In the last few decades, collaboration and brainstorming have reigned supreme. Private offices were redesigned as open workplans with zero privacy. Lingo like “teamwork” and “team player” moved from the locker room into the conference room. The prevailing belief was that to promote a culture of innovation and creativity, you must create a collaborative environment.
Not-So-Perfect Brainstorm
However, recent compelling research suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption. And, according to a handful of prominent psychologists, the most creative people in many fields are often introverted. Several studies show that group brainstorming can actually block the brain’s ability to solve problems and generate novel ideas.
Do Not Disturb
These studies were cited in author Susan Cain's article in the New York Times challenging the “groupthink” mentality. Privacy, she claims, makes us more productive, more creative, and even helps us learn. Decades of research show that individuals almost always perform better than groups, and figures like Apple’s engineering genius Steve Wozniak are advising people to “work alone...not on a committee. Not on a team.”
Make It a Hybrid
When comparing the number of ideas generated by individuals vs. group participants, research found that individuals produced 44% more ideas in the first five minutes of the session. This number decreased with time, which strongly suggests that a group session after individual sessions might be the optimal brainstorming strategy.
All signs point to a reevaluation of how companies collaborate. There is a time and place for brainstorming together, and a time and place for working in isolation. Like many business techniques, collaboration must be taken in moderation.
Within your own business, what function does collaboration serve? Is it a perceived badge of company culture? A fixed process? Does it consistently deliver measurable results? If we start thinking of collaboration as a tool—rather than the “do-all-end-all”—we allow employees the space to ideate, incubate, and ultimately, innovate.
Comments
While Cain's article made some good points, it ignores a whole body of research while citing only studies that support her story.
Collaboration and solitary work are a polarity to be managed, not a problem to be solved. The ideal combination for innovation changes according to the context. Context = training, facilitation, balance of tools and techniques, expertise, personality types, thinking styles, etc. Put more simply, it's not one or the other, it's BOTH.
For a more balanced view of the value of solitary work AND collaboration, see this post: http://www.greggfraley.com/blog/?p=2658
The post also includes links to Susan Robertson's, Keith Sawyer, and Hewitt Gleeson's rebuttal.
Right on! Collaboration has become too fashionable, to "buzzy". In our Innovation Process (http://www.ebusinessconsultants.ca/consulting-services/results-driven-st...) we stress the benefits of group sessions AFTER focussed individual preparation. Jumping straight into group sessions often wastes everyone's time.
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