How to Set the Environment for Creative Collaboration

1/21/2018

Getting people to collaborate creatively in meetings is easier and more effective when it is done in a pleasurable, fun and trusting environment.

I know from experience how hard this can be.

So here are a few tips for leading a creative, collaborative meeting...

The big takeaways:

My technique for building trust with participants before they even enter the meeting.
How to shift the external environment so that the participants are relaxed and pleased to be in the meeting.
An effective way to spark the creation of ideas without saying a word.
How to overcome a huge unseen barrier that is causing people to hold back and not contribute.

2 Comments

gary

1/21/2018 02:57:37 pm

Interesting ideas, Chuck. I love the pre-meeting idea to start trust. I usually try to have 1:1's with team members or stake holders. I ask about their family, their children, what they follow outside work...anything to build that bridge. I also loved the 'dead air' suggestion. If I have reticence in a team or meeting, I will let the dead air linger on and on until the silence becomes so uncomfortable that someone has to speak. That usually starts more ideas. And speaking of ideas...is "ideation" really a word? (If it is, we should shoot it. ;-)

Chuck link

1/21/2018 07:12:10 pm

Shooting ideation. Now there's an idea. (It's also call dibs on it as the name of my next band.)

Gary, as you know...because you are the master of all things agile...ideation is...the creative process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas, where an idea is understood as a basic element of thought that can be either visual, concrete, or abstract. Ideation comprises all stages of a thought cycle, from innovation, to development, to actualization. As such, it is an essential part of the design process, both in education and practice.

At least that's what the Internet tells me when I Google it. ;-)

So, I'm sticking with it for now until a better, or shorter, or more precise, or easier to digest phrase than "clarity of ideation" comes along that speaks to the notion of design...as a process...wherein all the design participants understand...what they are doing and...understand what they are producing...while in the process of doing it.

How to Set the Environment for Creative Collaboration

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