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Are you getting the most
from your team? In our consultations with executive clients I hear many complaints about the slowness of
teams - it takes time and hard work to build alignment across a
team. There is recognition that teamwork offers huge rewards in the end but many
get frustrated with the amount of time and effort required to make teams work well.
One of the ways to get an immediate
return is to leverage the innate creativity of teams. Many leaders try to solve
challenging problems alone, but teams can do much better than
individuals in coming up with creative solutions to difficult
problems. In our fast changing world, innovative solutions
are the source of your competitive advantage.
The
following points are designed as a checklist to help leaders create an environment that will foster creativity and innovation
within your teams.
-
Establish
clear outcomes for teamwork.
You will derive the best results from your teams when members clearly understand what is expected of them. They
need to understand both the overall big picture and vision for the
organization, as well as your expectations of them operationally (what results / deliverables you want from them.) Read
more about
how to build a compelling vision.
-
Believe
in the capabilities your team.
As the leader, you need to expect the best from your team, keeping
your expectations high and realistic. This is a
challenging balancing act, but people need to be inspired to perform at their best.
In terms of creativity - a group is more likely to come up with
innovative solutions if you believe that they can. However your
optimism
and strength need to be realistic. Raise the bar for top
performance, one step at a time.
-
Encourage
and respect new thinking.
It takes courage to bring up a new idea or a fresh perspective within a
team. Creativity is a mindset that needs to be
championed and valued by the leader. Make sure that you are open to new ideas, and that you suspend judgment
during the idea generation phase. Encourage people to build
on ideas, not tear them down. Dismissing ideas too soon is a
sure way of losing the best solutions and suppressing creative
thinking.
-
Hold
regular brainstorming sessions.
Brainstorming
is a great way to get lots of new ideas on the table. Operate
within clear brainstorming rules: go for quantity not quality, don't
evaluate, defer judgment, appoint a scribe to capture the
ideas verbatim on a flipchart and tagging on or combining ideas is
OK - the wilder the better.
-
Strengthen
relationships.
Creativity
is generated when you have a collaborative environment.
Collaboration can only exist when there is trust between team
members. The leader sets the tone, so make sure you
encourage, recognize and reward collaboration and
interdepartmental communication.
-
"Empower
your employees" An
easy thing to say but much more difficult to do. We could write
an ezine just on this one topic. Start by sharing more of
the decision making with lower levels in the
organization. Read more about how to motivate a team.
-
Hire
for creativity. During the interview cycle make sure you
recruit people that have creative ability. Hiring
groups of people who all think alike will not generate new ideas.
-
Encourage
risk taking. Encourage your people to take risks, recognizing
that at times mistakes will be made. It is critical that
employees know that, so long as they take the appropriate steps to
maximize success, failures will be seen as opportunities, for new
learning, not blame. Fear is on the other side of the coin
from creativity. Its up to management to recognize and acknowledge that
fear is present and to set the tone that risks need to be taken
anyway.
-
Build
diverse teams.
Diversity of backgrounds, thinking, experience and culture is the
key to creativity. Although it is more difficult to build
alignment and consensus among a group of divergent thinkers, you
will get better ideas and ultimately more upside from a diverse team.
-
Have
fun. Humor is
a fuel of creativity. Make sure you fuel the fire of
creativity by encouraging laughter and play. The key here is to
maintain respectful interactions. Read more about running fun
and effective meetings.
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