Creative Leaders Should Help Their Teams Collaborate Better

Collaboration is a crucial aspect of leadership, particularly when it comes to leading a creative team. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. When people work together, they can generate ideas faster, vet them more thoroughly, and achieve better outcomes than if they worked independently. Here are some tips on how to lead a creative team that collaborates well together.

1. Culture of Trust

First, create an environment of trust. Trust is essential for collaboration because it enables team members to speak up and share their ideas without fear of judgment or ridicule. When leaders create a culture of trust, they encourage open communication, which leads to more robust brainstorming and ideation sessions. Encouraging vulnerability in the team is important. It allows members to share their thoughts and opinions while feeling heard and validated, which further strengthens bonds within the team.

2. Clear Roles

Secondly, set clear goals and objectives. When everyone understands what’s expected of them, it’s easier to work together to achieve those goals. Each person should understand their individual responsibilities, as well as how they contribute to the team’s success. This clarity fosters accountability and creates a shared sense of ownership that helps everyone stay motivated.

3. Embrace Different

Thirdly, encourage diversity in your team. Having diverse perspectives enhances creativity and expands the scope of possible solutions. When team members come from different backgrounds and have varied experiences and expertise, they bring new thoughts and insights to the table that others may not have considered. This diversity of thought creates stronger bonds between team members and encourages everyone to learn from one another.

4. Celebrate Wins

Finally, celebrate successes along the way. Recognizing and rewarding hard work and achievement gives a sense of accomplishment, and instills a sense of pride in the entire team. Celebrations foster positive feelings, which makes it easier for everyone to continue working together to achieve the team’s goals.

5. Talk It Out

Author, Margaret J Wheatley emphasizes the power of conversation as a means of collaboration, stating that, “Conversation is the natural way humans think together.” She believes that we need to create spaces where people can have honest and respectful conversations, which leads to better collaboration.

6. Ideas Aren’t Singular

Similarly, Jony Ive, the former Chief Design Officer of Apple, also believes in the power of collaboration. In an interview with The Financial Times, he said, “Ideas aren’t singular; they have to be nurtured by a group.” Ive believes that collaboration is essential to the design process because it allows multiple perspectives to be heard and considered.

7. Good Ideas Can Come From Anywhere

Simon Sinek, author and speaker, believes that leaders need to create an environment where people feel safe to share their ideas and collaborate with others. This means creating a culture of trust, where people feel empowered to speak their minds without fear of judgment. When people feel safe, they are more likely to take risks and share new ideas.

To illustrate this point, Sinek uses the example of Pixar Animation Studios. At Pixar, there is a culture of collaboration where everyone is encouraged to share their ideas. When they are working on a project, everyone is involved in the creative process, from writers to animators. Sometimes great ideas are shared from the most uncommon sources and in the most uncommon ways. This collaborative effort has resulted in some of the most successful animated movies of all time.

From my experience, leading a creative team to collaborate better requires fostering an environment of trust, setting clear goals and objectives, embracing diversity, and celebrating successes along the way. By following these steps, leaders can empower their teams to work together more effectively, ultimately achieving better outcomes than would be possible through individual efforts alone. Collaboration is key and opens doors to new possibilities.

Powerful Resource:
- The Creative Power of Collaboration, a TEDx Talk by Kate Lamont