The document discusses creative collaboration in groups. It describes several techniques for group creativity such as brainstorming, brainwriting, nominal group technique, mind mapping, and storyboarding. It notes that while groups have advantages like bringing together diverse knowledge, they also face challenges to creativity like social loafing and pressure for conformity. Groups can improve creativity by embracing diversity, facilitating supportive communication, and using techniques that incorporate individual and group idea generation and sharing. The document advocates exposing groups to different domains to break down barriers between fields and encourage novel combinations of ideas.

1. Creativity#6: Creative Collaboration
Tathagat Varma
Knowledgepreneur
http://thoughtleadership.in

2. Work is social!
One the earliest findings in social psychology was the
“social facilitation” effect – the way the mere presence
of other people engaged in the same task as us can
boost our motivation. In 1920,
social psychologist Floyd Allport showed that a group
of people working individually at the same table
performed better on a whole range of tasks even
though they weren’t cooperating or competing.
Allport’s research illustrates how the energy of other
people can act as a substitute team even if we’re
working solo (this is why many creatives enjoy working
at their local café surrounded by industrious strangers).
http://99u.com/articles/16850/everything-youve-ever-wanted-to-know-about-teams

3. Group Creativity?
Need for creativity is inversely proportional to how well
we understand the problem.
Well-understood problems => don’t need to be creative
Not well-understood problems => need creative solutions
Individuals perform better with well-understood
problems
Well-understood problem => individuals do better
Not well-understood problems => team are better
Previous research and thinking was that creativity is an
individual skill, however we increasingly work in teams.
http://www.wiley.com/college/dec/meredith298298/resources/addtopics/addtopic_s_01e.html

4. Group Creativity?
Creative output of more than one individual working
together on a common problem
Doesn’t imply involvement in all stages of the creative
process, though
It is everywhere!
Performing arts – theatre, movies, musicals, etc.
Organizational teams – product development,
Research teams
Classrooms
Increasingly interdisciplinary – biocomputing, social
technologies, human genome, space exploration, etc.,
etc.
http://www.helsinki.fi/sosiaalipsykologia/arkisto/nijstad2008.pdf

5. Advantages of group creativity
Groups bring together knowledge and skills not possessed by
any individual member of the group.
Groups are more effective than individuals in eliminating
errors and avoiding mistakes.
A group solution is more likely to be accepted by those who
must implement it than is the solution of an individual.
If the members of a group must act on evidence, it is likely
that they will be more productive and effective if they have
played a role in developing that evidence,
Group members learn from one another, stimulate one
another, and add to each other's knowledge and skills-that
is, synergism occurs.
http://www.wiley.com/college/dec/meredith298298/resources/addtopics/addtopic_s_01e.html

6. Reality!

7. Major threats to team
creativity
Social loafing
Conformity
Production blocking
Downward norm setting
http://ww2.valdosta.edu/~mschnake/Thompson2003

8. Why aren’t groups creative?
Confirming to group norms
Lack of collaboration
Defensive communication climate
Differences in communication styles
Cultural norms
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/group/students/creativity.htm

9. Improving group creativity
Embrace diversity
Facilitate a supportive communication climate
Reward inventive and innovative creativity
Foster collaboration
Practice active listening
http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/group/students/creativity.htm

10. Group creativity techniques
Brainstorming
Delphi technique
Nominal group technique
Mind mapping
Affinity diagrams
Synectics (William Gordon, 1944)
Morphology (F. Zwicky, 1947)
Bionics
Storyboarding

11. Brainstorming
Alex Osborne wrote Applied Imagination (1953) and
claimed that brainstorming doubles the output.
His two key principles to “ideate efficacy”
Defer judgment
Go for quantity
Simple four-step process to reduce social inhibitions,
stimulate idea generation, and increase overall creativity of
the group:
Go for quantity
Withhold criticism
Welcome wild ideas
Combining / improving ideas encouraged
https://hbr.org/2016/01/resolving-the-paradox-of-group-creativity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainstorming#Osborn.27s_method

12. Brainstorming is dead?
Contrary to popular opinion, people generate fewer
good ideas when they brain storm together than they
work alone!
Reasons include
One or two people could dominate the conversation
While someone is sharing their idea, other might forget
theirs
Other social and sociological issues (hierarchy, peer
jealousy,
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/30/groupthink

13. Brainwriting
Like brainstorming, but participants write down their
ideas individually instead of sharing it aloud
These papers are then passed around the group and
people read each other’s ideas while they continue to
write their own
Allows the group to share and build on each other’s
ideas and avoid the pitfalls of f2f brainstorming
https://www.fastcodesign.com/3062292/evidence/brainstorming-is-dumb

14. Brainwriting Study
In a study, brainwriters came up with 37% more ideas than
working alone.
Also found that brainwriting in groups and then
brainstorming alone was better than working alone and then
doing group brainwriting…but this solitary reflection should
happen quickly after the group session
asynchronous brainwriting—that is, switching multiple times
between group brainwriting and working alone…The
researchers found that the asynchronous method worked
much better—people who alternated techniques thought of .
50 ideas a minute versus .29 ideas a minute in group-only
brainwriting
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25850113

15. 6-3-5 Brainwriting
Developed by Bernd Rohrbach who originally
published it in a German sales magazine,
the Absatzwirtschaft, in 1968
Moderator supervised with 6 participants
6 rounds. Each round
3 ideas per participant
5 minutes
After each round, pass on the sheet to person on your
right
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6-3-5_Brainwriting

16. Pool Method
Each participant gets a form. Problem is written on form.
5 – 8 in group.
Each person writes three ideas at top and puts sheet in
center of table.
Participants take new sheet out of center pile and add to it.
No rounds. Put sheets back and get new sheets at own pace.
Process completed at end of pre-determined time (e.g. 30
min).
Sort ideas.
https://www.uco.edu/academic-affairs/cqi/files/docs/facilitator_tools/brainhan.pdf

17. 6-8-5
http://gamestorming.com/games-for-fresh-thinking-and-ideas/6-8-5s/
• Generate 6-8 ideas in 5 minutes without worrying about implementation yet

18. Delphi Technique
The Delphi method was originally conceived in the 1950s by
Olaf Helmer and Norman Dalkey of the Rand Corporation.
The Delphi method is a forecasting method based on the
results of questionnaires sent to a panel of experts.
Several rounds of questionnaires are sent out, and the
anonymous responses are aggregated and shared with the
group after each round.
The experts are allowed to adjust their answers in subsequent
rounds.
Since multiple rounds of questions are asked and the panel is
told what the group thinks as a whole, the Delphi method
seeks to reach the correct response through consensus.
More used in forecasting or decision-making in complex
problems, less in creativity par se.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/delphi-method.asp

19. Nominal Group Technique
A variant of brainwriting approach which combines
both individual as well as team approach
The process is led by a facilitator and involves:
Silent idea generation.
Round-robin presentation.
Idea clarification.
Voting and ranking.
Discussion of results.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nominal_group_technique

20. Mindmap
A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize
information. A mind map is often created around a
single concept, drawn as an image in the center of a
blank landscape page, to which associated
representations of ideas such as images, words and
parts of words are added. Major ideas are connected
directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch
out from those.
Mind maps can be drawn by hand, either as "rough
notes" during a lecture, meeting or planning session,
for example, or as higher quality pictures when more
time is available.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map

21. Create a Central Idea

22. Add Branches to Your Map

23. Add Keywords

24. Color Code Your Branches

25. Include Images

26. Process
Create a
Central
Idea
Add
Branches to
Your Map
Add
Keywords
Color Code
Your
Branches
Include
Images

28. http://lifehacker.com/how-to-use-mind-maps-to-unleash-your-brains-creativity-1348869811

29. How mindmaps help?
Make ideas visible on paper quickly
Organize thoughts without friction
Share ideas before you forget them
Clear your mind to stay focused
Visual thinking
http://lateralaction.com/articles/mind-maps/

30. Storyboarding

31. Storyboards
A storyboard is a sketch of how to organize a story and
a list of its contents.
A storyboard helps you:
Define the parameters of a story within available
resources and time
Organize and focus a story
Figure out what medium to use for each part of the story
https://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/starttofinish-storyboarding/

32. Diversity
Role Engineers, managers, technicians, blue- and white-collar
production workers, and so on, all represent special viewpoints and
may be the source of unique contributions to problem solving.
Specialty Different areas of study have their individual ways of
thinking about and analyzing problems.
Age Contrary to popular mythology, there appears to be no
demonstrable relationship between age and creativity except, possibly,
in the held of mathematics. A mix of ages cannot hurt, and probably
helps.
Experience Experience with a problem tends to produce insight, but it
also tends to foster overconcern with real or imagined constraints.
Inexperienced but intelligent people may develop fresh approaches.
Education One must never confuse education with wisdom; but, like
experience, more is generally better than less.
http://www.wiley.com/college/dec/meredith298298/resources/addtopics/addtopic_s_01e.html

33. Case Study: The Medici Effect
The people here participate in what seems like an almost
random combination of ideas. One conversation leads into
another, and it is difficult to guess what idea will come up
next.
There is another place just like Peter’s Café, but it is not in
the Azores. It is in our minds. It is a place where different
cultures, domains, and disciplines stream together toward a
single point. They connect, allowing for established concepts
to clash and combine, ultimately forming a multitude of
new, groundbreaking rules. This place, where the different
fields meet, is what I call the Intersection. And the
explosion of remarkable innovations that you find there is
what I call the Medici Effect.
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

34. Creativity
For an original idea to be creative, it must also have
some measure of relevance; it must be valuable.
Innovations must not only be valuable, they must also
be put to use by others in society.
Ultimately society decides whether an idea is both new
and valuable.
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

35. Associative Barriers
The mind follows the simplest path – a previous
association. Chains of association are efficient; they
allow us to move quickly from analysis to action.
Although chains of association have huge benefits, they
also carry costs. The inhibit our ability to think
broadly. We do not question assumptions as readily, we
jump to conclusions faster and create barriers to
alternate ways of thinking about a particular situation.
Researchers have long suspected that (these) associative
barriers are responsible for inhibiting creativity.
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

36. Help & Hinder
A person with high associative barriers will quickly
arrive at conclusions when confronted with a problem
since their thinking is more focused. He or she will
recall how the problem has been handled in the past,
or how others in similar situations solved it.
A person with low associative barriers may think to
connect ideas and concepts that have very little basis in
past experience, or that cannot easily be traced
logically. Therefore, such ideas are often met with
resistance and sentiments such as “if this is such a good
idea, someone else would have thought it it”
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

37. Making the barriers fall
Exposing to a range of cultures
Learn differently
Reverse the assumptions
Take multiple perspectives
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

38. The Intersection
Your best chance to innovate! Where different fields meet.
Break down barriers between fields.
The key difference between fields and an intersection of
fields lies in how concepts within them are combined. If you
operate within a field, you primarily are able to combine
concepts within that particular field, generating ideas that
evolve along a particular direction – what I call directional
ideas. When you step into the Intersection, you can
combine concepts between multiple fields, generating ideas
that leap in new directions – what I call intersectional ideas.
Stepping into the Intersection does not simply mean
combining two different concepts into a new idea…
Intersection represents a place that drastically increases the
chances for unusual combinations to occur.
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

39. Directional vs. Intersectional
Directional innovation improves a product in fairly
predictable steps, along a well-defined dimension.
Intersectional innovations change the world in leaps
along new directions.
Intersectional innovations also don’t require as much
expertize as directional innovation and can therefore be
executed by the people you least suspect.
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

40. Intersectional Innovations
They are surprising and fascinating
They take leaps in new dimensions
They open up entirely new fields
They provide a space for a person, team, or company to call
its own
They generate followers, which means the creators can
become leaders
They provide a source of directional innovation for years or
decades to come
They can affect the world in unprecedented ways
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

41. Major forces that are
Increasing Intersections
Movement of people
Convergence of science
Leap of computation
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

42. Finding combinations
By diversifying occupations
By interacting with diverse group of people
By going intersection hunting
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

43. Quantity or Quality?
Linus Pauling – The best way to get a good idea is to
have a lot of ideas.
The most successful innovators product and realize an
incredible number of ideas.
In any given field of creative activity, it is typical to find
that around 10% of the creators are responsible for
50% of the contributions.
Classical composers produced most of their
masterpieces during the same period when they
produced most of their failures.
The Medici Effect – Frans Johansson

44. Recap
The myth of “lone genius” is long over!
Teams are best suited to solve complex problems
However, teams are often victim of multiple social
issues of people working together
Creativity in groups can be improved by using
techniques like brainwriting and building a culture that
promotes diversity, among other things
In the next class, we shall take a look at the role of
leadership in creativity