Cultivate Labs Blog
Discussing how crowd forecasting, internal crowdfunding, and other new workplace trends can be used to improve the #futureofwork
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By Cultivate Labs on Mar 22, 2018
Let Employees Run With Change, It’s Not a Health Risk
When an organization is undergoing dramatic change, much of the focus is rightfully placed on how leaders communicate to employees. But what's often forgotten is getting signals back from employees about how they're dealing with change. Are they supportive? What do they think should be prioritized? An internal idea crowdfunding campaign can be a powerful motivator to make employees part of the solution and give purpose when it's most needed.
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By Cultivate Labs on Mar 19, 2018
The Traffic Light Metaphor for Project Status is a Disaster
Everyone who has worked in corporate America has seen or used it. The traffic light metaphor for status. Red, there’s significant problems with a project. Yellow, there are some issues, but we’re going to make it. Green, all is good. Unfortunately, this system is a disaster for decision making.
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By Adam Siegel on Dec 08, 2017
Very Satisfied with Client Satisfaction Survey
Recently, we launched a formal client satisfaction survey effort using a third party. Here's how we did.
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By Cultivate Labs on Dec 05, 2017
Cultivate Forecasts - Mobile App Update for iOS and Android
Register an account for Cultivate Forecasts mobile directly in the app.
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By Adam Siegel on Nov 28, 2017
Indian state Gujarat election prediction market pilot launched as precursor to 2019 general election
We're excited to be working with Idealantis, a startup based in Hyderabad, India on a prediction market pilot about the upcoming Gujarat state elections. Working with research organization People's Pulse, Idealantis has launched this test as a precursor to a country-wide effort for the general elections coming in 2019.
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By Adam Siegel on Nov 27, 2017
Growing into Humility: How Ideas Change with Age
Gordon Gecko in Wall Street famously said: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.” Unfortunately the problem with greed is that it tends to lack humility.
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By Adam Siegel on Nov 13, 2017
Sales and Operational Planning: Bad Forecasts Don't Have to be a Given
Cultivate Labs CEO, Adam Siegel, recently spoke at the Institute for Business Forecasting and Planning and spent time hearing directly form attendees about the challenges they face. He shares lessons learned about the challenges sales and operations planners face in their roles, and how crowdsourced forecasting can alleviate them and improve their forecast accuracy and efficiency.
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By Adam Siegel on Sep 27, 2017
Help LG Predict the Future
In partnership with LG Display, we are running a 6 month forecasting tournament about the high-end display industry.
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By Ben Roesch on Sep 11, 2017
Introduction to Blockchain-based Prediction Markets Terminology
Real-money prediction markets are illegal in the U.S., but blockchain technology is giving rise to several digital currency based prediction markets based on Ethereum. Cultivate Labs defines common terminology associated with blockchain-based prediction markets.
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By Ben Golden on Sep 06, 2017
New to Prediction Markets? Four Tips to Get Started.
Joining a prediction market or prediction pool can be intimidating. You may feel like you've plunged into a world of impossible questions, ongoing arguments, and have no idea where to start. You might think there's no way you could possibly add anything, or that your forecasts couldn't possible be better than anyone else's. But prediction markets don't have to be intimidating - here are four tips to get started.
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By Cultivate Labs on Aug 08, 2017
Employee Engagement is the Key to the Future of Business
The relationship between employers and employees is changing as the drivers of employee satisfaction are changing. Employees are no longer driven solely by a paycheck - they want their work to have a purpose and to believe in what their organization offers to the world. Organizations must shift their focus from paychecks and soft benefits like casual dress codes and office ping pong tables to better engage employees by ensuring opportunities for purpose, learning, and flexibility in their jobs.
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By Cultivate Labs on Aug 01, 2017
Flexible Work Styles and Their Place in the Future of Work
The transition to flexible work styles has slowly been creeping into organizations for a long time, but acceptance and adoption of such practices has rapidly increased in past years due to rapid advancements in technology and a new generation flooding into the workforce. Flexible work styles will be far more common and accepted in the future. Is your organization prepared?
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By Vanessa Pineda on Jul 25, 2017
Forecasting Shouldn't Be a Gamble. 5 Things to Do to Succeed with Crowdsourced Forecasting.
In more than 10 years of working with large companies on building prediction markets and other crowdsourced forecasting mechanisms, we’ve seen one common thread with the projects that are unsuccessful. Project owners overestimate the technology, and underestimate what it takes to engage people to make the technology successful. Avoid these 5 pitfalls to improve the success of your Cultivate Forecasts prediction market.
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By Adam Siegel on Jul 20, 2017
Have you heard "I think we're doing something wrong" recently? If not, you're doing something wrong.
An open door policy isn't an effective feedback tool for leadership if you haven't created an organizational culture that's open to feedback. Your team can provide valuable insight and feedback about decisions, so actively work to create an environment in which employees are comfortable speaking up to leadership.
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By Cultivate Labs on Jul 19, 2017
How Your Car's Gas Gauge is Like the Future of Work
The future of work is changing, and your car's gas gauge is an indicator of how. In a future that will be increasingly measured, acquiring, understanding, and leveraging data in a timely fashion will determine who sinks and who swims.
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By Cultivate Labs on Jul 18, 2017
The Strength That Comes From Within
As crowdsourcing becomes more widely adopted as a corporate innovation tool, the spotlight is on external crowdsourcing: engaging outside stakeholders such as experts, customers, and the general public to understand market demands and to collaborate on new product and service development. At the same time, organizations have recognized the innovative power of one more important constituency: their own employees.
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By Jess Price on Jul 11, 2017
Product Design and Redesign - an Evolving Process for Cultivate Ignite
Product design is a constantly evolving process as practices, trends, and expectations change. Cultivate Labs Director of Design, Jessica Price, explains her process for the redesign of Cultivate Ignite, a crowdfunding platform for use inside organizations.
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By Cultivate Labs on Jun 23, 2017
Travis Kalanick Ousted from Uber and the Erosion of the "Boys Club" Mentality as Good for Business
The ousting of Uber CEO Travis Kalanick on Tuesday is hardly surprising, though perhaps a bit out of step for both the revered ‘boys club’ who traditionally protect their own and the Silicon Valley culture that worships individuals who can, at all costs, create 10x returns on investment. But he should’ve seen it coming a long time ago, he brought it on himself after all...
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By Ben Golden on Jun 19, 2017
3 Things I Learned Teaching Coding to Veterans at Code Platoon
I recently had the opportunity to teach for Code Platoon, a non-profit coding camp that trains veterans to become software developers, and learned three major lessons about the fundamentals of coding, teaching, and new endeavors.
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By Brian Leslie on Jun 12, 2017
Determining the Accuracy of Prediction Markets
So, you asked a prediction market question, and the outcome is now known. The question has been resolved and winnings have been disbursed to the forecasters who held winning positions. Forecasters know how well they did based upon their profits in the question, and you know who your good forecasters were too. But how accurate was your organization at answering the question itself? There are several things to consider when thinking about accuracy of the prediction market:
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By Adam Siegel on Jun 12, 2017
A Board's Check on its CEO - The Smell Test for Self-Interest vs. Leadership
Recently on a Sunday during my weekly 2 hour break from all things family related, I sat at one of my favorite coffee houses and read the Sunday New York Times. An article in the Business section particularly caught my attention: The Trump Effect on CEO Pay, and it got me thinking: should a Board of Directors have a better check on their CEO than either termination or bonuses tied to stock price? Could there be something put in place better for the company's long-term prospects?
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By Vanessa Pineda on Jun 01, 2017
Why Execs Struggle with Innovation, and the Culture Fix They’re Missing
The stats on innovation leadership within corporations show there's a big discrepancy between leaders' appetite for innovation and their ability to execute. Corporate innovation won't succeed when it's solely driven from the top. It has to be fostered as an organizational capability. Here's a starting point.
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By Adam Siegel on May 19, 2017
How to Run Your Own Shark Tank with Internal Crowdfunding
Want to generate some excitement about your company's future and possibly identify its financial future at the same time? Run your own Shark Tank.
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By Cultivate Labs on May 11, 2017
Introducing Enterprise Crowdfunding for Established Companies
Crowdfunding, the practice of financing a project by sourcing small investments from a large number of people, has exploded in the past decade as an alternative funding source. Established companies looking to adopt the agile principles of startups have begun to use external enterprise crowdfunding to gain indicators from their consumers, but with Cultivate Ignite, companies can now gain critical business indicators and insights from employees using internal crowdfunding.
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By Adam Siegel on May 09, 2017
Attempted Manipulation of our French Election Prediction Market: Here's What We Learned
It may be easier to manipulate a real-money market than a play-money market. In a play-money market, the dumb-money can always be defeated with smart money and a little vigilance.
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