Netflix Black Mirror series episode “Nosedive” is a perfect depiction of what happens when we take an extreme approach to building a life filled with empty gestures to elicit feedback or criticism.

Being obsessed with scores and ratings in of itself is not the solution. Without focus, purpose and context, actions will not yield any meaningful results. Especially when an organization wants to ensure it is challenging itself everyday to redefine, reevaluate and refine its business up, down and sideways across its entire chain of command, business model, offerings and operations.

Open Crowdsourcing Ratings

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” Winston Churchill

Corporate life expectancy is at an all-time low, the exponential rate of change is hitting companies on all fronts. This is pressuring organizations to innovate by opening themselves up, inside and out, or face the dire consequences of maintaining the status quo. Receiving feedback and a healthy dose of criticism with Open Crowdsourcing are among the best ways to learn, improve and transform.

To innovate and prosper, businesses need to create an environment for Open Crowdsourcing where diverse voices and opinions from inside and outside the company can easily share feedback and collaborate on developing new solutions. Employees have to be extended the opportunity to speak their mind and challenge the status quo.

Going beyond one-directional surveys means customers should be invited to have a real conversation that allows their feedback to be openly discussed, shared and acted upon. Equally important, to make it possible to act on this feedback, organizations must formulate the right problem statement that aligns the innovation activity with the strategy and corporate objectives being pursued so that the organization fosters relevant ideas, find solutions that are aligned with strategy, and can take action on the right recommendations.

Ask yourself the following:

  • Are you crowdsourcing your feedback from internal and external constituents?
  • Do participants have an opportunity to review all votes, comments and endorse or help build on each other’s feedback?
  • Do you provide a platform for these discussions to happen naturally and ensure transparency when conclusions are reached?

This is why leading businesses are adopting Open Crowdsourcing, opening themselves up to engaging on an ongoing dialogue with their employees, customers, partners and suppliers or reaching out to universities and startup community. They are fostering a true culture of sustainable innovation by building and nurturing online communities that allow for such communication and interaction to happen naturally.

They are using these communities to ask the right questions, identify the real problems to focus on, and to challenge the crowd to help them solve these issues in a transparent and open environment in a system of record for innovation management that provides structure, portal, workflows, and reports to track and measure all innovation activity and realized value.

This is a guest post by Ludwig Melik. Ludwig is CEO of Planbox, a pioneering provider of AI-powered Agile Work Innovation software solutions – from creative ideas to winning projects. They help organizations thrive by transforming the culture of agile work, continuous innovation and creativity across the entire organization. Watch a 3-min video about Planbox