Bringing Fun and Creativity to Work

Fostering employee engagement can be a formidable problem for large organizations with far-flung teams operating in different time zones. On the surface, large organizations should be able to handle the ups and downs of intelligent risk-taking. In practice, however, their talent management processes often enforce conformity, legitimize mediocrity and penalize failed attempts at innovative thinking. For employees, a tried-and-true way to survive in such environments is to be average and to avoid rocking the boat.

In 2009, we set out to explore how leaders in our own organization could boost employee engagement and creativity while promoting a culture that rewards innovation and entrepreneurship. We initiated a contest across four Deloitte LLP offices located in India. Employees were invited to join teams, which were asked to develop solutions to a wide range of challenging, real-life business problems. We judged the teams on several criteria, including: their ability to identify the critical issues; the quality of their analyses; the extent to which they found solutions that challenged the status quo; their ability to offer practical suggestions; and their effectiveness at presenting and communicating their views.

The program, called Maverick, was designed to challenge the conventional view of employer-employee relationships as transactional and to find new ways to win the hearts and minds of our organization’s employees. We wanted to harness their best critical thinking and collaboration skills for the benefit of the organization, and we also hoped to provide an alternative to the traditional manager-employee hierarchical relationship.

For many employees, freedom from conformity was a welcome change that enabled their creativity to flourish.

The contest itself was organized along the lines of a reality TV show. The winning teams advanced each week, while the losers were eliminated. In addition to receiving small financial rewards, successful teams received prizes designed to advance the goals of the program. The winning teams were awarded opportunities to work closely with senior leaders on challenging projects such as creating a program to encourage carpooling and developing branding exercises for new facilities.

In designing the Maverick program, we brought several elements together in hopes of finding a “sweet spot” that was both motivating for employees and beneficial for the company. These elements included:

Small teams

Our decision to go with small teams of four people was based on the desire to promote collaboration, minimize free-riding, allow for constructive conflict resolution and build cohesion. Small teams allow for a clear and meaningful division of roles and responsibilities as well as transparency and accountability, all of which help build trust.

Broad latitude

We gave participants freedom to address the business problems as they saw fit. In an effort to encourage people to think creatively, Deloitte rewarded out-of-the-box, original thinking that challenged received wisdom. In our experience, giving employees license to experiment can act as a powerful motivator and raise their level of contribution. For many employees, freedom from conformity was a welcome change that enabled their creativity to flourish.

A sense of play

The Maverick program gave employees opportunities to engage and experiment. The contest provided a safe environment for participants to unleash their imaginations and form an emotional connection. That, in turn, triggered an increased level of psychological ownership and positive feelings.

Relief from normal reporting structures

Contest participants spent time collaborating with peers without involvement from their reporting managers or supervisors. Thus, team members gained experience operating outside of the conventional hierarchy, where deference to authority and permission-seeking might prevail. The contest provided a safe environment for professionals to learn to make decisions independently and demonstrate accountability for outcomes. In addition, it gave participants autonomy to examine status quo practices and find creative solutions. Contestants also learned how to build resilience and adapt to setbacks.

Positive impact on corporate culture

The Maverick program gave contestants the chance to display the competencies and behavior required to deliver superior client service. Based on positive reactions to the initial contest in 2009, we repeated the program in 2010, and then decided to expand it in 2012 to several university campuses across India. These moves have helped Deloitte to revitalize its brand identity in India and to recruit high-quality talent.

In late 2012, we surveyed contest participants, professionals involved in supporting the program and other professionals who weren’t directly involved with Maverick but who had worked for Deloitte for more than three years. These individuals were asked to assess the program’s impact on the firm’s broader culture. We asked them to grade how the Maverick program influenced Deloitte’s culture in 15 areas (such as brand image, the tone and dynamism of the work environment, reward and recognition, learning and development, and teaming and networking opportunities) using a five-point scale (with 1 for “significantly worse” and 5 for “significantly better”).

Overall, the 506 respondents said that the contest had an extremely positive impact on the Deloitte culture. Although different subgroups varied slightly as to which aspects of the program they appreciated most, as a group, the respondents valued the program most positively as a networking opportunity, a fun and engaging experience and an opportunity to engage in teamwork. For employees who had been with Deloitte for three years or more, one of the attributes cited most frequently was enhanced brand image for the firm — which was one of our original goals.

Leaders of large organizations who are looking for ways to increase employee engagement might consider how to adapt the Maverick program to their own settings. In addition to being a platform for talented professionals to add value to the organization apart from their assigned positions in the corporate hierarchy, the Maverick program challenges employees to develop their creativity, collaboration skills and personal brand without fear of failure. At the same time, it pushes them to question received wisdom and test unconventional approaches to problem solving. For senior executives seeking to effect positive change, the Maverick program offers a mechanism for confronting the cycle of complacency and low expectations within organizations that can undermine dynamism, entrepreneurship and growth.