Creative collaboration is a term that refers to the process of working with other people, in order to complete a project or shared goal. Creative collaboration can be undertaken professionally, for educational purposes, or just for fun.
The main advantage of creative collaboration is that you get another person’s feedback. When you are working independently, it’s easy to get into the habit of making mistakes, mainly because there’s nobody there to correct you or check your behavior. When collaborating with another person, you get their insights and benefit from their corrections.
This post will offer an essential guide for creative collaboration:
Photo by Picha Stock.
Weekly Retrospectives
When you are collaborating with a team of people, it’s essential that you have weekly retrospective sessions. The idea behind having weekly retrospectives is that by looking back at the previous week’s work, you will be able to identify any areas that are in need of improvement and establish whether or not you are working together well. It is recommended by most experts to use software that facilitates fun retro sessions so that your team feels more engaged and interested in making improvements. Before downloading any retrospective software, always read the software manufacturer’s customer reviews, so that you can determine whether or not it’s right for you.
Identify Strengths
When working in a team with people, it’s always a good idea to identify your team member’s individual strengths. Some people are good at public speaking, while others are good at quietly creating graphs and analyzing statistics. Identifying your team member’s strengths can be challenging. One of the easiest and most seamless ways to do it is to ask them directly what they think their strengths are. When you have identified all of their strengths, you can begin allocating work to them individually.
Different Opinions
If you want your team to be strong, then make sure that you give everybody a platform to voice their opinions, even if they go against yours. Creative collaboration can’t be performed seamlessly if you do not encourage people to speak up and voice their opinions. Weekly retrospective sessions are a great place for your team to speak up and talk about how they feel, which is more of a reason to hold them. Make sure that you give a proper platform for people to speak up so that they can express how they feel without interrupting anything.
Related read: In conversation with Loredana Trestin, art curator and curatorial board member of the Florence Biennale.
Creative Environment
Creating a creative environment for your team is essential if you want to collaborate with them effectively. If the environment in which you are all walking is stifling and does not encourage creativity, then your team members won’t perform to the best of their abilities. Some ways of creating a creative working environment include encouraging communication, making space and inviting speaking guests, not having noise limits, and leaving a lot of room in the actual room where you are working, so people can move around and feel like they can breathe.
Encouraging Voices
You don’t just need to encourage opinions; you also need to encourage your team’s voices. If people feel as though they can’t speak up and talk about how they feel, then they won’t be happy working with you. If there are any problems or difficulties, then your team needs to feel confident in saying so. If your team does not feel like they have individual voices, then they won’t give any input in your weekly retrospective sessions. The best way to encourage voices is to explain to your team that all of their voices matter, and to be as nice as possible to them. If you are rude or short and don’t give them a platform to speak, then they won’t want to share anything with you.
Photo by Kindel Media.
Ground Rules
While openness is essential if you want to cultivate a healthy working environment, if you do not set some ground rules then your team won’t be able to perform effectively. A team that doesn’t have any rules might end up distracted or just talking amongst themselves. The entire point of creative collaboration is to get more done, so because of this, make sure that the people that you are working with understand the importance of their work. You can do this by setting rules about how they should spend their time and what they need to be doing as part of your team.
Radical Inclusion
Radical inclusion can help you to strengthen your team. If you want to give your team individual voices, then radical inclusion is the way to do it. Radical inclusion can help you to strengthen your team and help them all feel as though they are important, on an individual basis. If you are not familiar with radical inclusion, then it is a term that refers to creating a sense of equality in a team, where everybody’s voice is of equal importance and no one person is in control.
Lead Confidently
If you are in charge of your team, then you need to lead confidently. It can be very challenging for people to perform under a leader who doesn’t appear confident. In fact, it can actually be very nerve-wracking for people to have to follow an anxious leader’s commands. Make sure that you present yourself well, have a loud speaking voice, and look your best. Leading confidently is absolutely essential if you want your team to listen to you and follow what you say.
Emotional Well-being
Lastly, ensure that your team are all feeling okay deep in themselves. Your team’s emotional well-being should be of the utmost importance to you. Ensure that you do not overwork them because this can result in them feeling distressed emotionally, which can inhibit their performance. You can find out about your team’s emotional well-being by sitting down and talking to them individually. Make sure that you don’t push too hard when trying to explore your team’s emotions because if they do not want to talk to you, forcing them will make them feel even worse.
Creative collaboration can help you to get more done. If you have been charged with putting together a team and collaborating, then you need to follow this essential guide. Everything here will help your team members to perform to the best of their abilities.
