Creative ideas do not suddenly appear out of thin air. Rather, they are the result of trying to solve a specific problem or achieve a particular goal. Albert Einstein’s theories of relativity were not sudden inspirations. Rather, they were the result of an enormous amount of mental problem solving to eliminate a conflict between the laws of physics and the laws of electromagnetism as they were understood at the time. But above all, they were the result of endless evenings of talking with colleagues about the theories. Clearly, Einstein was not thinking in a vacuum!
Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and other creative geniuses always worked the same way. They did not wait for creative ideas to come to them. Instead, they focused on solving a clear problem, at least in their minds, and continuously tested this with “colleagues.” There was already thinking together back then.
Innovation is also not about solo genius, but collective genius. The core of innovation is a paradox, because you have to use the talents of many people and put them into projects that are useful. Innovation is a collaboration of many people with different expertise and points of view and is often the result of mistakes and missteps. Leaders use these capabilities to help groups collaborate on projects and create innovation from the bottom up.
Innovative organizations are communities that have three capabilities: creative friction, creative agility and creative resolution. Creative friction is about being able to create a meeting place of ideas through debate and discussion. In innovative organizations, they reinforce differences, not minimize them. Creative friction is not about brainstorming, where people suspend judgment. No, they know how to have very heated but constructive debates to create a portfolio of alternatives. Individuals in innovative organizations learn how to research, they learn how to actively listen, but guess what? They also learn how to stand up for their point of view. This is a battle of ideas, not egos. They understand that innovation rarely happens without diversity and contradictions. But are also aware of the need for respect for others.
Creative agility is about being able to test and refine that portfolio of ideas through rapid follow-up, reflection and adaptation. It’s about discovery learning where you don’t plan the way forward but act. It’s about Creative Problem Solving where you have that interesting combination of the scientific method and the artistic process. It’s about conducting a series of experiments and not organizing a series of pilots. Experiments are usually about learning. If you get a negative result, you still learn something that you need to know. Pilots are often about being right. If they don’t work, someone or something is to blame.
The last skill is creative solving This is about making decisions in a way that you can combine even opposing ideas to reconfigure them into new combinations to produce a solution that is new and useful. When you look at innovative organizations, you see that they never do what they are supposed to do. They don’t compromise. They don’t let one group or individual dominate, even if it’s the boss, even if it’s the expert. Instead, they have developed a rather patient and more inclusive decision-making process that enables both/and solutions, not simply either/or solutions.