It's time for a change - Crowdsource your best ideas for change; With Albana Vrioni

Hello and welcome to this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur with me, Jim James. And today we're going to Belgium to talk to Albana Vrioni, who's originally from Albania, but she's in Belgium today. And she's going to talk with us about crowdsourcing for change and about how you can have generative leadership and how you can have viral adoption of new ideas. Albana, welcome to the show.

Thank you so much, Jim. It's a pleasure and honor to be here with you.

Look, I've watched your TED Talk about crowdsourcing change. Tell us, how can this help an entrepreneur to innovate and to get noticed?

Well, crowdsourcing is everywhere today. And what I see is that with the evolution of the social technologies, that is becoming even more, I would say, an opportunity for entrepreneurs to not only collect and spot new ideas, but also to spread them and have viral adoption of whatever comes new into their work lives. So the opportunity is there, as I say, because the entrepreneur has got the possibility to really get the best out of the creative minds of a crowd, I would say a very diverse crowd who they can access, have access to. But also the opportunity is there because the technologies are allowing it. And not only they're allowing it, but they have educated the different generations, I would say all the generations, to see the value of I absolutely love this idea of sort of crowdsourcing ideas, both sort of innovation at the beginning and then for adoption as well.

So just tell us, how does it work, crowdsourcing for change? You want to take us through an example of how an entrepreneur could even use crowdsourcing for change?

Yeah, that's a good idea. In my TED Talk, I talked about the example of the mayor, but take the word mayor away and you can apply that for every entrepreneur as well. So I can go back to the case when we have used that with the clients and it all comes, let's say, with a desire of the leadership of the organization to involve and to create participation of all the different generations in the organization into creating whatever they want to have, like a new experience for the customers. So it comes with this awareness because that awareness then creates the possibilities and creates a culture of feeling empowered and collaboration and feeling, let's say, at ease with providing ideas. So when that, let's say, awareness is there into the leadership of the organization and is penetrating and has penetrated probably already the culture, then we can see that with the use of the technology, we can eventually be able to integrate whatever new ideas are there in the organization.

So, Albena, how is crowdsourcing different to, if you like, a survey or doing research or just, you know, asking your team what they think? So is crowdsourcing fundamentally different to just doing research, asking people what they think? How is it different?

Oh yeah, definitely. It's fundamentally different. First of all, because the purpose is different. When we are talking about crowdsourcing, it's about coming with a new experience. So we've got in mind, how do we want to create a new experience for my employees or for my customers, whatever is the target? And from there, we go and pose the question and say, hey, we want to create a new experience for the customers. And we go to those meeting points. So those points in the organizations that might have some contacts with our customers, for example, I'm focusing now on the customers. And we We say, okay, we've got, we go into layers and say, I go in the first step, who are the primary people that have got contact with the customer? Who's the secondary layers? And then we go even to include those that do not have any contact with the customers because we want to have the diversity. So first we start with the objective of creating a new experience for a very specific target. And from there, we make sure that we are very diversified in the audience to which we're addressing for ideas, because it is that diversity that is going to allow us later on into getting the best ideas on board. And here there is one element that most of the surveys or research do not include, is the way that we are processing and analyzing the information collected. There is already a process embedded into the, let's say, technology that we are using to collect those ideas. So we say, okay, we put some care, there is a logic in there. And based on that logic, we are going to promote ideas from one layer to another. One element that promotes the ideas is what we now know with the badges of liking, supporting, voting, and so on. But there are other ways so that it doesn't become, It's not only quantitative, but it's also qualitative. So there is a logic, okay? And doesn't have to do with surveys or research. It has no similarity to that. The other thing that is very much associated with this process, and it's very important, is the decision-making bodies. So we back then have created a group that has got representatives for different layers, let's say, or typologies of stakeholders that we are including building into our sample of ideas collection, of ideation. And those people are looking at the responses, and we've got like a forum of conversation, say, of making sense of those ideas that are popping up and making it through the channel of being, let's say, prioritized for decision-making.

So, one of the challenges in my experience, Albana, is asking lots of people what they think is that There's an expectation that what they think will then lead to some kind of decision and some kind of action and then some kind of fulfillment of their wishes. How do you manage the expectation that you're creating amongst all those people that you've engaged in the process?

Well, that is a fundamental point in managing any change, but especially in change crowdsourcing, what helps is To be clear on the purpose and on the goal. And I mentioned also earlier on the transparency of decision-making. We all know that not every idea is a good idea. And what I mean by good here is an idea that supports the purpose and the goal. By making all those elements of our decision-making clear and transparent, we make sure and we help that the participants have got an idea that, okay, For this case here, I see that there is another idea that has got a better fit. Not that my idea is not a good idea, but that it's got— another idea has got a better fit. And there is also another element that we have put in place and saying contingent ideas. So some ideas may not be a good fit for that particular goal that we're pursuing, but some ideas might be seeds of a totally different innovation stream. So that forum, that group that gets together into looking at different ideas, has got a very challenging job on making sense of some of those ideas that do not really feel the initial stream of fitting to the initial goal. Let's put it that way. The transparency helps to keep people somehow understanding that for that case, the idea was not the best fit.

Okay. So, Bani, you've got these contingent ideas, which is a great idea, almost like a car parking, maybe adding those in later to another area of development as a company. Why would an entrepreneur decide to, if you like, crowdsource change rather than playing the traditional role of having the idea, rolling it out, beta testing, getting the feedback with a minimum viable product, for example, and then iterating that idea? Why would they worry or want to go through the rigmarole of crowdsourcing change?

Well, I would say basically for 3 ideas, for 3 reasons. One is that by having people participating with their ideas, you are already having people sponsoring the adoption of the product that has got the footprint of their contribution. The second one is that you are somehow throughout the process creating knowledge. The selection of the ideas goes through certain stages of maturity. From one stage to another, the contributors follow up on what's going on with the idea and with the implementation of idea. And they somehow make themselves aware about things that are related with the idea. So they're building knowledge. When the new product is out there based on that idea, it's not totally new for them. That's very important. And the other one, it goes a lot faster, we think, not only because there is that desire to participate and to see my idea going through or an idea going through, But also because there is so much going on through the technologies, the outreach is so huge. And I know that we have to respond. I have to give my contribution. Otherwise, an idea to which I am supporting, promoting might not make it. And so in itself, the process builds up speed.

Okay. That's wonderful. Yes. And of course, in Asia, generally the view is that they have a sort of a collaborative decision-making Before actually going into implementation. So this idea of crowdsourcing is, I think, already to some degree deployed in some Asian management, especially in Japanese ones. Albana, you mentioned technology. What kind of tools are available for an entrepreneur to use if they want to implement crowdsourcing for change?

Well, there are quite a few tools out there that can be used for this purpose. Now we want to make a difference between the tools that you use within an organization and tools that you use, let's say, outside the organization. I would say that tools like YouTube and all the social media are great for social change. When we're talking about change that has to do with new ways of working, with new products, then there are other— although all the social media are very important at some point of this crowdsourcing, there are also tools that need to be used within the organization so that you can make the, let's say, the stakeholdership, the first owners of the idea. So I'm saying your employees, your suppliers, and your stakeholders and your investors. When you have got them being primary to the idea, you will have all the support you need to go a lot further. So some of those tools that can be used, back then we used Yambla as a tool for that, Jive as a tool, Salesforce. These have worked very well. There are other tools today, like Slack can be used. I know that SAP is working quite a bit on change crowdsourcing, incorporating that into their softwares. And a couple more that I can drop a link for you to maybe spread and offer to the listeners.

Great. Thank you, Albano. That's really useful. SAP obviously sort of is at the top end, I think, isn't it, of the sort of platforms that entrepreneurs can use and MNCs are using. Albane, you've been like sharing and an ambassador for, you know, crowdsource change. Tell us about your own journey marketing this concept. And obviously I've seen your TEDx talk, which is how we came together. What's been the impact of the TEDx talk on building your own brand and sharing this idea of crowdsourcing for change?

Well, that's a good, a very good question. I think that we all want to make the best of the new ideas and bring them out there in the world. And I'd say that I use a very simple process for that, a process that I use for myself and I use it for my clients. And I start by saying, okay, what is it that I want to achieve through me in the world? What is it that I want to offer as a value to the world? And I work there on my inner core. What is it that is driving me? And then further, I say, how is it going to look like? Go into that process of creative imagination, which allows me to see not only to visualize, but also to define how do I measure that success? And then further on, I go and look into what, how is that going to be manifest? How do I know when I'm there? How is it going to manifest it? How are people going to experience that? What is the experience going to look like? And then I go and say, who's going to sponsor me? And that is very important. Who is my system of sponsors and stakeholders? And sponsors are people like, it's all my friends and all my family and everybody Everyone that is very close to me that can give me some feedback without any, I would say, without me trying to reach them out, they will come towards me.

Yeah.

But then there are also the different stakeholders that I mentioned earlier. I know, for example, that in my case, my stakeholders are the organization that I work with, my direct clients, and the whole audience that is out there into, for example, LinkedIn. All my readers, all my clients are in LinkedIn, which is a channel that I use actively. And frequently to be able to promote my ideas. For example, in LinkedIn, we have participated in many groups. In one of those groups, for example, we have used change crowdsourcing to be able to set up consortiums that are participating for proposals on the program of Horizon Europe. The whole idea was promoted within that group, and that's how the process was built throughout the different phases of building that proposal together.

Well, Ivana, so it sounds as though You're using, you know, crowdsourcing for change, both, you know, within your own career and business development, as well as something that you're pioneering in the market too, which is fantastic. Now, it does take a different kind of a leader, doesn't it? Because traditionally there will be maybe someone who has an idea and they promote that idea and they get feedback. How is crowdsourcing leadership different? Because it sounds like it may need a different set of skills. Than the traditional entrepreneur-customer relationship.

That's right. And I did mention that also in my TED Talk, that there we're talking about participative leadership. We want to participate and we want to build the social fabric of the organization, of the team, or of the community into which we are, we are contributing. But on top of that, it needs a leadership awareness on the stakeholder system to which we want to bring value and the kind of value that we want to bring. And I would say that is indeed the most important element, the most important call of the leader that is pursuing the change crowdsourcing. That kind of capacity of being aware of the stakeholder needs and the stakeholder experiences that through our work, who we are through our presence and what we're delivering out there, what is the experience that we are bringing, that is very important because this is going to then guide the different choices that we are making and how we are integrating the different audiences into the conversation and the place we're leaving for each of them. And we go back to the process of leaving the different ideas to grow into the process of decision-making. That kind of leadership, being aware of the stakeholder experience that we want to create, calls for also other types of awarenesses, like what I call the subtle awareness. Subtle awareness meaning how does ego part and my soul part work with each other? I know that as a leader, I have to be also a great manager. As a great manager, I work mostly on, let's say, the ego part of my being. I work on my outer game, but as a leader, I need to be able to be working well on my inner game. And it is the alignment of those two, the outer game and the inner game, that eventually is going to bring into the leader the best qualities that you need to care for stakeholder experience.

Albano Brioni, what an amazing topic and fantastic to have you to share just a bit of an insight to crowdsourcing for change. And I will put a link to your TEDx talk because it's a wonderful talk. It's just 20 minutes, but a lifetime's worth of experience. And if people want to find out more about you, Albano, how can they do that?

Well, I've got a website that they can find me in. It's generativeintelligence.eu. I have got a channel in YouTube, Wings to Change, and I'm present on LinkedIn also. And so these are the best channels to get in contact with me.

Wonderful. I will include all of those in the show notes as always. So Albana Rioni joining me from Belgium. Thank you so much for sharing with me and my fellow Unnoticed Entrepreneurs all about the Crowdsourcing for Change initiative and how we're all going to be impacted by this as we move forward with new technologies and Really new ways of creating change on a social and a socially wide basis rather than just an organizationally led change. Thank you so much for joining me today.

It's a pleasure. Thank you for your time, Jim.

So you've been listening to Albana Brioni. And of course, I will include her details in the show notes. And if you've enjoyed this show, please do share it with a fellow listener, an entrepreneur. And if you're interested in reading more, then there are the articles. And of course, the volume 2 of the Unnoticed Entrepreneur book is now available on Amazon. So do check Check those out. And thank you so much for listening to me, Jim James, your host on this episode of The Unnoticed Entrepreneur.