It’s not every day that you hear about companies asking their best and brightest to come up with the next big thing.
But at Dell’s yearly GameChanger competition, groups of employees of all kinds—from sales reps to engineers—pitch solutions to problems facing both the company and the world.
From sustainability to streamlined production, “game changers” can come in any form. Judges from across Dell’s leadership team listen to, critique, and spend money and time on the best ideas from Dell’s global team.
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Gearing Up For Competition
Teams can come from anywhere in the company, no matter the location or department, and are supervised by finalists and winners from previous GameChangers events.
“We have a lot of smart people here with a lot of great ideas, and we just needed to give them a platform,” says Vanessa Henry, a member of Dell’s GenNext team, which is responsible for organizing the event.
In last year’s competition, more than 600 people from 28 countries entered ideas into the four categories. These included the Internet of Things, Customer Experience, Solutions Strategy, and an open-ended category (for those genius ideas that need no label).
Back To School: GameChangers University
In order to give employees the edge they would need to present in a business competition, Dell set up short courses under the umbrella of GameChangers University. The goal? To help everyone “think like entrepreneurs and fill in gaps in expertise.”
This not only sharpened the skills of business pros but also enabled the less experienced classes of contestants to better compete with their eloquent peers.
Clash Of The (Future) Industry Titans
Finally, the teams of five present to the panel of judges. If they advance to the final rounds, their ideas can be endorsed by senior leadership and get funded. One of last year’s winners, Mikhail Tolstoy, was seriously impressed by the results. “Dell is ready to spend money and, more importantly, time to work with you if you reach out,” he says.
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Another of the previous winners, Phil Rasy, says it’s nice to know that he works for a company willing to put resources toward grassroots ideas: “It feels great to wake up in the morning and go to work knowing that the company you work for embraces your ideas and pays very well for them.”
And it’s more than just the palpable rewards that make the competition so great, Rasy says. It’s seeing your value across the company. “The impact that each individual can have on the business is immeasurable,” he says. “GameChangers opened up opportunities that I thought were impossible.”
GameChangers is just one part of a corporate culture obsessed with innovation. This commitment to entrepreneurship keeps Dell at the top of an increasingly competitive, and crowded, field.
Want to work for a company that invests in its employees’ game-changing ideas? Dell is hiring on WayUp, so check out their open positions and apply!
