Principles of creative collaboration

How we collaborate dictates how we innovate. How we build teams predicts how they will perform. Research demonstrates the explicit use of a collaboration process yields higher predictive team effectiveness. So it is crucial for leaders to understand how their teams are best structured to creatively solve problems. But how do you measure effective collaboration? How does your organization tune talent to tools and technology in a sustainable way?

Chances are the foundation of whatever process you employ looks like Breakthrough Thinking, an applied innovation methodology based on 50 years of study in the field of creativity.

Deconstructing the building blocks of innovation, we find a common set of elements:

Explore the Challenge - Clarify the problem, challenge or opportunity. Sift through the relevant data and context of a problem to highlight the essence. This is the point at which you get all your assumptions out on the table. It is also the point of root cause analysis.

One effective means of understanding your challenge, goal or problem is to perform a gap analysis:

• Where are we now? (current reality)
• Where do we want to be? (desired future state)
• What are all the things standing between our current reality and our desired future state? How will we bridge our gaps?

Imagine the Possibilities - Consider all the possible ideas related to answering the challenge. Brainstorming is a technique most often used here, though there are numerous divergent thinking tools to help bring out the best novelty.

However you generate ideas, deferring judgment during ideation is key. That means get your ideas out on the table (or wall), and determine their value later. Studies show the best (most novel) ideas are those in the last 1/3 of ideas generated, so don't be afraid to push for more ideas.

Shape your Future - Select and strengthen the best ideas, assess them for impact and feasibility, develop them into a workable solution.

• Filter: which ones stand out?
• Evaluate: what do you like about the ideas you selected? What could you improve?
• Prioritize: what do you see yourself doing now? What next? Who are the key stakeholders who must be on board?

Act! - Plan for action and implement. Set up a 30-60-90 day action plan and assign concrete tasks. Then execute on those tasks. Learn from your mistakes, but keep the ball in play. Test fast, fail fast, adjust fast.

Contingency planning is key. What could go wrong? What should we do if it does go wrong? Whose support do we need? How do we get it?

Iterate - It's not over yet. It's time to start the process all over again, or revisit along the way to verify you're on the path to breakthrough.

Some immediate takeways for any team:

• The process of applied innovation is not linear. Every step of the process can and should repeat, especially where there needs to be more clarity or re-calibration.
• None of the elements of breakthrough thinking are novel. Most likely you recognize the intuitive part each element plays in collaborative problem solving. The question is: how deliberate is your team's approach to collaboration?

If your team's method of innovation is not intentionally reinforced, it is likely your team has biases (both strengths and blindspots) that will hamper your innovation potential.