Communication
breakdown, it’s always the same. No matter if it’s a global enterprise
or a local Little-League team, communication between the individuals
that comprise the whole is paramount to success. When you are producing
assets with a global community and hosting scores of Open Innovation
challenges to procure those assets, the focus on how you communicate
with the individuals competing only intensifies. Whether you are on the TopCoder platform
as a client or simply looking to better how well you communicate with
your crowds, social fans and contributors, here are three communication
tips that will help you get the very most from the individuals who comprise your communities.
For the three tips below, it’s important to realize varying
contest types will require different approaches, especially when reading
tip #3 where the amount of detail you offer in a contest specification
will vary greatly between a creative design contest and a software
development contest.
1. Be on Time, Every Time
If
you are hosting competitions or asking your contributors to perform
some act for you, you are most likely setting some submission deadline,
some date and time that their contributions are due. It is imperative
that you then reciprocate this adherence to established deadlines when
it is time to perform your duties. What kinds of duties are we talking
about? As an example: In the world of TopCoder there are often milestones,
a set date where submissions are reviewed and feedback is given,
allowing the competitors to digest the feedback and alter their
submissions based on the client feedback. Milestone feedback is due to
the competitors within a certain time-frame. If you are asking others to
adhere to a strict submission schedule (and in Open Innovation
practices, you should be), then you must meet your own deadlines, every
single time. It’s a matter of respect for those around the globe who are
taking their time to participate in the community and submit their
work. If you demand it of them, demand it of yourself.
2. You Must be Honest
It
does no member of a community any good to be dis-honest or less than
honest. If a particular submission is simply not that strong and you are
looking to offer that individual feedback, don’t be afraid to be
honest. You can do this without being offensive or rude and in a way
that is truly constructive for the individual submitter. Why does this
matter? Inside a competitive community, those competing are often
working on something they’d like to master or get much better at.
Sometimes people enter competitions because they want practice, they are
striving to gain a new skill and improve themselves. That kind of
community behavior should always be supported, and the best way to do so
is to offer them honest advice, while politely laying out ways the
individual can seek to improve or hone their skill. At TopCoder, we have
witnessed coders, algorithmists and designers go from very humble
beginnings, work hard, listen and apply feedback, compete often and
emerge as a consistently strong competitor. That individual progression
happens when the individual understands what to improve, and that is a
consequence of honest communication.
3. Give Detail Without Micro-Managing Creativity
When
you are setting up a new competition it is crucial to give guidance as
to what you are hoping to see in their submissions. Often, our clients
will provide a reference to an existing asset to further the point.
However, be careful not to take this exercise too far. If you offer too
much detail you can stifle creativity and lose would be competitors who
most likely would have submitted quality, innovative work. Remember, you
like what you like because you’ve encountered it and though it may be a
great solution – like an intuitive UI experience – you should leave
room, and even expect to be surprised. There are over 410,000 members in
the TopCoder community spanning more than 220 countries. That adds up
to a whole lot of cultures and experiences and preferences you most
likely have not encountered yet. When you create your contests, give
direction, shed some light on your preferences, but don’t
attempt to micro-manage creativity. Instead, when it comes to the
details, be purposefully vague, allow your community to ask the
questions they want to ask and encourage them through communications to
bring their unique experiences to the solution. You will end up with a
greater variety of solutions and maybe even a few submissions that
completely blow you away.
Do
you have an Open Innovation or Crowdsourcing management tip our readers
could benefit from? Please, drop us a comment and add to this
discussion.
its really very cool......
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