When Young Employees get a seat at the table, innovation follows

If you doubted the potential of your young workforce, French hotel and hospitality company AccorHotels proved what young people can do when they are given a mission and a purpose - they step up to the plate.

Back in 2016, recognising that the majority of recent start-ups and digital companies has been created by under 35s, the hotel group's CEO, Sebastien Bazin created a shadow board in an effort to come up with fresh ways of challenging disruptors like Air BNB.

It resulted in them coming up with a couple of great innovations -

=> the Jo&Joe brand, an affordable and community focused hotel / hostel aimed at young travellers 

=> The Accor pass, a short term hotel subscription service designed for people under 25 looking for a base while hunting for permanent housing

This is no exception, and this has been happening since with many success stories including Gucci (whose shadow board  spearheaded the bran's e-commerce and digital transformation) and tech company Version 1 (who successfully cultivated future leaders, bridging communication gaps and exposing junior staff to strategic initiatives).

Shadow boards bring together the ideas of emerging Gen Z and early millennial talent to provide fresh perspectives, intuition and connect with younger consumers and it demonstrates the strength of working cross-generationally  

So next time you are doubting your early talent's motivation and intuition, try setting them a challenge like this, they may just surprise you.