Crowdsourcing platforms vs. employee surveys – why is the platform more effective?
In an era of profound technological advancement, organizations are relentlessly pursuing ways to keep pace with evolving trends and bolster their competitive edge. More frequently, they’re treading the path of dynamic development and innovation at all operational levels. Engaging their employees in crowdsourced idea generation is becoming a pivotal strategy to address challenges and unearth innovative concepts. Yet, the traditional methods of suggestion boxes or employee surveys have lost their luster. Organizations now seek more efficacious and expeditious means for identifying ideas and analyzing daily dilemmas, and that’s where technologically advanced crowdsourcing platforms come into play.
Crowdsourcing platforms vs. employee surveys: the divergence
Employee surveys, whether sporadic or recurring, shine when addressing straightforward inquiries, demanding brief and precise responses. However, they provide limited scope for creativity and the introduction of alternative and captivating solutions. They often lack engagement, leading many employees to abandon them midway or complete them cursorily, skimming past the more intricate questions.
Enforcing participation in lengthy thematic surveys within predetermined timeframes seldom evokes enthusiasm or fosters positive experiences. Innovative ideas can strike at any moment, and granting employees the liberty to share their insights in real-time, rather than limiting them temporally, can be immensely rewarding. Moreover, employee surveys fall short in fostering the interactivity crucial to engaging employees and spurring brainstorming about potential solutions. They allow employees to voice their opinions but fail to nurture discussions with their colleagues.
In stark contrast, a crowdsourcing platform, exemplified by Crowdio, empowers employees with unbridled freedom of expression. Temporal constraints become non-existent, enabling them to proffer ideas at their convenience. A defining trait that bolsters employee engagement within crowdsourcing initiatives is interactivity. Employees can actively partake in discussions, freely critique others’ ideas, and endorse their preferred ones through voting. These elements are conspicuously absent in the world of employee surveys. By employing a fitting platform, the validation process for ideas is also more transparent compared to employee surveys, which often lack anonymity. Furthermore, the platform involves employees in the holistic innovation implementation process, allowing them to nominate individuals for project teams and extend invitations to others to participate in initiatives. Employees are granted complete visibility into project progression, courtesy of automatic updates.
It’s evident that employee surveys are, in essence, less effective.
Fostering engagement through crowdsourcing platforms
Crowdsourcing platforms are designed to ignite employee engagement by incorporating gamification elements that motivate employees to actively contribute ideas and explore additional solutions. The provision for interaction, dialogue, and the evaluation of alternative concepts serves to reinforce employees’ sense of value and acts as a catalyst for their personal development. Within this landscape, employees perceive that they wield real influence over the organization, actively participating in the selection of new initiatives. A notable advantage is the accessibility of all submitted ideas to every employee, ensuring complete transparency in all aspects of project implementation, from the selection of the best idea through to its execution.
The continuous accessibility of the crowdsourcing platform empowers employees to share their ideas at their convenience. This flexibility recognizes that inspiration can strike at any moment, providing employees the autonomy to decide when they want to contribute. Furthermore, crowdsourcing activities are not confined to annual occurrences but take place in real time, enabling immediate idea generation.
Beyond its real-time capabilities, a crowdsourcing platform offers comprehensive functionality, including data analysis, budget oversight, and the ability to monitor the various stages of implementing specific innovations. Implementing employee-submitted ideas significantly enhances their experiences, resulting in increased engagement.
In comparison to one-time or periodic employee surveys, a crowdsourcing platform excels by seamlessly managing the entire process from idea inception to implementation. It engages employees, encourages interaction, facilitates improved communication, and ultimately delivers tangible enhancements to their experiences. In doing so, it not only supports organizational growth but also fosters the personal development of each employee, inspiring an innovative perspective of their workplace.
Read also:
Crowdsourcing and its transformative impact on your organization
5 best practices for building an efficient crowdsourcing platform with Crowdio as a case study