One of our recent TED Talk videos watched by our TED Talks discussion group was Linda Hill’s “How to Manage for Collective Creativity.”  Linda studies the way great leaders and great organizations manage collective genius from a large group.  She boils down this management of collective genius as a three-part system:  creative abrasion, creative agility, and creative resolution.

Creative abrasion-  amplify differences through discourse and debate.  Creative abrasion is the antithesis to brainstorming.  In brainstorming, we throw out ideas without judgment from others.  With creative abrasion, others are encouraged to debate and question, in effort to form a more flawless product that has been looked at from a multitude of sides.

Creative agility-  process of testing and refining ideas through reflection and adjustment.  In creative agility, the rigid plan is thrown by the wayside to make room for the opportunity to “drop back and punt” when things aren’t going in the best direction.

Creative resolution-  combine seemingly opposing ideas to make a better product.  Hill makes the argument that organizations never just “go along to get along.”  They don’t compromise, but rather take time to continue fleshing out an idea until it meets the demands of the entire group.

In many ways, 4-H work is creativity work.  We constantly work in teams with some of the best and brightest of our colleagues and clients.  We each come to the table with something to offer, and what a struggle, and opportunity, it is to manage that collective genius!  I believe Linda Hill has outlined some tremendous methods to manage such, which are based on the idea that we have enough trust within our teams that we can engage in “creative abrasion” without fear of reproach.

Watch the entire video at:  http://www.ted.com/talks/linda_hill_how_to_manage_for_collective_creativity?language=en