In today's fast-paced, complex world, individual brilliance is not enough. True innovation springs from teamwork leveraging a dynamic creative process that embraces diverse thinking modes.

The Three-Step Dance

A structured approach to ideation can provide a team with a framework for maximizing creativity, ensuring diverse perspectives are heard, and streamlining the process of transforming ideas into actionable solutions. We lay out three phases to generate creative and well-formed solutions.

1. Creative Diversity: Expanding the Horizons

Imagine a brainstorming session on steroids. This is where creative, divergent thinking reigns supreme. Teams cast a wide net, generating a profusion of ideas, possibilities, and "what-ifs." This step requires several characteristics to be successful:

• Confidence and Optimism - believing they can create something new and different, a willingness to break the mold
• Creativity - comfortably presenting unusual and unique thoughts, even if they seem nonsensical
• Lack of Judgment - accepting and embracing these ideas with open minds, without making the presenter feel their ideas are invalid

Removing constraints brings a free flow of diverse ideas. Risk-taking and unusual thinking should be celebrated. A team with diverse backgrounds, mindsets, and skills is ideal for building a broad and robust base in this phase.

2. Collaboration: Building Bridges

This is where the magic starts to happen. Teams dive into the sea of ideas generated, seeking connections, patterns, and themes. Ideas begin to merge, evolve, and take on new forms. It's a dynamic dance of synthesis and exploration. This phase is where teamwork shines. These skills will optimize this phase:

• Communication - actively and collectively building on the ideas that have been proposed
• Curiosity - possessing a genuine desire to explore possibilities and ask questions
• Flexibility - adapting and changing course as new ideas evolve
• Active listening - truly hearing and understanding the perspectives and convictions of others

Collaboration brings together seemingly disparate ideas, creating unexpected and powerful combinations.

3. Alignment: Creating a Solution

The team must now transition from creativity and exploration to logic and practicality. In this step, the ideas can now be evaluated, prioritized, and refined. The focus is on feasibility and impact. The goal: to arrive at the optimal solution, a concept ready for the real world.

Skills for success in this phase include the following:

• Critical thinking - analyzing and evaluating ideas objectively
• Effective communication - clearly articulating opinions and building consensus
• Coordination - moving the process forward with conclusive decisions
• Strategic thinking - aligning creative solutions with overall goals and objectives

The Power of the Three-Step Dance

Through this process, team members build on each other's ideas, fostering a sense of shared ownership and excitement. They also feel a sense of accountability and motivation, supporting the solution and striving for its success.

The power of team creativity lies in the interplay of these three steps. A team that excels in all three phases is poised for innovation. By embracing creative diversity, collaboration, and alignment, teams can tap into their collective brilliance and unlock their full creative potential.

Thanks to Charles Leon's Emergent Thinking article for inspiring this.