You’ve been played

Transforming “have to” work into “love to” work

First, a story.

Together, the Kellogg brothers ran a sanitarium and health spa in Battle Creek, Michigan. They were guided by the principles of their fundamentalist religious beliefs — among them the denial of carnal pleasures and the adherence to a strict vegetarian diet.

One day, while making dough for bread, the brothers were called away to attend to pressing business. Hours later, they returned to dough that had gone hard, crusty. Stale.

As waste was considered sinful, the brothers decide to process it anyway, rolling the dough out flat and baking it.

The resulting tiny, crunchy flakes were served to the members of their church, and were an immediate hit. Those flakes soon became known as “cornflakes” — the very same as those that are eaten and enjoyed at millions of breakfast tables around the world.

OK, so what?

At Collaborne, we’re all about triggering and perpetuating a childlike sense of wonder. If you aren’t curious, if you aren’t asking questions, if you aren’t wondering why? Well, you aren’t innovating.

When children ask questions, however, they aren’t just asking questions. They aren’t just learning. They’re also having fun. They’re playing.

The same goes for you — while innovating, you should be having fun. You should be playing.

“It’s play that makes people unafraid to fail and confident to try new things. It’s play that helps us do serious things better because we enjoy them and feel a sense of joy in our achievements.” – Jake Orlowitz, Wikipedia

That quote comes from Jake Orlowitz, the head of the Wikipedia Library, Wikimedia Foundation. Truer words have never been spoken. If we are to truly take innovation to the next level, we must make sure we are enjoying ourselves, creating memorable experiences that will ride on our proverbial shoulders. We should be talking about these experiences with our friends, our families, our colleagues — not because we have to, but because we love to.

This is why it is so important that innovation be as much play as work.

Here’s where the story of cornflakes’ origin comes into play. Imagine making individual contributions to something that matters within your organization. Imagine your voice always being heard, by hundreds, even thousands, of your colleagues. Imagine catching the attention of the higher-ups in your organization, and having your Signal turned into the Next Big Thing.

Imagine creating the next cornflakes.

With Signals, we aim to allow you to accomplish that. And along the way, we aim to inspire you, to ensure that you want to continue innovating.

Badge(s) of honor

A focus on play means that everything we do at Collaborne is gamified — including the Signals app.

This is why we’ve included “Innovation Stories Worth Telling” in Signals. As you progress, posting signals into Themes and helping to strengthen those posted by others, you will earn one of many badges, each signifying a certain in-app milestone. Those badges, in part, help generate a sense of achievement.

But alone, a badge is not enough. No, they must have substance. They must be filling.

No one’s going home at night, and, over dinner, saying something like, “Honey, you’ll never guess what innovation badge I earned today.” We’d never expect that of anyone, either. We understand people are busy, and smart, and aren’t going to be fooled by a digital image into having fun.

Each badge, however, when earned, also unlocks a story. These stories range in topic, but center around a great innovation, and how that innovation came about. One of those stories, of course, details how the Kellogg brothers created cornflakes.

We’ll also reveal how popsicles were invented, the story behind the first brandy, and much, much more.

These are stories you’ll want to share with others. They will stick with you long after you’ve left the office. They’re inspiring, fun, and, perhaps best of all, relevant to the task at hand. Once you have a taste, you’ll almost surely be back for more. That’s what Signals does: turns work into play — and play into value for your organization.

The Signals app will also always be free, because we believe in equal opportunity innovation.

So no more delays. No more planning.

It’s time to start innovating.

Playtime has begun.

Contributing editor: Adam Kohut