Enhancing Collaborative Creativity

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞? If you are responsible for managing a team that is expected to be creative and come up with innovative solutions, you may be interested in the findings of Byron et al.'s (2023) meta-analysis of team-design-related antecedents of team creativity and innovation. The meta-analysis aggregated results from 134 field studies (11,353 teams) and 35 student studies (2,485 teams) and revealed the following regularities, among others: ➡️ Structuring teams to work interdependently (i.e. with greater interdependence of tasks and goals) is supportive of team creativity and innovation. ➡️ Leaders providing autonomy to team members have teams that are more creative and innovative and this relationship is stronger when leaders emphasize team autonomy than when they emphasize the autonomy of individual team members. ➡️ Related to the previous point, leaders who limit follower control also limit team creativity and innovation. ➡️ ️Team size, demographic diversity, and job-related diversity show only a weak relationship with team creativity and innovation. ➡️ Team task interdependence and supportive leadership are positively related to team creativity and innovation via processes of team collaboration (the extent to which team members work together to share information and knowledge) and team potency (the extent to which team members believe they can be effective). ➡️ There is evidence for a curvilinear relationship between team tenure and team creativity and innovation. Specifically, when teams are relatively new (~1 yr), being together longer leads to a slight decrease in team creativity/innovation; when teams are of moderate tenure (~2.5 yrs), being together longer has no effect on team creativity/innovation; and, when teams are quite mature (~9 yrs), being together longer leads to an increase in team creativity/innovation. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬?  ✅ Focus on selecting team members who are diverse in terms of job-related factors such as educational background. ✅ Ensure task and goal interdependence - design projects to require collaboration, provide team-level feedback, and create team accountability systems. ✅ When leading innovative teams, adopt an approach aimed at supporting and encouraging - not controlling - the team as a whole as opposed to the individuals within the team. ✅ Try to keep high-quality people in the team as team tenure is positively related to team creativity and innovation. Link to the original study: https://lnkd.in/dpn-2A7u Note: The attached chart was created based on the results presented in the original study, but is not part of the study itself. #teamdesign #innovation #creativity #leadership #metaanalysis

One of the clearest signals of whether a transformation is working isn’t in the plan - it’s in the conversations happening in your teams. So pay close attention to the frequency of healthy debate, constructive challenge and openness to new and divergent ideas that takes place. If the frequency is low… …there is the risk of creating the illusion of performance because people readily ‘understand’ each other, agree on everything, collaboration seems to flow smoothly and there is a collective sensation of progress. However, the opportunity cost is teams gets trapped in their own paradigms, opportunities get overlooked, risks ignored - and ultimately their output becomes derivative not innovative, performance diminishes as opposed to improving and compounding. If the frequency is high… …there is a level of psychological safety that allows for team members to be more objective, to speak up with relevant ideas, to constructively challenge each other, and bring their diverse perspectives and experiences to the table - in the knowledge it won’t be held against them. This opens up the opportunity of reframing the paradigm, and connecting different perspectives and ideas. Ingredients for creativity, innovation, resilience and performance. You see homogeneous teams might feel easier, but easy doesn’t translate into Performance. Here are a few ideas to experiment with your teams… 1. Intentionally foster a team environment that replaces scepticism with intellectual curiosity, an open and learning mindset.   2. Consider how you can create a ways of working that allows all ideas and perspectives from everyone in the room to be heard. 3. Encourage dissenting perspectives. Surrounding yourself with people who are willing to disagree with you and challenge your perspectives and each other. 4. Consider whether you may need to invite others to that creative or idea generation meeting to ensure you get a broader perspective. 5. De-stigmatise failure through sharing past mistakes and celebrating lessons learnt. 6. Institutionalise a team culture of healthy candour. Candour is one of the key attributes to improving the quality of output, levelling up creativity and enabling effective collaboration. What would you add? #transformation #culture #psychologicalsafety

The opposite of peer pressure. Here is an interesting observation: When people with similar backgrounds are put in a group to brainstorm ideas, they often feel pressure to perform along with peers. Let’s call that “Peer Anxiety”. But put people from vastly different backgrounds in a room and creativity sparkles. Let’s call that “Alien Joy”. This observation was shared with me by Professor Dino Torrisi, an innovation expert who has helped many organisations create a more creative culture and who also lectures on innovation at MIP, Poli.Design, and NABA. (I try to interview one person a day about #creativity, and today Dino was that person.) In his work, Professor Torrisi has brought together groups of university students and middle managers from large organisations to collaborate on creative challenges, and he has noticed that when these very different groups of people meet, the level of creativity increases compared to when they work individually. The first thing that happens is that the number of questions participants ask of each other in the room is significantly higher in groups made up of very different participants. Those groups are also much more open-minded to listen to what others present. Finally, they are more open-minded to the creative process itself. Professor Torrisi calls that “creative lightness” - as in people walking into a creative challenge light-footed with a more positive mindset to the challenge. And that helps them be more creative. Perhaps we should more often deliberately create groups of really different people in order to raise the level of creativity in our organisations. Not just in the name of diversity, but also in the name of creativity. Perhaps we should aim more for “Alien Joy”.

We often view idea creation as sterile and mysterious, believing that great ideas spring forth fully formed into the minds of geniuses. This notion positions ideas in the realm of giftedness—you either have a good idea or you don’t, and you can’t force it. This misconception discourages us from actively pursuing creativity. In reality, new ideas are born when two old ideas combine. Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, spent five years studying the origins of some of the world’s greatest ideas. He found that big ideas usually form over a series of years (a process he calls a “slow hunch”) and typically occur when two “partial hunches” collide. Dispelling the myth that ideas are the domain of singular geniuses, Johnson suggests that we often have part of an answer and need to interface with others to arrive at a more complete solution. Great ideas often require the combination of my idea and yours. Johnson’s research provides a blueprint for cultivating better ideas ourselves. First, we need to be patient. Even when a “Eureka!” moment occurs, the idea has usually been simmering for years. Second, we need to interact with people and ideas outside our own expertise. Johnson cites the coffeehouses of Enlightenment Era Europe as crucial for the explosion of thought leadership during that period. These venues allowed people to meet, exchange ideas, and imbibe non-alcoholic beverages, fostering clear thinking and collaboration. To generate great ideas, we must fill our heads with new and varied information and engage with diverse perspectives. The information we need often resides elsewhere, waiting to combine with our own thoughts to create something truly innovative. Embrace the collaborative nature of idea generation and watch your creativity flourish.

From Studio to Strategy: How I Use Art School Critique to Lead My Team Creativity is often seen as the domain of artists: abstract, emotional, maybe even a little chaotic. But as someone who lives in both worlds = fine art and the precision-driven diamond industry. I’ve come to see creativity as something much more powerful: a leadership tool. In my studio, creativity is expression. In my team, creativity is communication, empathy, and collaboration. And sometimes, it means reimagining something as fundamental as how we give feedback. The Feedback Problem:- When I first began managing my team at AMIPI INC. (in the diamond industry) I noticed a common issue: people were reluctant to give or receive feedback. Conversations around performance were often guarded, surface-level, or avoided altogether. This wasn’t just a communication problem, it was holding back growth and innovation. So I asked myself, how would an artist approach this? Enter: The Critique Circle:- In art school, critique isn’t just part of the proces, it is the process. We hang our work on the wall, step back, and invite others in. The goal isn’t to tear it apart. It’s to learn, evolve, and see something new. It’s about trust. I brought this approach to my team by introducing something I call Critique Circles: • We replaced performance reviews with creative review sessions. • Everyone shared their “work in progress” whether it was a sales pitch, product idea, or report on a whiteboard or presentation screen. • Feedback followed a three-step flow: what works, what could be explored further, and what inspired you. • We included visuals, metaphors, even sketching when words fell short What Changed:- Within weeks, the dynamic shifted. Team members no longer feared feedback , they welcomed it. They began offering ideas freely, asking for input before being told, and even initiating their own mini critique circles on or in meetings. The result? • Faster iteration and better results. • Deeper team trust. • A more emotionally intelligent culture. What started as an artist’s instinct turned into a cornerstone of how we collaborate. Creativity Is a Culture, Not a Department! I believe creativity isn’t a skill reserved for “creatives” it’s a mindset. When we infuse it into leadership, we unlock human potential in the most unexpected places. Even in an industry as exacting as diamonds, creative leadership has helped me build not just better products, but a stronger, more connected team. And if you’re someone who leads, builds, or manages, don’t underestimate what you already have inside you. Your creative instincts might just be your greatest asset. 12-ft commissioned artwork for a hedge fund’s main boardroom (client confidential). Grateful to create at this scale.

Want to build stronger, more productive and resilient teams? 🧠 Creativity, Inc. is a masterclass in organizational design, team management, and leadership, offering profound insights drawn from Pixar’s meteoric success. Central to the book is the concept of the Braintrust, a feedback mechanism that fosters candor and collaboration by separating ideas from ego. This group provides constructive critique without the power to enforce changes, ensuring creators retain ownership while benefiting from collective wisdom. By focusing on the project, not the person, the Braintrust epitomizes a psychologically safe environment that encourages vulnerability, innovation, and growth—essential traits for any organization striving for excellence. 🧠 The book also delves deeply into the three stages of trust—trust in expertise, intent, and vulnerability—that serve as the foundation for team cohesion and high performance. Ed Catmull highlights how fostering trust enables individuals to take creative risks, admit failures, and engage in honest dialogue. Vulnerability, the most profound stage, allows teams to face challenges together without fear, creating a culture of continuous improvement. These principles demonstrate how leadership can move beyond command-and-control to a model of empowerment, collaboration, and shared ownership. 🧠 The notion of the Braintrust is an essential resource for leaders in any field. Its lessons on building resilient, innovative teams resonate far beyond creative industries, making it a powerful manifesto for rethinking organizational culture and leadership. Through a compelling mix of storytelling and practical frameworks, it inspires leaders to embrace trust, candor, and adaptability as cornerstones of long-term success. #OrganizationalDesign #TeamBuilding #Leadership #Trust

Ever found yourself facing a team that might not naturally be considered "creative," but you know deep down there's untapped potential waiting to be ignited? That's where the real magic happens – when you transform a group of individuals into a powerhouse of innovation! Here are a few strategies to nurture creativity in even the most unexpected places: 1️⃣ Diverse Perspectives: Embrace the beauty of diversity within your team. Different backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets can create a melting pot of ideas that spark innovation. 2️⃣ Encourage Curiosity: Cultivate a culture of questioning and curiosity. Challenge your team to explore the "what ifs" and "whys" to uncover new solutions. 3️⃣ Collaborative Storming: Gather your team for brainstorming sessions. Fostering an environment where no idea is too outrageous encourages free thinking and inspires unique concepts. 4️⃣ Cross-Pollination: Encourage your team to draw inspiration from unrelated fields. Sometimes, the most innovative solutions come from connecting seemingly unrelated dots. 5️⃣ Empower Ownership: Give individuals ownership of projects and allow them to take creative risks. When people feel their ideas matter, they're more likely to contribute their creative juices. 6️⃣ Learning from "Fails": Embrace failure as a stepping stone to success. Encourage your team to share their failures and lessons learned – these experiences often lead to innovative breakthroughs. 7️⃣ Structured Creativity: Implement frameworks like Design Thinking or Ideation Workshops. These structured approaches can guide your team to think creatively within a defined framework. 8️⃣ Celebrating Small Wins: Recognize and celebrate every small burst of creativity. This positive reinforcement encourages more innovative thinking. 9️⃣ Mentorship and Learning: Pair up team members with differing strengths. Learning from each other's expertise can lead to cross-pollination of ideas. 🔟 Lead by Example: Show your own passion for creativity. When your team sees your enthusiasm for innovation, it's contagious! Remember, creativity is not exclusive to certain roles or industries – it's a mindset that can be nurtured and cultivated. So, let's harness the potential within our teams, empower individuals to think outside the box, and watch as innovation unfolds before our eyes! #InnovationAtWork #whatinspiresme #culture #teamwork #CreativeThinking #TeamCreativity #LeadershipMindset #bestweekever

Forget top-down decision-making. Collaboration is the ultimate problem-solving superpower. It amplifies perspectives. It sparks innovation. It builds solutions that stick. Here’s 11 ways collaborative voices can revolutionize your solutions: 1/ Diverse Perspectives: Unlock Hidden Angles → Every voice brings unique insights to the table. → From frontline workers to execs, varied viewpoints spot blind spots. 💡 Leaders: Host cross-functional brainstorms to capture diverse ideas. 2/ Collective Creativity: Ignite Breakthrough Ideas → Collaboration fuels sparks that solo thinkers miss. → Group dynamics turn good ideas into game-changers. 💡 Teams: Use ideation tools to crowdsource creative solutions. 3/ Shared Ownership: Build Buy-In from the Start → When voices shape the solution, commitment follows. → Co-creation ensures everyone’s invested in success. 💡 Managers: Involve teams early in planning to foster accountability. 4/ Real-Time Feedback: Refine Ideas on the Fly → Collaborative rooms catch flaws before they grow. → Instant input sharpens solutions in real time. 💡 Teams: Use platforms like Slack for quick, open feedback loops. 5/ Cultural Alignment: Solutions That Reflect Values → Inclusive voices ensure solutions fit the organization’s ethos. → They bridge gaps between strategy and culture. 💡 Leaders: Invite voices from all levels to align solutions with core values. 6/ Problem-Solving Agility: Adapt Faster Together → Collaborative teams pivot quickly when challenges arise. → Shared knowledge speeds up course corrections. 💡 Teams: Run agile sprints with diverse contributors to stay nimble. 7/ Knowledge Sharing: Amplify Expertise → Every voice adds specialized know-how to the mix. → Collective wisdom outperforms individual expertise. 💡 Managers: Create knowledge hubs for teams to share insights. 8/ Conflict as Catalyst: Turn Tension into Progress → Differing opinions spark deeper exploration. → Healthy debate refines solutions to their strongest form. 💡 Leaders: Foster safe spaces for constructive disagreement. 9/ Inclusive Decision-Making: Solutions That Serve All → Voices from all corners ensure equitable outcomes. → Inclusive processes build trust and fairness. 💡 Teams: Use anonymous voting tools to democratize decisions. 10/ Momentum Through Motivation: Energize the Room → Collaborative environments inspire action. → Shared purpose drives teams to execute with passion. 💡 Managers: Celebrate collective wins to keep morale high. 11/ Scalable Solutions: Built to Last → Solutions shaped by many are robust and adaptable. → They withstand scrutiny and evolve with needs. 💡 Leaders: Document collaborative processes to replicate success. Collaboration redefines problem-solving by blending voices into solutions that are smarter, stronger, and more sustainable. __________ ♻️ Repost if your network needs these reminders. Follow Carolyn Healey for real-world leadership insights.

One of the things I love about my job is how creative I get to be. Whether it’s developing new career tools, thinking about how we bring our next book to life or designing career programmes for the companies we work with, creativity is a constant in my squiggly career. It definitely helps having Sarah Ellis as a creative partner to spark off and we’ve got better at creative collaboration over the last 10 years of working together (📸 photo of us in creating mode on Monday). I think some of the things we have learnt can be applied more broadly to support an environment where everyone can be more creative at work. So, here are 4 things we have learnt that might be useful for you and your team….. 😤 Disagreement is not a disaster! Taking a deep breath, pausing on the bit that is problematic and working on less contentious elements can create momentum and make it easier to come back to later. We’ve had to do this a lot with our new book, but we believe it’s much better because of it! 🗑️ Be prepared to be wasteful. Sometimes one of us puts words on paper for a book chapter or a podcast script, knowing the other one won’t like it! But it’s enough to get a conversation started and have something to build better together. Letting go of your ego here is important and positioning it as ‘first thoughts’ reduces any sensitivity. 🧌Don’t Frankenstein ideas. When an idea isn’t quite right, you can tweak and tweak and lose the essence of what you were trying to achieve in the first place. Better to put a not so great idea to one side and start from scratch. We’ve done this recently with our Squiggly Career Shorts that we created for the podcast. The insight is right (people have a limited time to listen and learn) but the execution of our idea wasn’t. Instead of tweaking and frankensteining, we’ve put it on pause until we find a new way forward. 🤫 Small moments of silence. When you’re in creative collaboration mode, there can be a lot of noise! Discussion, debate and ideas bouncing back and forth. We find it helpful to have small moments of silence in creative conversations where we just gather our thoughts individually. We call this brainwriting and do it all the time when we are pulling a presentation together or an outline for a new article. If you are looking for ways for your team to be more creative, I’d also recommend reading Sarah Stein Greenberg’s book ‘Creative Acts for Curious People’ All of your thoughts and ideas on creativity welcomed 👇

Yesterday, my neighbor Allan Adler and I were having coffee in the sun when we unintentionally started brainstorming a new relational leadership model. It maps how strategic/tactical capacities interact with emotions like fear and love to drive collaboration and lasting innovation in teams. 🤓 Sounds geeky right? There's more. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨𝙣'𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙬𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝘼𝙄 𝙩𝙤𝙤𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧. 🛠️ 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗜-𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 Our process looked something like this: 1. We had a dynamic, free-flowing hour-long conversation mapping out different ideas and concepts 2. Instead of one of us taking notes to organize later (the traditional approach), Allan immediately began using ChatGPT and Claude to structure our brainstorm into a coherent essay 3. He leveraged these AI tools to identify relevant examples from other leadership models that reinforced our key points 4. The AI helped surface additional sources we could explore to further develop our concept 5. We quickly ended up with a structured outline that could evolve into a testable model 💪 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 + 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 This experience perfectly demonstrates how AI tools don't replace critical thinking—they enhance it. These tools still require human sense-making abilities, but they dramatically elevate and accelerate creative brainstorming in ways that would have been far less efficient otherwise. By handling the research, synthesis, and editing, AI tools freed us to focus on the creative aspects and quality of our thinking. The technology essentially removed the friction between ideation and organization, allowing our concepts to take shape in real-time. 📣 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗟𝗼𝘂𝗱 Now we have a solid foundation for our "X Factor" model—which explores how the interplay of Creator, Constructor, Controller, and Connector capacities drives sustainable leadership—that we can test and refine "in the wild" by sharing and iterating publicly. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬 (𝘩𝘵𝘵𝘱𝘴://𝘣𝘪𝘵.𝘭𝘺/3𝘠𝘍8𝘓𝘜𝘱) 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘕𝘎𝘖 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘈𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘈𝘐-𝘦𝘯𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬? #WorkingOutLoud #AICollaboration #LeadershipInnovation #FutureOfWork #NGOleaders Photo by Zach Ramelan on Unsplash