Fall 2001

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Creative Inclusion 3 Questions That Invite Collaboration In The Creative Process

by Jack Ricchiuto Building consensus, solving problems, and making decisions are venues often requiring our ability to be creative. Collaboration is key to creating outcomes that win cooperation and that work -- for two reasons: 1) we tend to be smarter together, and 2) more new ideas happen when we have a diversity of minds engaged in the process. Each of us brings different strengths to the idea garden-the dynamic space where we nurture and harvest new ideas. Some of us are better at thinking outside the box of current practices. Others of us are better at critiquing and researching possibilities that crop up in the process. It is our collaboration that keeps the process focused, inventive, and practical. Of course, not everyone has had equal experience sharing the creative process with other people. Many people are used to being lone creative rangers. Whatever their experience, we need to invite people into the process if we want it to be successful. Here are three questions that have proven to invite collaboration in any creative process. What other models of the solution/decision could we consider?   It is natural for people to be attached to their first ideas, as well as to their initial resistance to other people's ideas. Helping them let go and move forward to other possibilities starts with this question. Ultimately, multiple models give us a richer field of alternatives and details to harvest for the ultimate salad of possibilities that will help us achieve our intentions.   What are the potential upsides and downsides to the ideas we have here?   While the gross judgment of ideas as "good" or "bad" prevents idea evolution, detailed critique stimulates the identification of secondary problems to solve. Critique - the identification of potential upsides and downsides -- also identifies secondary benefits that we might find more efficient or effective ways to achieve. Reality is that the only ideas worthy of investment are ultimately those that evolve to be practical enough. Ultimately, people don't mind seeing their seedling ideas growing as we collaboratively solve the intrinsic problems they may unwittingly represent.   What kind of research do we need to do?   In the creative process, ideas always come up that require some kind of research. With every new idea are unknowns - unknown costs, feasibilities, and alternatives - that require that we make calls, test assumptions, and quiz customers. Just as important, research exposes us to more new possibilities. Research helps us refine and enrich ideas in their evolution. Few ideas start out fully mature; they require that we roll up our sleeves to work out the details of their success. More than anything else, questions have the power to invite and include people in the process. Especially when people come to the process defensive of the status quo and fearful of change and failure, our questions give them permission to step beyond their fears into the productive field of creative collaboration. In many cases, people have all the resources they need to be creative. In their personal lives, they have used their imagination in play and judgment in planning. When organizational politics and practices create a culture of boundaries between people and functions, people do not feel free to join their natural imaginations and minds together until actively and enthusiastically invited to do so. Every time we go to the table to cook up new solutions or strategies, it is an opportunity to use these three simple questions to unleash the power of collaborative creativity. The more we raise them, the more creative we become - together.

Jack Ricchiuto is President of DesigningLife, where for over 24 years, he has been providing project management services to organizations in over 20 major industries. He can be contacted at 216-766-8280 or jack@designing-life.com.

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