Crowdsourcing is not a new concept. I see it as the guiding principle underpinning democracy; the wisdom of the crowds pick a better leader than any individual could (we hope!) But what about using crowdsourcing to develop business strategy?
As I write this post, we are halfway through the Grant Thornton Global Jam, an online collaboration event managed by IBM, which brings together our people from across the world for three days to discuss what the future of our organisation could and should be. We are one of the (if not the) first professional services firms to develop our global strategy in this way.
The Jam is both daunting and exciting. Over one in three of our 39,000 employees have registered, with 50% participation. The online format flattens our structure, enabling a graduate to discuss key business focus areas with our global CEO. In discussions on tax and retaining talent, I've engaged with colleagues in various roles worldwide. Additionally, external guests are joining us, ready to share their perspectives on innovation, development, and growth.
The Jam harnesses the collective creativity of our greatest asset: our people. With bright minds across 130 countries, it feels almost remiss not to have tapped into this resource sooner. While challenges remain, such as conducting the Jam primarily in English, our teams in places like China, Japan, and Latin America have organized 'war rooms' for local collaboration, with an English-speaking scribe posting comments. This is key: the best ideas will resonate globally.
As the fastest expanding global accountancy organisation over recent years we know all about change but this is dramatically different; a new way of planning for the future. At this stage nobody knows exactly what gems we will glean from the hundreds of conversations going on simultaneously. But what I have seen during the first half of the Jam bodes well and I cannot wait to get stuck into the results.
Francesca Lagerberg is global leader for tax services at Grant Thornton