Ideathon – an idea whose time has come
Many business leaders in the IT and software industry run quarterly Hackathons.
These are typically 24 hour sessions where software developer try and create say a new product, feature or app.
I think this is a great idea which can be extended to any organisation.
Enter the Ideathon.
What I like about this idea is that it is a disruptive way of generating (potentially) a disruptive idea and boosting internal engagement and collaboration.
My suggestions to run an Ideathon are these:
– Run a pilot first
– Commit to running these every quarter and give every team 24 hours to generate a disruptive idea
– Ask for volunteers and ask them to form teams
– Give them a single challenge e.g. we are looking for disruptive ideas aimed at teenagers we can test in the next 6 months
– Establish the evaluation criterion before you launch
– Have the evaluation panel comprised of future or emerging leaders
– Vary the ownership of the quarterly Ideation session among the senior leadership team.
– Make the event fun and energising.
Whilst the purpose of the session is to generate a disruptive idea, it is an ideal process to get more people engaged with innovation.
If you would like help in creating, planning or running an Ideathon then give me a call.
I would encourage you to give this big idea a go.