Rebuilding a culture of experimentation
The VELUX Group
A new CEO set out to revive VELUX’s spirit of experimentation — a challenge that drew more than 2,000 ideas in seven languages, half of them from the factory floor.
The Challenge
Appointed CEO in 2018, David Briggs — a firm believer in entrepreneurship — wanted to reignite the company's culture of experimentation and exploration, so VELUX would stay relevant for decades to come.
What we did
We worked closely with VELUX leadership to shape a campaign that would earn visible commitment at every level, and advised on putting a dedicated project manager in place to run the challenge day to day. Knowing engagement varies from country to country, we helped VELUX build a network of ambassadors across all 65 sites and advised on translating the call for ideas into seven languages — critical for reaching the blue-collar workers who make up around half the workforce. We then facilitated an idea-maturation bootcamp for the six finalist teams, including a day of rapid prototyping where specialists used 3-D printing to bring concepts to life, helping teams spot flaws early and adjust before going further.
Results
VELUX generated 450 ideas in the first 48 hours and more than 2,000 by the close, with blue-collar workers contributing 380 of them. Three ideas received funding. One came from an author nearing retirement who never expected his idea to see daylight — it's now being tested on the market. Two other ideas, both proposed product-line expansions, took the harder path front-end innovation sometimes demands: one remains under exploration, and the winning concept was put on hold after market research showed customers weren't ready. As the team saw it, that's exactly what fast, low-cost learning is for.
I didn't think I could learn anything new at my age, but I did.
