The days of Donald Draper and his illusion of a one-man creative gold-mine are over.
If you want to compete, create and change the world, you need to change team culture.
Here are 10 rules to get your collaboration moving into the right direction:
1. Embrace openness
Kick office politics to the curb. Everyone should be encouraged to share ideas early, and not to hold back. Also, encourage those who are not assigned to a project to give their input on proposed ideas.
2. Create collisions
The conflict between design and marketing teams, and the conflict that occurs between programmers and designers, is a good thing! Mix your teams together and watch sparks ignite success!
3. Assemble diverse teams
When you work with the same team for too long, it gets stale, and so do the ideas that are generated. Mix it up! Not only among teams, but diversity of background is key, too.
4. Leave senior people out
It’s human nature to defer to those in charge. Peers communicate more openly and effectively with each other, so if you’re the boss, think about stepping out and letting your team run free!
5. Know who’s in the room
Author and surgeon Atul Gawande writes in his brilliant The Checklist Manifesto that accidents in surgery drop by double-digit percentages when participants introduce themselves at the beginning of a procedure.
Same goes for your meetings. If you want people to contribute, let people talk at the beginning of your meeting. Let everyone get familiar and comfortable beforehand.
6. More 20 and 30-somethings
This is about changing the status quo, and doing something new, something previously unproven (more).
7. Shut up for 10-minutes
Take time for everyone to stop talking and write down their ideas. After 10-minutes or so, share and talk about the lists. This gives less dominate people a chance to speak their mind.
8. Find the number
This will be different from organization to organization. Try 10, 7, 8; try to find the right number to have on an a team. To do this, just experiment.
9. Let the group decide
Ultimately, someone in charge makes the decision. However, ignoring the groups choices is never a good idea. Try letting the group decide which idea is the best?
10. Value the network
As much as people like to get credit for their ideas, there is more power in collaboration. So, reward teams, not individuals.
In the spirit of collaboration, share with us your ideas.
[via Creativity_Unbound]
Marcus Williamson says
Solid rules
Eric Dye says
I thought so.
😉
Chris Gambill says
Really appreciated number 7. I’ve not done that before in a meeting, but will definitely try it. That’s a great idea of how to help people give focus to their thoughts/input, and, as you said, engage those who don’t naturally speak out.
Eric Dye says
That’s great to hear! These small changes can lead to big things.