Cultivating an Environment of Creativity on Your Team

To Better Solve Problems

Often we go into problem solving sessions intending to be creative in solving the problem ahead of us; but we don’t often succeed in being creative. This is commonly due to the fact that we don’t have the right people on the team to solve the problem – a diverse group of team members with specific strengths outside of the technical strengths needed to solve the problem.

Consider the following personality types needed to ensure an effective problem solving session (above and beyond those individuals with the technical skills to solve the problem):

• Curious members: Those individuals who regularly seek out new information and are curious about the possibilities. They set their own path – not deterred by “we never did that before,” “we can’t do that here,” or “that is not possible.” These are the members who will be more innovative about solutions to the problem – looking beyond the obvious.
• “What if” members: Those individuals who take information or potential solutions to the problem and look to combine that information in a variety of ways – “what if we did it this way,” “what if we worked in another industry – how would they do it.”
•  Practical members: Those individuals who will take the information and potential solutions provided by the curious and what if members to determine what can be done. These individuals evaluate all of the possibilities and narrow them down to a select few for the entire team to choose from, working closely with your technical team members.
• Implementing members: Those individuals who will push forward with implementing the solution to the problem. These are the “do’ers.”

As the team leader, you can support the individuals and their strengths by putting a process in place for problem solving sessions that enables each team member to utilize their particular strengths toward solving the problem. This will enable for more innovative solutions to the problem and contributions from all team members.