Creative Conspiracy. Leigh Thompson

to actively using our space, we create a boneyard or repository of the ideas created that members can easily access before, during, or after meetings (3)

      5 With regard to mental stimulation and things to keep us thinking, engaged, and invigorated, such as props, videos, games, primes, objects, pictures, stopwatches, toys, film clips, etc., my team … does not provide or encourage any kind of external stimuli such as pictures, toys, objects, etc. (0) has on occasion attempted to “liven up” our creative meetings through the use of props, humor, etc. (1) actively imports props, such as toys, devices, gadgets, as triggers for discussion (2)

      6 With regard to mood, my team … looks like a bunch of grumpy men and women (0) is largely neutral (not happy, not sad—just there taking up space) (1) is often positive and upbeat (2) is consistently positive and upbeat (3)

      7 With regard to goal setting, my team … has not set a goal as long as I can remember (0) sets safe/weak goals (1) sets definite goals (2) sets goals based on meaningful criteria and scientifically based benchmarks, and revisits those goals on a regular basis (3)

      8 With regard to diversity, my team … has demographic or gender diversity that falls along fault lines (e.g., all women are in HR; men in engineering, etc.) (0) is largely homogeneous, with people having similar points of view, personality, and background training (1) has demographic and/or gender diversity that does not fall along fault lines (2) has deep-level diversity (based on skills, training, background, education) (3)

      9 The size of my team is … unclear, since we have never specified who’s on the team (0) consistently over 10 people (1) 8–10 people (2) 5–7 people (3) fewer than 5 people (4)

      10 In terms of incentives, rewards, and consequences, the following best describes my team: many more sticks than carrots; underperformance more scrutinized than exceptional performance (punishment-focused) (0) no meaningful rewards or punishments (no consequences) (1) more carrots than sticks (reward-focused); exceptional performance noted more often than underperformance (2) meaningful process and outcome rewards (3)

      11 The leader of my team is best described as … milquetoast: uninvolved and passive (0) transactional: gets the job done; acts like a manager (1) relational: nice, likeable, but not particularly strategic on tasks (1) transformational: consistently articulates goals and vision for the team (2)

      12 If my team were having a brainstorming or creativity session, we would most likely … not do anything different than in any other meeting (0) hope that people share ideas (1) go around the table one by one and invite people to share ideas aloud (2) engage in brainwriting (the simultaneous writing of ideas) (3) engage in brainwriting for part of the time; and perhaps electronic brainstorming (4)

      13 With regard to membership change on my team … there has been no membership change for five or more years (0) there has been no membership change for at least a year (1) new members have been added and some members have left in the past twelve months (2) we have planned membership change and rotation; and often invite people on a temporary basis (3)

      14 With regard to office space, my team or company … is marked by closed doors and very few meeting spaces (0) has a largely, or completely open floor plan (1) is a careful balance of cave and commons, with private spaces and common meeting spaces (2)

      15 With regard to time pressure in our brainstorming-creativity sessions … we meet for the same amount of time every week (0) we meet until we are finished (1) we strategically plan the length of the meeting and set goals (2)

      16 The future-oriented mind-set of my team is largely … prevention-focused; the team worries about what can go wrong and attempts to avoid disaster or bad outcomes (0) promotion-focused; we focus on goals and think about success (1)

      17 With regard to people skills (emotional intelligence skills) … plain and simple: my team does not have them (0) some members have people skills, but not everyone (1) several members have people skills and they coach others (2) the team has people skills; we actively coach each other, and the organization appreciates the value they bring (3)

      18 With regard to free riders on our team (e.g., people not doing their share of the work, yet expecting credit) … free riders exist on our team and they get away with it (0) free riders exist on our team and we make weak attempts to confront them (1) we take proactive steps to discourage free riding (2)

      19 In terms of outsiders, my team … does not trust them and does not involve them (0) may consult with them occasionally (1) regularly involves the input of outsiders (2) regularly involves the input of outsiders who are devil’s advocates (3)

      20 With regard to social networks, the members of my team are … disconnected from the rest of the organization (0) very closely connected to one another (1) closely connected to one another, yet have good working relationships with others outside of the team (2)

      SCORING. After taking the Creative Collaboration Assessment, add up your answers across the twenty items. The points for each answer are in parentheses. Note that the minimum score is 0 and the maximum score is 55. We rarely see such extremes. An average score is around 28. The higher your overall score, the more creatively healthy your team is:

      0–10 (Low): Scores this low should be an immediate call to action. Scores in this range are usually due to one of three things: (1) the team has not been taught the best practices of creative teamwork; (2) the team does not take the time or does not feel accountable for modifying the structure of the group; or (3) someone is actively sabotaging the team. The first two are easy to fix. Reading this book will undoubtedly improve your team score. Making even one change to your weekly team creativity meetings will have a marked effect on your creative output.

      11–21: (Medium-low): You have much room to improve. We suggest focusing on two to three best practices to implement in your team. Be sure to introduce each practice by itself and build in new best practices incrementally. Ask for feedback and keep modifying.

      22–32 (Average): This range is actually the danger zone because it is the zone of complacency. “We are OK. There is nothing to worry about. We are about average for our industry. Others are worse than us.” If you find yourself in this range, make it a point to locate a team in your organization with a significantly higher score and invite them in for an informational session. Barrage them with questions. Ask whether it was worth it. (No doubt it was!). Find others in your team who are not satisfied with mediocrity and introduce one new best practice every month.

      33–44 (Above average): Congratulations! Scores in this range are rare, and mean that someone on the team really is committed to the success of the team. Make sure you affirm this person’s efforts. Ask how you can be an active contributor to the team’s continual evolution. Celebrate your best practices. Offer to coach other teams.

      45 and higher (Extremely advanced): You are a black belt creative conspirator. Because of you, your team is already functioning at an elite level. Find areas to continue to improve. Offer to coach other teams. Conduct smart experiments within the team to discover which practices had the biggest effect. Publish your findings and share with other teams in the organization.

      A Look at What’s Coming …

      The guts of this book—the chapters that follow—speak closely to the questions on the Creative Collaboration Assessment. What’s the bottom line on each one of the questions you just answered? Here’s a lineup of some of the key issues and themes I’ll cover in the rest of the book, mapped to the chapters in which they’ll appear.

       Who needs ground rules? It is a common fallacy to believe that creative teams should throw out all the rules. The right rules and norms actually liberate groups! However, not all rules are conducive for the creative conspiracy. The right brainstorming rules catalyze the creative effort and improve performance. The wrong rules lead to self-censoring behavior and frustration. Another problem is that teams often violate the very rules that they sought to put into place! I call this team drift—the tendency for organizations to slowly revert back to business as usual. This book is about staying on course and sometimes that means going into a headwind. This is why meeting facilitators are key. Chapter 7 provides a review of the original four rules of brainstorming and then supplements these with additional