The Spark Innovation Program is a powerful creative process to bring new energy and ideas to what you already do. Participants are equipped with the tools and confidence to unleash creative potential and support innovation when decision making and problem solving. Driven by the belief that everyone has the potential to make a real impact, the program aims to take you on a journey that will change the way you see innovation, whether that’s a new mindset or simply a shift in one.
What powerful creative process would be complete without a real-world challenge? Enter leading global brand IKEA, and the North Asia team’s desire to train at least 10% of staff to become innovators within the organisation.
It was this goal that became the focal point of the first pilot initiative, “400 Innovators”. A six-week blended learning experience to build a culture of innovation, fostering creative thinking, and experimentation in the workplace. A key player in this collaboration was Innovation Ambassador at IKEA North Asia, Wendy Shi. She heads up the Innovation and Transformation team, dedicated to driving innovation and constantly looking to develop solutions that will transform the entire company. She explains the purpose behind the initiative for IKEA North Asia:
Participants worked as part of intimate breakout groups. They delved into customers’ feedback and learned how to find real problems to solve, as well as how to ideate, prototype, experiment, and iterate. This knowledge could then be integrated into daily ways of working, with the added bonus of gaining the confidence to influence other colleagues to try things in a different way.
Wendy provides an insight into IKEA’s way of thinking:
The Spark Innovation Program became an opportunity for people with various expertise to collaborate and perform in real innovation projects. Wendy and her team were just bystanders in this process. Far from it. Alongside being heavily involved throughout, they also fully welcomed the ‘learn by doing’ mantra that’s now deep rooted in Hyper Island’s DNA. It allowed Wendy, along with the industry leaders at Hyper Island, to guide participants as leaders, facilitators, and contributors.
Prior to the program, Wendy and her team identified the following standout challenges for IKEA to overcome:
The Spark Innovation Program produced some impressive, wide-reaching results:
The experience has been a successful learning experiment for all involved, which is supported by the 93% satisfaction rate.
Alongside the ideas pitched, some key innovation challenges were identified that could really help IKEA take their customer experience to completely new heights.
From in-store challenges (‘How might we help our customers find what they need in an IKEA store without too much walking?’) to internal ones (‘How might we build stronger trust and connection between different teams?’), and total outside-the-box thinking (‘How might we help young customers to build a house from zero?’). It’s this creative idea generation from outside influencers that can trigger transformational innovative solutions – even for globally established brands.
The Program doesn’t stop there though. Ideas presented by the cohorts are passed onto decision makers of different departments by Wendy and here, they’re taken into serious consideration for further development. Just imagine your idea being in with a chance of getting implemented into a global brand with ready-made solutions? Exciting, right?
Wendy explains her excitement for this long-term collaboration:
Feel free to reach out to Juanita, our APAC Business Development Head extraordinaire at juanita.mega@hyperisland.com.