For the past several years, I’ve had the honor of leading a team of industry-recognized learning & development professionals. In the past 6 months alone, members of my team have: stood as finalists in the Gamicon Gamification Throwdown; written thought leadership articles for ATD; and led sessions at DevLearn.
But the team wasn’t always like this. When I joined the company, our team culture was barrier-focused. Most meetings devolved into a script of “That idea won’t work” followed by “We’ve just always done it this way.” Meeting after meeting ended in discouragement because of these shutdown phrases.
One day, I’d had enough. At the start of a team meeting, I announced, “Today, we leave the phrases ‘we’ve always done it this way’ and ‘that won’t work’ outside the door.” (Recalling the surprised looks on the team’s faces still makes me chuckle.) In place of the old script, I introduced the “Yes! And...” technique, which is used in improvisatory theater. Because this technique expands and develops ideas, it’s ideal for breaking the shutdown cycle.
The team adapted quickly to “Yes! And…”; soon, they were riffing on—and improving—each other’s ideas. Today, I find myself regularly surprised and delighted by their innovative collaboration. Our Incubation Sessions (i.e. brainstorm meetings) are inspiring and energetic. Shutdown scripts are a thing of the past. But, how did we get here?
I helped my team transition from being barrier-focused to solution-focused by cross training them in two practices: creativity and innovation. Let’s look at the distinct role of these two practices and how they work together:
Creativity, at it’s most simple, is the act of
thinking about solutions, data, experiences, risks, opportunities, and objectives differently than other people have in the past. This doesn’t mean that what we create is not an amalgamation of what already exists; creativity can be as sim
ple as applying familiar ideas in a new way or in a new setting. Regardless, creativity introduces a significant conceptual jump.
Innovation, on the other hand, is applying creativity to solve a specific challenge or improve a system in smaller increments. So, when we discuss innovation, there are actually two practices at play: 1) thinking of things differently (creativity); and 2) applying differentiated thinking toward a specific problem or system (innovation).
Creating new solutions – i.e. innovation – has become a core competency for meeting deliverables in an evolving environment. Innovation isn’t just about pulling ahead of the competition - it’s about survival.
Think of three persistent organizational challenges impacting your team. What is the cost if your team cannot generate new solutions to those old problems? Where will morale be in 6 months? How could failure to find new solutions to persistent problems impact strategic initiatives?
Now, how might those outcomes change if your team were overflowing with creativity (thinking outside-the-box) and innovation (creatively solving challenges)?
Here's where cross training comes in. Cross training is targeting multiple skills in order to improve overall performance.
Sometimes in our quest for innovation, we forget the foundation of creativity.
When that happens, we try to solve specific challenges (innovation) before we've cultivated the ability to think about things differently (creativity).
The ability to think creatively must be cultivated before there's an issue that requires an innovative solution. This requires the discipline of getting creative even when there's no immediate reason.
Innovative teams must get comfortable being a little weird and suggesting or engaging with oddball ideas -- just for the sake of practicing creativity.
In this three part series, I’ll share insights from cross training my own team. I hope you’ll build on whatever I suggest. The first step is to understand where your team is at now.
OBSERVE your team for one week:
How often do they practice creativity vs. innovation? Note: count creativity and innovation separately.
What are the team’s most-used shutdown phrases? Who initiates creativity? Innovation? How do team members respond to each? Does everyone participate?
REFLECT. At the end of the week, consider:
Does your team exercise creativity and innovation evenly, or do they have a preference? If one practice is under-represented, how could you strengthen it?
Who is most likely to instigate creativity? Innovation? Who seems least comfortable with these practices? Is anyone more likely to use shutdown phrases?
BRAINSTORM. Take 15 minutes to generate outside-the-box answers to these:
What could you do to remove barrier-focused phrases (e.g. “that won’t work”) and shutdown phrases (e.g. “we’ve just always done it that way”) from team vernacular?
How could you reward solution-oriented thinking?
In Flexing Team Creativity and Innovation: A Practical Guide, I dive deeper into creativity and innovation as separate practices, including sharing exercises I used to cross train my own team. ________ This article is the first of a three part series:
Cross Training Innovative Teams
Flexing Team Creativity and Innovation: A Practical Guide
Cultivating a Culture of Innovation