In Summer of 2021, as TD Ameritrade employees were being integrated into the Charles Schwab corporate structure, we were given access to an idea competition across both firms.

Our challenge was to come up with an idea that would help improve the employee experience.

The problem I wanted to solve to address this prompt was the issue of implementing changes into our systems/technology.

Our current problem solving approach was very scattered, with it very difficult for front line reps to feel like their input is valued. Especially when we run into the same things time and time again that clients want fixed.

This is an example of a couple routes employees might take while trying to get a specific problem solved.

The Solution I came up with was an internal, Reddit style forum called "SolveIt". It would be the central hub where our problem solving efforts would be located.

Associates would be able to post problems/feature requests that they or clients have to their respective business unit's channel, and could upvote on whichever other problems they are encountering or ideas they like.

Once an issue was solved, it could be archived to another section of the channel, to keep the most relevant, unsolved problems at the top.

Out of over 300 idea submissions for this competition, this came in 4th. Top 4 were invited to present their ideas to a panel of 3 judges consisting of Senior Leadership, with just over 1,000 colleagues watching.

Here is a copy of the slides I used during the presentation, to give you an idea of some more details of the project.