Get new product ideas from within your team!

Are you one of those leaders trying to find new ways to prove that you are still at the forefront of innovation? Are you breaking a sweat pushing performance transformation day after day? Are you inundated with generic technology platforms and glossy consulting frameworks on how to engage your teams?

Well, if any of the above is about you, you might find below useful.

What do you think a small team of self-driven enthusiasts could do with a simple concept of a "bear hug" if you ask them to make it high-tech, viral and fun?

I suppose, you could imagine that a hug might somehow be measured. Strength, stability, gentleness are just some of plausible metrics here.  I bet that it is not what comes to your mind first, but, you know developers -> algorithms -> math -> metrics.... yep, you would guess it rather quickly.

But, would you push your imagination further and think that by measuring these parameters of an individual, you actually could play some matching games, finding "identical twins" or "true opposites" among your peers, or run lead boards in each category? That would be intriguing, wouldn't it?

Now, what if you make this scientific experiment run by a 7-feet tall teddy bear who would welcome you by name and tell you jokes while you are preoccupied with hugging his belly? That would be fun and sweet, don't you think?

What if I tell you that he is wirelessly connected to Internet (talking about the internet of things) and is quite intelligent? Would you ever imagine that he could browse through your pictures on Instagram and Facebook, identify your selfies with him and reward you for those with various prizes, and all of that done in a blink of an eye? I would say that this is smart and could generate quite a viral effect. Would you agree?

Now, what do you think will happen if you start broadcasting these "bear hugs" across your office monitors?

The last one is easy.... You will get a lasting line of colleagues waiting for their turn to hug the cutie, curious to find their pairs, posting and telling about it to their friends. Who would not want to hug a bear after all!

The simple notion of a "bear hug" gets a brand new meaning in the world of product innovation and employee engagement, filled with science, fun and truly memorable personal experience.

Now, do you still want to keep talking about product innovation and employee engagement frameworks or would you rather try something new for a change?

How to do it? Easy. Put together an A team from across various functional areas, set a clear and unorthodox goal and let them shine! Isn't it after all what the leadership is all about?

 The video is in Russian (if you care for sound)