Innovation Equals Collaboration

I had an interesting discussion with a client recently. We were talking about definitions of Creativity and Innovation.   A definition I would use is that Creativity is about generating new unexpected ideas and Innovation is about taking the best of these and implementing them.

Another definition is that Creativity is an intellectual exercise and Innovation is a social process.  It is possible to come up with lots of ideas on your own, but it is really difficult to turn them into an implementable idea without involving other people.

The client’s definition was that Creativity was about generating new ideas and Innovation was about collaboration.  Collaboration, of course, is tough if you have a team of genuinely different talents and personalities.  We say we need a mix but then the people who drive us nuts are the ones who aren’t like us.  Collaboration is one of those things, like teamwork, which is much more easily said than achieved.

Just asking for a collaborative approach and having expectations it will happen is not enough.  The reality is we do find it very difficult to work with people who are not like us. This requires some really powerful team development training or using some tools like Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats®. Expectation and exhortation are not enough and in fact can be negative.