new innovation project, we have achieved an important result and a great starting point. It is good to also take into account the ability we have had in attracting profiles with different experiences and levels of seniority within the different company departments, one of the elements of success within our new community, as we said earlier heterogeneity is essential.
Always remember that the most important lever on which to base the re-recruitment process is that of change, today many people in the company feel frustrated and unhappy and would like to have an opportunity to change things, highlight themselves and show everyone how much they are worth.
Conclusions
With this article you read how:
1) involve your colleagues to participate in an innovation path in the company
2) the tools you need to use to make sure you succeed
3) if you can believe to have been successful
