Readings 6 December

When Collections of Creatives Become Creative Collectives

• Research is often the production of a group, yet research on the individual is conducted at the individual level.
• This paper focuses on the fleeting coincidence of behaviors that trigger moments when creative insights emerge. It then focuses on insights that emerge in the interactions between individuals.
• Conceptualizing a way to use IV bags to prevent splints connected by multiple contributor experiences created the Reebok Pump.
• Four interrelating activities appear to precipitate moments of collective creativity: help seeking, help giving, reflective re-framing and reinforcing.
• This study focused on innovating the old, not conceptualizing the new
• Analogical problem solving occurs when an individual recognizes similarities to new situations to old problems
• The same mechanism that interprets new ideas in terms of old ones, causes people to not see them as opportunities for creative insights
• Organizations benefit when people come together and bring ideas from other industries
• Only individuals can contribute to a group, but the collective mind differences, because it inheres the pattern of interrelated activities among many people
• While there is potential for moments of collective mind to enter a group, need to heed interrelating and mindful engagement of individuals in the social interrelations of the organization. The collective mind resides in the interrelations between individuals and the social system.
• Collective creativity relies on moments when people's perspectives and experiences are brought together to create new solutions.
• This study examined Accenture, McKinsey & Company, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing Company, IDEO Product Development, Design Continuum
• Help Seeking: participation in a problem-solving process depended on who was invited to do so. It is flexible and help-seeking behaviors play a role in who joins the collective effort and what knowledge they bring.
• Target companies have group meetings to discuss problems and gain ideas
• "Tapping into personal networks" hallway interaction often spur further interactions because they create a unique and unexpected path across the office.
• Help seeking is often inhibited by threat of failure or individual accountability
• Billable hours prevent people from giving help in the hallways
• Reflective reframing re-frames the problem into a better one. It validates previously irrelevant ideas and solutions.
• Two reinforcing behaviors exist: 1) individuals pursuing collective moments are reinforced by any positive experience that results from helping. 2) reinforcing activities stems from shares values and beliefs of organizations
• Effectiveness of larger and more explicit organizational practices may depend on microinteractions and their embeddedness within the social systems of the organization.
• Creative behavior is the result of domain-relevant skills, creativity-relevant skills, and task motivation.
• Collective creativity differs from collective mind, because the focus is on the processes that generate creative disruptions from the established order as opposed to maintaining order in the face of disruption.
• Individuals perform better than groups on creative tasks, but minority dissent and high participation among group members increase innovation. An organization that reinforces behaviors of help seeking, help giving, and reflective re-framing expects social anxiety and normative pressure to participate in collectively creative interactions.
• Case study databases cost significant organizational investment and yet they are not valued by the people they are meant to serve

As this article developed its model, I began to think about times when I have been inspired and what I do when I am stuck on a problem, as an individual. I ask for help. More than once has somebody had a similar experience that enlightens me or has somebody, just by re-framing the problem, turned on my personal idea light. The Problem Solving class confirmed this concept. The professor says she has three people that she calls when she is stuck on a problem to gain just these moments of insight. It is a shame that organizational culture and performance evaluation systems prevent hallway interaction from occurring. In the article, a McKinsey consultant mentioned that he only posts enough information for the recipient to want more. This prevents a group for taking full credit. Innovative organizations should be open and not secretive. This type of organizational culture prohibits its innovators from developing to their full potential.

The Agenda - Total Teamwork

• The Mayo Clinic meets together to discuss patient treatment
• The Mayo Clinic is different from traditional hospitals. Professional greets ease new patients through the paperwork, they great patients by name. Doctors see patients in private, but cozy, private offices
• Mayo doctors refer to colleagues as "consultants" to remind them of their role
• Mayo doctoral team assembly depends on the nature of the problem, the skill and experience of available specialists.
• Mayo doctors do not compete because they have a set salary.
• Consultants know that recommendations will be carefully scrutinized
• Mayo Clinic is a very horizontal organization, that may take them more time to make a decision, but has served them well long-term
• No one is big enough to be independent of others, teamwork is part of the culture, language matters, money also talks, the customer is part of the team

Multiple readings on innovation have focused on the medical profession and its fault. Daniel Pink advised doctors to engage in storytelling to help the right sides of their rather analytical brains to hear the patient's full story in context. Mayo Clinic takes a different approach to innovative solutions. It uses a group to gain a different perspective and understand a bigger context. What this article did not emphasize is the effect that shared information and consulting has on individual egos. My understanding of the medical industry is that many of its professionals have an ego complex. This may be one reason why they are hesitant to seek advice or ask questions. Failure impacts this person's professional reputation, making him unhappy, and possibly inhibiting his personal creativity. However, those without egos are able to remain happy and reap the benefits of collective advice. Ego-less doctors also are better able to engage the customer and maintain the customer. The better quality the overall service and solution, the better the business.