Group GeniusPower of Collaboration

John BoysBrent Ackerman

What is Collaboration?

Collaboration is the act of working with another or others on a joint project.

7 Characteristics

1. Innovation emerges over time.

2. Successful collaborative teams practice deep listening.

3. Team members build on their collaborators’ ideas

4. Only afterwards does the meaning of each idea come clear

7 Characteristics

5. Surprising questions emerge.

6. Innovation in inefficient.

7. Innovation emerges from the bottom up.

Innovation Emerges Over Time

• Happens bit by bit, step by step

• Normally hard to see individual steps or progress (invisible innovation)

• Invisible Innovation- Build up to an invention or innovation remains “invisible” until that breakthrough

Deep Listening

• Most groups don’t take every member’s ideas and thoughts into account

• Don’t count out other’s ideas

• Create a pool of designs/methods and don’t eliminate options until all opinions have been voiced

Building Blocks

• As an extension of deep listening, don’t tear other’s ideas down before having a group decision on the idea.

• Build on each other’s ideas.

Building Blocks

• The final product isn’t your idea but a collage of every member of the groups’ ideas and thoughts.

• Let other’s ideas influence or change your idea on a given project.

Clear as Mud• Only after the fact does the meaning of each

idea become clear.

• This is where counting out ideas before their given a chance comes in

• Its hard to tell the impact something will have before giving it a good thought

Surprising Questions Emerge

• Most innovation doesn’t just come from answering old questions, but from coming up with new questions and problems and finding results for them.

• The deeper you dig, the more dirt you will find, resulting in a fine-tuned operation, invention, project, etc.

Innovation is Inefficient• The road to innovation is not

an eight-laned interstate but a windy road with many wrong turns and at times uncertainty.

• Usually, many dead ends and “wrong turns” eventually result in progress or good ideas, and eventually these good ideas pile up and result in innovation!

• “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison

Building From the Bottom Up• Being innovative doesn’t necessarily mean you

have a strong leader but, in turn, a group who is motivated towards the same goal.

• Groups must also be flexible to results and methods to achieving new solutions.

• Groups must be Group oriented!

Highlights

• Be Group Oriented- be focused towards achieving the given goal with the group, not by your own means

• Step by Step- innovation occurs one good idea at a time, not by one giant leap

• I Think We’re lost- Don’t be afraid of wrong turns or mistakes, because these will lead into good ideas and a step closer to your goal

Highlights

• From The Bottom Up- Innovation begins from a group towards a common goal, a leader is not necessary, just a group who is willing to work together to achieve the task at hand.

• Don’t Bring Me Down- Don’t count out ideas before they are given a chance, it’s a group effort, not an individual achievement.

Summary

• Innovation is the motor and driving force in everything. Whether you are running a Fortune 500 company or a small business, doing a simple class project or graduate research, innovation is the key to success in any group atmosphere.

• Being patient, flexible, and focused towards the common goal is half the battle.

TEST QUESTION!!!

List the 7 main characteristics key for group innovation.