How to Work in Groups and Generate Creativity

Leigh Thompson's "Creative Conspiracy"

The paradox that Thompson reveals in the introduction of the book is really a point that struck me most while reading: Thompson acknowledges that "although creative team collaboration is essential for companies and businesses, decades of research evidence clearly reveals that groups are inferior to individuals when it comes to creativity!" (p. 2). This paradox is really what is at the heart of Creative Conspiracy, which focuses on how creativity and group work can go together. The point that Thompson makes soon after revealing this paradox is that "team members who are passive or overly controlling will certainly lead their teams to failure" (p. 2) and this is another important factor to remember. Leaders have to be hard on problems -- not on people.

This means that everyone should be given respect for his or her opinion and be thanked for contributing -- because by doing this it challenges others to think and to respond and even if no one in the group knows why a bad idea might be bad, the group leader should recognize its weaknesses and be able to identify them calmly and with all charity and respect. This will show that reason and rational discourse is guiding the team rather than bias or emotion. By engaging everyone and getting them all to talk, the leader demonstrates fairness and appreciation -- but the leader should also have some vision or creative instinct that helps to keep the team moving in the right direction. As Thompson notes, creativity tends to be a unique or individualistic phenomenon, but that does not mean that groups cannot be part of the phenomenon: they can because in groups more ideas can be generated which can then be refined individually by the members of the group who have the vision and capacity to do so. Or they may all be rejected if none of them are substantial: the point is that in an organization all members contribute something special and should be acknowledged for their contributions -- but no one should be given leeway at the expense of creativity.

As Thompson notes, true collaboration is not the same thing as simply being in the same room together: "True collaboration often calls for periods of focused, independent work interspersed with periods of intense, structured team interaction" (p. 4) -- but there also has to be some guiding intelligence or some force to keep the interaction positive and on target so that discussions do not break down. This was the biggest takeaway for me from the introduction and first chapter of the book. I can see myself implementing this strategy in my own organization as a team leader.