organizational environment that is flat (rather than hierar- chical), devoid of any pressure, and enables and encourages collaboration.They find that groups make better decisions than individuals on their own.
To truly connect with people in our organizations, we should spend more of our time and energy as leaders ask- ing them to examine more closely how they perform their tasks and collaborate as teams and how the organization as a whole operates.
Successful teams are the result of hiring the right people, building relationships among them based on trust and concern, creating a shared vision of mission, and keep-
ing communication open. Diversity is the mark of great creative teams, where differences are strengths, not weak- nesses. Connecting personally through deep listening and conversation is also crucial. If we slow down and listen, retain our curiosity about other peoples’ ideas and remain open to them, and ask the right questions to explore more deeply others’ views, people become more trusting. As a result, relationships will deepen, and conversations will become richer, opening the doors to innovation.l
Mash-Up: Borrow Brilliance
One of the most exciting components of the innovation process is actively combining disparate ingredients to come up with a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Once we have connected to people who are doing inno- vative work in separate domains, we can begin combining these ideas in our work environment by applying what we have learned elsewhere and inviting others to participate
in the process. By constantly mashing up ideas, concepts, ap- plications and other disparate outcomes gathered from our diverging ventures, we invent powerful new combinations.
Great ideas are built on the shoulders of giants — that is, most of what seems to be original thought is in fact built on the strength of the thoughts of those who came before us, who in turn based their thoughts on those before them. Once we accept the fact that we build on the creativity of others, our creative process becomes deliber- ate and intentional. Because we never know where a good idea may be lurking, we need to look everywhere — oth- er industries, science, art, music, society ... everywhere.
As we examine the ideas we borrow, we need to look at them from all angles with a fresh mind and be skeptical.We have to understand their weaknesses so that we can improve on them.The creative process is an evolutionary one, and the mechanism used to take it forward is judgment.