Creative Conspiracy. Leigh Thompson

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      For all these reasons, the cave-and-commons workplace design may be ideal for team-based companies. In the cave-and-commons setup, people have common space to meet when needed and necessary, but they have their own private “caves” that they can retreat to for creative idea generation, which usually happens in solitude. This hybrid structure perfectly reflects the fact that the creative process is a fine orchestration of individual and group work. Let individuals think in their caves. Then let the team debate which of the ideas is the most valuable (this is when to bring the teams into the commons).

      There is also a widely held related notion that the more time groups spend together, the more they will bond and perform well together. Think again. Karen Girotra, professor of technology and operations management at INSEAD, examined hybrid teams, in which individuals first worked independently and then together, and compared them with teams that worked only together. She found that hybrid structures led to more ideas, better ideas, and increased ability to discern the best-quality ideas.

      Myth 6: Team members should first brainstorm as a group to get the creative juices flowing, then work alone.

      People are under the mistaken impression that being in a group will supercharge idea generation and motivate them to think creatively. In fact, the opposite is true! It is nearly always better for people to work independently before moving into a group. Paul Paulus and his research team put this idea to the test by training people in several different modalities. Some people worked alone on a brainstorming problem and then moved into groups. Other people worked with groups and then moved to independent brainstorming.

      The results were quite clear: those who worked independently before moving into groups had much better group brainstorming sessions! Why? The people who were alone initially in their own thoughts before moving into a team experienced much greater group creativity. When we are brainstorming alone, we are in a state of thought, not in a state of action. Conversely, when we work in teams, we start getting busy, making plans, and setting agendas—and this does not serve us well. By brainstorming alone first, the individual is not under the peer pressure of others. Moreover the individual does not have to pay attention to social cues or for that matter even listen to others. Rather, that person can think in a completely unfettered fashion.

      Myth #7: People who are pro-social (team-oriented) are more creative than those who are pro-self (individually minded or just downright selfish!).

      I warned you that some of the ideas in this book would not be politically or organizationally correct. This is one of them. For years, we’ve been told to act more like team players and put self-interest aside. In fact, that advice does not make sense for creative teamwork. People who are pro-self and have a high concern for their own interests are actually more creative than people who are pro-social.

      How do you know if you are pro-self or pro-social? Well, as a start, do you resonate more with the statements like, “I enjoy being unique and different from others in many respects” or statements like, “Even when I strongly disagree with group members, I avoid an argument”? Are you more likely to state, “I do my own thing, regardless of what others think” or “It is important to maintain harmony within my own group”? What about, “I prefer to be direct and forthright when dealing with people I’ve just met” versus “I usually go along with what others want to do, even when I would rather do something different”? If you tended to agree with the first statement in each pair, chances are you are primarily pro-self. If you tended to agree with the second statement in each pair, chances are you are primarily pro-social. Don’t misunderstand me—being pro-social is very advantageous in many, if not most, of life’s situations. It is just not conducive to thinking creatively.

      However, this book doesn’t advocate creating a culture of self-centeredness. Rather, it points to ways of temporarily putting pro-social, communal concerns aside during a focused brainstorming session in order to activate or ignite a pro-self orientation for increased creativity. In my research with social psychologists Wendi Gardner at Northwestern University and Elizabeth Seeley at New York University, we’ve used a technique to temporarily engage pro-self views. To prompt people to be self-absorbed, we have them write or read statements that contain a lot of personal pronouns such as I, me, and mine. Conversely, to get people to focus on others, we have them read or write statements that contain pronouns such as we, us, and ours. We find that this simple mind exercise can temporarily activate either pro-self or pro-social concerns.

      Myth #8: Calming, relaxing, peaceful deactivating moods lead to more creativity than activating moods.

      There is a widespread belief that creativity is best served through inner peace, serenity, and calmness. One of my colleagues was convinced that her own creative writing was best when she had no distractions, quietly sipping tea in a peaceful setting. However, after three months of such languid writing days, she produced nothing that she was proud of. Shortly thereafter, her first baby was born and her schedule went from long, open, peaceful, unstructured days to tightly orchestrated, minute-by-minute slots, punctuated by extreme activity. The result? She became prolifically productive. In her words, she was “wired.” The way she put it to me was, “I have ninety minutes when Sam is napping, and I run to the computer and write like crazy. I’m totally focused.” Turns out, my colleague is onto something. In fact, it is better to be aroused when attempting to think creatively.

      In my research with Brian Lucas, we interviewed people about how they structure their environment when they want to be creative. Common responses included doing yoga, meditating, taking a nature walk, and looking at pleasant art. So, we put this to the test: we had some people listen to their favorite music, but we made others listen to a (boring) political speech. As you might expect, when people were listening to the speech, they became annoyed, frustrated, and agitated. Those listening to their favorite songs grew more relaxed and serene. We then examined their behavior in a creativity challenge and found that those who had listened to music dramatically underperformed in comparison with those who had been frustrated by the annoying political speeches!

      Assess Your Team’s Creative Know-How

      Now that we’ve poked holes in some of the big myths surrounding creative collaboration, what can we do to make sure our own teams don’t get ensnared by practices that limit their creativity? First, we need to set the stage by seeing where you are in terms of creative collaboration competence.

      Think about the last meeting you had in which the task called for creativity. What did you do to set the stage? If you are like most people, you did not do anything different—or maybe you brought in the doughnuts! Most teams run every meeting the same way, no matter what the business at hand is. High-performance teams, however, constantly change gears so as to optimally meet the challenge of the day. If that challenge involves brain surgery or a SWAT mission, then clearly defined roles, top-down leadership, and a strong prevention focus (i.e., focus on what can go wrong and avoiding bad outcomes) is necessary. However, if the challenge of the day calls for brainstorming a new product idea or new ways of engaging customers, then the team must organize itself to be at its creative best, which will call for a different set of norms and behaviors. Establishing the ground rules that allow these norms and behaviors to occur is the part and parcel of the creative conspiracy.

      Most people float into meetings and conference rooms that look strangely similar to one another, no matter what the true business at hand it. Why? In the Creative Collaboration Assessment that follows, we ask you to think about how your team conducts itself. Where do you meet? What are the spoken and unspoken rules of engagement? And how about these questions? Does anyone facilitate the meeting? Are any special props or materials brought in for the meeting? Are ground rules discussed? Sadly, most of the time, СКАЧАТЬ