Hack:
Tapping Employee Enthusiasm for Facebook to Encourage Innovation
To address this problem, we have formulated a 'Nova-integra model' which taps employees' enthusiasm for social networks and channels it to improve the innovation process within the organisation.
But, this needs to be channelised in the right direction this is where the organisations tend to fail, we have tried to provide a solution to this problem by imbibing an intra-social networking site within the organisation (for example Facebook).
- Thus we have proposed a new model called Nova-integra model.(refer the material for the model)
- The model tackles the problem of lack of innovation from employees using the concept of 'innovating through interaction' at every level of organisation by leveraging ideas through intra-social networking site.
- There will be a separate team working on the social networking architecture of the company.
- The model mainly concentrates on 360 degree development throughout the organisation.
- Each level of social interaction is controlled by moderators, and the TDR's of the moderators will be pre defined at every level of the loop.
- Every loop in the model represents different hierarchial levels within the organisation and every loop has a distinct tool to trigger the innovation mechanism.
The nova-integra model redefines the boundaries of organisational hiehrarchy & an innovation through interaction approach. The loops in the model represent the hierarchial levels, at every level of hierarchy employees differ in terms of knowledge and the touch points which trigger the innovative thinking.
I. Innovation Loop 1: Knowledge workers (Lower level)
- Interaction on FB should be made a part of the employees daily work schedule
- The 'what's on your mind' column should be made mandatory and the top 10 idea generators of the month should be recognised
II. Innovation Loop 2: Team leads & Managers (Middle level)
- The middle level employees should conduct their project discussions on FB, where they can question and network in order to come up with innovative solutions.
- A debate on contradictory applications of concepts can trigger better ideas.
- Best implementable ideas can be recognised.
III. Innovation Loop 3: VP, Country heads.. (Top level)
- The people at this level of the organisation are high at knowledge and its not an easy task to moderate their thoughts of innovation, this needs to be handled with care.
- The moderators at this level should be excellent orators and liasonwho could facilitate interactions at the this level of the organisational hierarchy.
- At this level the activities such as redefining the exsisting business models, formulating new business plans... all this should be focused towards increased innovation.
Internal moderating points: Moderating points within the purview and control of the organisation which exist within its boundaries. They will be responsible to moderate the discussion on various ideas being flagged on the FB forum. They should promote innovation amongst employees, measure the performance and work towards a more competitive work environment.
External moderating points: Moderating points outside the organisation but within its purview of control. They will be the moderators handling the external issues which act as a threat and also utilize this social networking tool for employer & company branding.
Uncontrolled moderating points: Moderating points which have a bearing on the organizational activities but cannot be controlled but still be moderated by handling critical issues about the company which arise on the social networking arena.
- Increased profitability with new innovations
- More employee-employee interaction within the organisation there by bonding human relations
- Better handling of social networking media leading to employer and company branding
- Well defined intra-social network architecture within the organisation
- Established innovation trigger mechanism imbibed through out
- Competitive work environment
1. Formulate an external expert panel comprising of business analytics & network achitect engineers who could sketch a plan for the intra-social network within the organisation
2. Restructure the HRD department by establishing a separate wing which would handle the intra-social network & issues arising from it
3. Selection of moderator points and define the flow of information in and out of the organisation
4. Reengineer the daily work schedule of the employees after implementation of ‘Nova-integra’
5. Identify the moderators and design their TDR’s, develop a scale of measurement and various performance indicators to measure innovation effectiveness
I like the "lemonade from lemons" aspect of this Hack: if your employees are spending too much time on Facebook, find a way that the organization can benefit from it. I'm wondering about a couple of things, however. First, do you see this kind of innovation happening only on Facebook in particular, or is it possible to tap a similar level of enthusiasm on another, more focused (and perhaps internal) social network? Also, have you seen this work successfully at a business? I'm curious about what types of innovations have come out of it, and how the organization channeled them successfully from Facebook to their business.
- Dave
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Our idea of generating innovation from employees at different levels
of the organisations through the existing trend of social networking
is just our thought which has not been implemented anywhere yet.
We are talking about an intra-social networking site within the
organisation which would be channelised by setting up moderator
points, this should be done in collaboration with an already existing
social network which could provide the network architecture. We are
not confining ourselves to facebook; any social network which goes
well with the employees of the organisation would work. But we like
the column " what's on your mind?" in facebook. The organisation
should keep in mind to colloborate with the one which can provide the
required privacy for the organisation.
Though we have not practically experimented the hack, we are expecting
three diffent kinds of innovation at each level.
Ex: At lnnovation loop 1: i.e operational level employees can come up
with techniques that can improve their efficiency at their work place.
At innovation loop 2: i.e middle level, employees can discusss and
debate on new projects and processes.
At innovation loop 3: senior level management can re-engineer the
strategies of the organisation.
Hope we have answered your queries and sorry for the late reply.
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