“Let’s run an innovation challenge!” “How about a hackathon next month?” “Let’s do an impromptu brainstorming session|”
These phrases are thrown around with the same casual energy as “Let’s do a team picnic” and the results show it.
We bet you have seen or sent a similar Slack ping go out in your company, “Hey team, it’s innovation week! Submit your big ideas!”
And then? Vagueness and eventually nothing concrete.
It’s not that people don’t care. It’s that the challenge lacks direction, ownership, and any promise of follow-through.
A poorly designed innovation challenge drains time, creates noise, and disengages the very people you’re trying to motivate.
But when done right?
A well-crafted innovation challenge tells your team:
- We’re serious.
- We’re listening.
- This isn’t about checking a box, it’s about solving something real.
So how do you get it right?
5 Elements You Can’t Miss in Running an Innovation Challenge
#1 A Well-Defined Purpose (With Teeth)
If your innovation strategy could be summarized as “share your ideas on anything,” this section is for you.
If not, feel free to skip this section.
What separates a truly effective innovation challenge from a glorified digital suggestion box is a clear, compelling purpose. And something that also makes your team go, “Oh… that’s actually interesting.”
So, before launching anything, ask:
- What specific business problem are we solving? It can be something small but important that improves an internal process. Or something that changes the game for your customers.
- Is this about growth, efficiency, sustainability, or something else?
- Who is accountable for actioning the results?
Pro tip: Anchor your first challenge around a tension point that feels urgent and meaningful. Try framing it like this:
- “How might we reduce packaging waste by 50% within 12 months?”
- “What new service can we launch in Q3 to improve customer retention by 20%?”
These aren’t vague prompts, they’re focused, measurable, and connected to real impact.
And it works: our customer case reports found that challenges tied directly to strategic KPIs are 64% more likely to lead to implemented solutions.
#2 The Right Audience (Not Just ‘Everyone’)
You might think you know who’s best positioned to solve a problem. R&D. Ops. Strategy.
But think differently.
The customer service rep who hears daily complaints firsthand.
The intern who sees your process with fresh eyes.
The marketing manager who’s hacked a manual workaround nobody knew about.
That’s why great innovation challenges cast a wider net because you don’t know who might surprise you.
That said… innovation challenges aren’t a numbers game either.
You should have the ability to invite with intention.
Ask yourself:
- Who lives this problem every day?
- Who understands the constraints that’ll make or break a solution?
- Who has the creativity and the context to push boundaries without proposing the impossible?
And here’s the sweet spot:
- Frame the challenge clearly so only those with interest or insight self-select in.
- Use smart tools (with functions like tagging, invite flexibility, role-based permissions, or community segmentation) to manage contributions without silencing unexpected voices.
- Encourage cross-functional teams to collaborate because siloed thinking rarely solves big problems.
Great ideas don’t follow org charts. Neither should your invitation list.
#3 Constraints That Liberate (Yes, Really)
Now this might sound counterintuitive and opposite of what we propound, but bear with us.
Too much freedom can sometimes kill creativity.
Give people a completely open brief with no limits, no focus, and you’ll often get ideas that are either too vague, too wild, or totally disconnected from reality.
That’s where smart constraints come in.
Think of them not as barriers, but as creative boundaries. A sandbox, not a straitjacket!
Give your participants the right guardrails:
- A rough budget or timeline to work within
- Regulatory or technical realities they need to consider
- A target user segment or market to focus their ideas on
Why it works?
It helps people understand the real-world conditions of success.
Say a mid-sized packaging company, ran a challenge asking employees how to reduce plastic usage across product lines.
Instead of just saying “reduce plastic,” they added constraints:
- Any solution had to cost less than $0.15 per unit
- It had to pass existing compliance checks
- It needed to be testable within 60 days
That framing sparked an idea from a junior production planner—using recycled kraft paper wraps coated with biodegradable wax—which ended up piloting on two product lines.
So why did it work? Because the challenge was grounded in real limits that mirrored how decisions are made in the business.
Don’t be afraid to narrow the field. Well-designed constraints don’t limit creativity, they focus it.
#4 Evaluation Is Where You Win (or Lose) People
You can get the theme right, rally a crowd, and spark bold, creative submissions.
But if your evaluation process is imperfect? You’ve just taught everyone that this was pretend innovation.
People don’t disengage because their ideas weren’t picked. They disengage because they never knew why.
So treat evaluation not as a backend admin task, but as your credibility engine.
- Make the criteria public from Day 1. Show what “good” looks like, so people don’t shoot in the dark.
- Involve visible, respected evaluators. When leaders or subject matter experts are at the table, it signals the challenge is being taken seriously.
- Close the loop. Even a 2-sentence comment back to participants can rebuild trust—and inspire better future contributions.
For instance, if a Medical Techology company ran a “New Revenue Stream” challenge. They would have to score each idea on feasibility, compliance risk, and customer validation.
But what will earn trust?
If every single submitter got feedback, even if it was “This is a cool idea, but we’re not exploring B2C this year. Don’t stop thinking like this though.”
With idea management tools, you can automate scoring, loop in stakeholders, and crucially build transparency without bottlenecks.
Evaluation isn’t the end of the challenge. It’s the start of your innovation culture.
#5 Incentives That Actually Matter
You’ve got to give people more than a pizza party or a $50 Amazon voucher.
Because here’s the truth:
Most people don’t innovate for prizes. They do it to be seen. To grow. To matter. Enhance their intrapreneurial spirit.
This is why great innovation challenges tap into three layers of motivation:
- Recognition: A well-timed shoutout in an all-hands, showcasing ideas on the company intranet, or inviting winners to present to leadership. These moments build reputational capital that people remember.
- Progression: The best reward? A chance to actually work on the idea. Let contributors lead pilots, co-create with product or ops, or shadow executives. That’s how you turn a challenge into a career accelerator.
- Tangible Rewards (Done Right): Sure, people won’t say no to bonuses or cool experiences. But the key is matching reward to effort. If someone puts in 20 hours on an idea that saves $200K, don’t respond with a coffee mug.
GreyB gets this. Their “Innovate Everywhere” mindset doesn’t just hand out prizes, it offers mentorship, funding, and dedicated time to develop ideas with exec sponsors.
Employees don’t just feel recognized, they feel trusted.
And if you’re running your challenge through InspireIP, you can track contribution levels, flag high-effort submissions, and even automate internal shoutouts so meaningful incentives don’t fall through the cracks.
That’s how you keep people showing up. Again and again.
Ending Note
Essentially, a great innovation challenge ignites momentum.
When you anchor your challenge in a real purpose, invite people thoughtfully, and follow through with transparency and integrity, you build more than ideas. You build trust.
That’s how a single challenge becomes a cultural spark, not just a checkbox.
And if you’re using a platform like InspireIP’s Idea Assist, you can run the entire process—from ideation to evaluation to implementation—without losing energy (or people) along the way.
Launching a challenge soon?
Use this checklist to make it count: Innovation Challenge Checklist
