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Bold Awards

Collective Intelligence Design (CID)

CID leverages global expertise, AI-augmented collaboration, and real-time feedback to drive efficient, innovative, and successful business transformation.
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Designing a human-centered future with Collective Intelligence Design

As technology accelerates exponentially, markets shift overnight, and political forces reshape the global landscape, companies everywhere feel the pressure to keep up. The need for continuous transformation has never been greater. But here’s the problem: too often, we try building a new world without considering the most essential factor—the people within our organizations.

Many companies view transformation as exclusive, setting up specialized ‘innovation teams’, accelerators, incubators or simply hiring external agencies to find solutions outside the core business and then trying to implement them in their organization. Even when initially successful, 70% of transformation projects fail[1]. They fail because sustainable transformation doesn’t come from top-down mandates or laboratory setups. It happens when change is woven into the very DNA of a company, empowering teams not only to adapt but to drive transformation.

With our Think Tank … and dos Santos, we craft collective intelligence to enable a sustainable, people-centered approach to change—one that fundamentally transforms a company’s DNA. Collective Intelligence Design (CID) combines the principles of Design Thinking with the power of Collective Intelligence, serving as a transformative tool that places people at the heart of the process.

We have an eight-step process, that begins with a comprehensive analysis of the organization’s objectives, established culture, and existing knowledge base. Then, we define an internal core team of talented individuals from within the company. To complement this, we integrate external thought leaders into a dedicated CID project team. This collaboration bridges knowledge gaps, accelerates the transfer of critical capabilities, and fosters an open mindset.

The external thought leaders are selected from our curated Thought Leader Collective, which includes international experts from diverse fields such as business, science, technology, design, and culture. This wealth of expertise allows us to deliver tailored CID solutions for organizations across various industries. By leveraging a multidimensional perspective—spanning culture, leadership, labor shortages, and technology—we address today’s complex challenges with innovative and effective approaches.

CID employs a three-phase process to drive change and transformation while simultaneously strengthening the core business.

  1. IMPULS: We evaluate the company’s future viability through a combination of quantitative and qualitative research, complemented by internal and external interviews with thought leaders across hierarchies who bring practical implementation experience.
  2. EMPOWER: Developing targeted skills and knowledge into the organization is key for transformation success. This involves learning activities applied to actual company tasks, enhanced by external expertise as needed.
  3. IGNITE: We implement new skills and processes into the daily work of employees, enriched with regular exposure to new perspectives and insights, ensuring immediate impact.

Scalability

By integrating external expertise tailored to the specific needs of organizations, CID offers a flexible and customized approach that’s been successfully applied across industries and locations. Its adaptable design supports scalability in both size and complexity, making it an ideal solution for organizations navigating various stages of transformation and exploring new market opportunities.

Transparency

Transparency is a core principle of CID. By engaging a core team of employees from within the company, we ensure active oversight, participation, and alignment with organizational goals. Stakeholders are involved at every step of the process, supported by detailed reporting and open communication channels. This enables real-time insights and adjustments, fostering a transformation that’s closely aligned with the organization’s objectives and expectations.

Human Factor

At its core, CID places people at the center of transformation. By understanding the existing company culture and respecting its’ heritage, as well as identifying what motivates employees, CID transforms initial skepticism into enthusiasm for change. It ensures that individuals are empowered to engage in the process, fostering continuous growth and workplace happiness.

Impact

An analysis of 60,000 hours of transformation projects shows that:

  • projects guided by the CID principle are 2.1 times more effective in contributing to the core business
  • the generation of new knowledge increased by 2.3 times
  • the identification of critical insights improved by 2.7 times, leading to greater strategic and operational clarity
  • the application of CID reduced project lead times by 28.95%

Notable projects harnessing CID include:

1. Go-To-Market Strategy with ZEISS

ZEISS AM Solutions aimed to develop an optimal go-to-market strategy and product offering for new technological measuring solutions in additive manufacturing. After assembling a CID project team, we leveraged their core values to craft a unique product offering. This involved comprehensive research, client feedback sessions, interviews with expert users, and thorough competitor analyses. Our efforts immensely strengthened ZEISS’ leadership and expanded their market presence in additive manufacturing. ”You helped us a lot”, says Claus Hermannstädter, the Head of Additive Manufacturing at Zeiss. “… The whole [Collective Intelligence Design] setup is a really good one to challenge our strategic position, our vision, our mission, the basis for communication, the essence of what we’re doing.”

What else Zeiss says about the project

2. Organizational Transformation with Deutsche Bahn

The DB Fernverkehr was facing critical questions about the future of their train drivers: What would their future job profiles look like? How should their workplace be designed for optimal performance?

To meet these challenges, we redefined job profiles and crafted personas capturing the diverse motivations and backgrounds of the train drivers. We enhanced the existing training framework, developing a learning and knowledge platform aimed at fostering long-term employee engagement. Two new pilot projects emerged from this, aiming to further improve the knowledge management within the organization. Next, we designed a new driver’s cab for the ICE train 2031, adhering to international standards for recognition and usability. We also conceptualized future service centers focusing on community building, well-being, learning, and innovative communication tools. In this collaborative environment train drivers worked with Oscar winners and startup founders to co-create their future in the railway industry. This led to significant improvements in community and well-being for 22,000 employees, earning Deutsche Bahn a BOLD Award in the ‘Future of Work’ category.

Explore our award-winning project

Impressions of the CID Project Teams

 

[1] Source: “Losing from day one: Why even successful transformations fall short”, McKinsey 2021

    Projects evaluation criteria

    Level of Impact
    40%
    Scalability
    30%
    Transparency
    20%
    H-Factor
    10%

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