The creative process is all about team building, teamwork, problem-solving, and productive
creative thinking. If a group jumps into problem-solving or creative thinking without
having built the team or having cultivated teamwork, many participants might feel
stifled or might prefer not to express themselves freely if there would be a resulting negative
impact on the creative process. Others might not know how to participate. Engineers
need to have a concept and perception of team, and a recognition of their place within it,
in order to feel routinely comfortable sharing ideas that have not yet been thought through
fully. They also need to know that the process itself is not flawed; for example, that the
process will catch an idea that seems to have potential but that is ultimately flawed before
someone thrusts it into use without proper consideration. Conversely, they need to know
that those ideas that have potential will not be ridiculed, shut down, or pushed aside
because of one person’s viewpoint or shortcomings.