This week my biggest takeaway from class was from our Harvard Manage Mentor assignment. We learned about creativity and innovation, and how to organize effective teams to create new and innovative solutions. There are five key steps in finding an effective idea. These are preparation, innovation opportunity, generation of options, incubation, and convergence.
Preparation involves assembling a team of members to create a solution to the existing problem. The team should be well rounded and intellectually diverse. This diversity breeds creativity; it allows the team to see problems and solutions through someone else's eyes.
Next comes innovation opportunity. The members of the group identify the problem requiring their creative talents. After this comes the generation of options. This is where the fun happens. Members are encouraged to have a productive debate. I've heard of executive teams that would meet for hours and do nothing but argue and slam their fists on the table, each one expressing their passionate opinion on the way something should be handled. This is how generation of options should be. The key word here is productive, at no time should this conflict become a personal attack on any of the members.
Once the ideas are on the table then comes the incubation process where the members will consider the options. Finally the group finishes the process with convergence. They agree on one idea as a team. Sometimes this decision is made by a leader as is the case with a CEO and his or her executive board members. In either case, once a decision is made it is made, and all members will get on board with that decision.
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