Who has never thought of setting up an idea box in their company in order to allow employees to improve their daily lives? While on paper this seems to be beneficial, this initiative is often useless. We will see with you all the limits of the idea box and give you a concrete solution to replace it in order to engage your employees effectively.
The principle of the idea box
Idea boxes were originally designed as ballot boxes. Employees of a company are invited to insert papers on which they have written ideas to improve organization. Usually, all subjects can be addressed, whether it is innovation for a project, a management aspect, a decoration idea, etc.
From an organizational point of view, the idea box was difficult to set up, especially in large companies, which extend over several floors, or even several sites. Hundreds of papers were then to be collected, read and filed. Les digital idea boxes have therefore made their appearance. They allow employees to participate more simply, thanks to a link on the Internet. Ideas are easier to find and sort through.
The limits of the idea box
Despite the appearances and the goodwill behind the creation of a business idea box, limits to this practice are numerous.
First of all, if anonymity allows everyone to make proposals without fear of being mocked, it has a less virtuous consequence. Indeed, we realize that this causes excesses: the idea box can quickly be a place in which people complain about management, accuse each other, or mention team problems. Many use it for express their dissatisfaction anonymously
For an idea box to be useful, someone must also be in charge of categorizing the proposals and then implementing the most interesting ones. First of all, this poses a Hierarchical problem : very often, the people in charge of idea boxes are managers or HR managers. Naturally, they select the points that suit them and not necessarily those that are the most approved by employees. Then, we notice that very frequently, ideas don't come true, simply because no one is in charge of making them happen. Even if they are excellent and approved by many, without a project manager, nothing is possible.
Finally, most of the time, companies that launch idea boxes do not put in place sufficient resources to be able to complete projects. Without a budget and without giving time For employees, few ideas are feasible.
All these reasons show that even if creating an idea box is done with good intentions, in fact it is very difficult to follow through with employee proposals, even when they are interesting.
Teamstarter, a platform to replace the idea box
What can we do to (really) take into account the ideas of employees, and above all, to ensure that they come to fruition? A solution to this question may be the setting up a crowdfunding platform such as Teamstarter.
How does that work?
It's simple: each month, each employee is allocated a budget. €10, €30, €50, €50, it's up to you. Everyone can then create a project on the platform and fix the envelope needed to set it up. Each person can then decide which project they want to fund each month. Once enough money has been raised, the project leader is responsible for carrying it out, accompanied if necessary by the Teamstarter team of coaches.
Such an approach is of enormous interest for your business: it uses collective intelligence to innovate, Engage your employees and allows you toTo complete projects that they initiate. All of these factors have an impact on your employer brand and on your performances.
The idea box as we know it has a lot of limitations: it very rarely makes it possible to materialize the projects proposed by employees. The majority of suggestions are forgotten as soon as they have been read by management teams. To truly place your employees at the heart of your organization and encourage creativity, prefer the implementation of a crowdfunding platform. Thanks to collective intelligence and The commitment that this causes among your employees, you will (finally) see many projects implemented.
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