CrowdSolving: Leveraging Collective Intelligence to Revitalize Your Company

The economy seems tough today, impacting a lot of people's lives through layoffs, bankruptcies, and business closures. There is an under-leveraged solution, which, if taken proactively, can help in times of crisis.

When companies face challenging times, the typical response is for executive leadership to brainstorm solutions, perhaps bring in expensive consultants, or do the common thing - consider layoffs. But what if there was a better way - one that tapped into the insights and creativity of your existing employees? That's exactly what Open Space Technology (OST) offers.

OST is a powerful meeting format that allows employees at all levels to collectively solve challenging problems.

What is Open Space

• OST is a self-organizing method for facilitating meetings, conferences, and other gatherings, originally developed by Harrison Owen in the 1980s.
• Rather than having a predefined agenda, there is an overall theme, and the agenda is created by the participants at the start of the meeting. Individuals propose topics for discussion and these topics are posted on a schedule grid with time and space allotted.
• Participants then self-organize into groups around the topics they are most interested in or passionate about. Multiple discussions take place simultaneously in a flexible, organic way.
• There are four principles: whoever comes are the right people, whatever happens is the only thing that could have, whenever it starts is the right time, when it's over it's over. And one law: the law of mobility (participants take responsibility for what they care about).
• The role of the facilitator is to explain the process and principles, then let the participants self-organize. The facilitator acts as a "keeper of the process" rather than a content leader.
• OST is designed to harness the collective intelligence and self-organization of groups in a creative, democratic way. It's been used for many different kinds of events and organizations.

When to use Open Space

OST is ideal for the following conditions (quote from the Open Space World website):

“Open Space is an inviting alternative to the usual meeting, conference or summit format, in organizations, communities, alliances and networks, when these conditions are present – and especially when levels are high and/or rising:

• Complexity – when the question to be solved is bigger than any one person, group or area of expertise will be able to fully address.
• Diversity – when successful resolution of the issue or question necessarily must include input and action from a wide variety of different kinds of stakeholders and/or with a wide diversity of interests.
• Conflict – real or potential, when there’s real passion in the situation, meaning people care enough to fight for or about something.
• Urgency – when the time for decisions and action was yesterday.

Open Space will work with almost any question and any group that cares about that question, but it works even better when things get challenging in these ways.”

How can this work to reinvigorate companies?

Rather than having leadership or consultants dictate solutions, OST lets employees self-organize to tackle issues. While leadership can set the theme and the compelling problem to be solved, the agenda is left wide open for participants to propose discussion topics. Groups form organically around the ideas people are most excited and concerned about. The wisdom of the full group is leveraged, not just those at the top.

The results can be remarkable. Whole new directions and innovations can emerge that leadership never would have devised alone. People feel empowered and committed to implementing the solutions they helped co-create.

Take one company as an example. With sales declining by 60%, the CEO faced pressure to make cuts. Instead, he brought all employees together for an OST session. Employees shared groundbreaking ideas to reduce costs, boost sales, and improve operations. The proposed solutions were prioritized and accepted by the group and leadership based on impact and readiness. Cross-departmental teams formed to put those solutions into action straight away. Morale soared and the company turned itself around.

OST unleashes the passion, expertise, and creativity already present in an organization. Rather than imposing top-down edicts which are typically narrow in focus and lack breadth of solutions, leadership shares challenges transparently and lets employees figure out the answers. The wisdom of the full group exceeds what any individual or department could devise.

With urgency, complexity, and conflict on the rise, companies can't afford to shut out their greatest asset - their employees. Open Space Technology fosters the openness, engagement, and collaboration needed to tackle problems - before layoffs ever become necessary.

Types of Insights and Ideas

Here are some examples of groundbreaking ideas employees could potentially come up with during an Open Space Technology session aimed at turning around a struggling company:

• New product or service ideas that leverage the company's existing strengths and assets in innovative ways. Employees closer to customers and operations may spot opportunities that executives missed.
• Fresh marketing strategies based on employee interactions with customers and insights into changing market trends. Those on the frontlines often have their finger on the pulse.
• Process optimization suggestions drawing from employees' hands-on workflow experience and knowledge. Tweaks and fixes to streamline operations, boost quality, and reduce costs.
• Revenue-generating suggestions around monetizing assets, IP, or other resources lying dormant within the company. Employees may think creatively about assets.
• Cost-cutting ideas that don't negatively impact customers or quality. Employees often know where there is fat to trim in budgets based on first-hand experience.
• New partnerships, alliances, and channels that employees' networks and connections may be able to facilitate. Frontline teams may know potential partners.
• Insights from tech-savvy employees about automating manual processes or integrating new technologies to gain efficiencies.
• Creative options for redeploying or retraining staff to fill new roles vs mass layoffs. Employees may have skills leadership is unaware of.
• Employees might opt in to a voluntary sabbatical or a temporary reduction in pay to save the company. These would be things that executives would rarely consider before layoffs, but one that employees might be willing to consider instead of being laid off.

The key is the collective wisdom and cross-pollination of ideas across silos, levels, and functions is immense, often containing game-changing insights executives would miss.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Open Space Technology (OST) offers companies a powerful alternative to traditional top-down problem-solving approaches. Especially in today's challenging economic climate, the collective wisdom, creativity, and engagement of your employees could be your most underutilized asset. OST provides a democratic, flexible framework that activates this hidden potential, fostering cross-departmental solutions to complex issues. Instead of relying solely on executive decisions or expensive consultants, organizations can tap into the diverse perspectives and hands-on experiences of their own staff. The results are not just innovative solutions but also a more empowered and engaged workforce committed to actionable outcomes.

If you're interested in learning more about how Open Space Technology can reinvigorate your company or your next initiative, feel free to reach out. Your employees have a wealth of knowledge waiting to be leveraged; don't miss the opportunity to harness it.