PERF RMANCE 04 - The Performance Portal - Ernst & Young
PERF RMANCE 04 - The Performance Portal - Ernst & Young
PERF RMANCE 04 - The Performance Portal - Ernst & Young
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“ Whereas a coolhunter observes<br />
communities, a coolfarmer becomes<br />
personally engaged in the process<br />
of creating cool trends — not taking<br />
control of a new idea to make it<br />
succeed, but working in swarm<br />
creativity to bring a shared vision<br />
to reality.”<br />
We find the creativity unleashed by groups<br />
of humans swarming together to be<br />
particularly compelling. So often, humans<br />
traveling together in the same creative,<br />
innovative direction produce the trends<br />
that are most interesting and exciting.<br />
Tapping into the collective mind can offer<br />
tremendous benefits. Within a business<br />
organization, unleashing collaborative<br />
innovation can be key to increasing<br />
performance, efficiency and overall<br />
creativity. With the tremendous expansion<br />
of online communication, the ability of<br />
humans to engage in swarm creativity has<br />
grown exponentially. Creative swarms can<br />
form instantaneously and collaborate on<br />
innovative tasks from almost anywhere on<br />
the planet, crossing all organizational lines.<br />
In every large organization as well, we find<br />
groups of creative individuals swarming<br />
together to explore ideas about which they<br />
care deeply, irrespective of any direct or<br />
immediate connection to the bottom line.<br />
Our approach is based on the concept<br />
of the Collaborative Innovation Network<br />
or COIN, small groups of intrinsically<br />
motivated people who collaborate, mostly<br />
over the web and in online social networks,<br />
to create something radically new. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
recruit their friends and family as a<br />
“Collaborative Learning Network“ — the<br />
group of early adapters who try out and<br />
further develop the early prototypes — to<br />
help them refine and polish their products,<br />
deciding on what will be “cool” for the<br />
swarm of loyal customers. This expanded<br />
group of early users and beta-testers<br />
then reaches out to the wider group of<br />
thousands of people in the Collaborative<br />
Interest Network who help them get their<br />
new product over the tipping point to be<br />
widely accepted by the marketplace.<br />
Based on the concept of COINs, we have<br />
developed the idea of coolfarming — getting<br />
involved in the actual creation of new<br />
trends by nurturing and cultivating new<br />
ideas. Whereas a coolhunter observes<br />
communities, networks and even broader<br />
society, a coolfarmer becomes personally<br />
engaged in the process of creating cool<br />
trends — not taking control of a new idea<br />
to make it succeed, but working in swarm<br />
creativity to bring a shared vision to reality.<br />
Coolfarming is based on four principles.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y are a logical consequence of using<br />
coolhunting (Gloor & Cooper 2007) to<br />
discover new trends and trendsetters.<br />
<strong>The</strong> first is to gain power by giving it away.<br />
It is the most important principle. Give<br />
everyone involved in a COIN, no matter<br />
what their level of involvement, the<br />
feeling that they have come up with the<br />
new ideas, so that all members feel a<br />
strong sense of ownership.