It’s that time of year again.  Whether you believe in New Year’s Resolutions or not, most people are reflecting on the last year and thinking about what we might do differently in the coming year. 

My goal for 2010 is to think more creatively.  Every organization, including my own, is challenged with doing more with less.  We are dared to increase sales, revenue, customer satisfaction or efficiency, while reducing costs, headcount, and anything else that can be reduced. Finding a new way to think seems like the easiest, and most cost effective, way to come up with some new solutions.   

So I will be blogging about team creativity over the next few weeks, to share ideas and best practices for helping your team achieve their creative peak.  Maybe you will find an idea that you can use to help your team work differently.  But first, let’s look at the symptoms and causes of team complacency.    

In his book Team Troubleshooter: How to Find and Fix Team Problems, Dr. Robert Barner says “Complacency can be particularly damaging to teams… because creative thought powers exceptional performance. Its effects are subtle and insidious, for unlike many other team problems, the lack of innovation shows up not so much in errors, rework or damage to interpersonal relationships but in ideas and action plans that are mediocre and unimaginative.  If left unchecked, this problem will restrict the scope of a team’s activities, and the team may never realize its full performance potential.”

Symptoms

Dr. Barner identifies the following symptoms of teams that are in a creativity crisis.  Is your team exhibiting any of these signs?

Lack of Confidence in Ability to Meet New Challenges: Teams that are struggling with complacency often lose their confidence, so new challenges are approached with panic, rather than eagerness.  This panic blocks the ability to come up with creative solutions, and a vicious cycle begins. 

Ignorance of Cutting-Edge Technology and Work Methods:  “Teams that lack innovation not only fail to continually refine and strengthen their technical skills but are often unaware of cutting-edge developments in their particular professions”, Barner says.  Even if they are aware of new developments, the lack of confidence mentioned above may prevent them from actually implementing something untried. 

Mundane Solutions and Redundant Actions: Teams that aren’t comfortable thinking creatively will try to re-use solutions that worked in the past, regardless of the requirements of the current challenge.  Barner observes “Their automatic, by-the-numbers remedies may prove totally inadequate for unique and unusual challenges, such as entry into a totally new product or service area.”

Missed Opportunities: Barner notes that “Complacent teams often fail to anticipate and exploit new opportunities”.  The PMBOK talks about strategies for positive risks, but think about the last time your project team focused on exploiting a positive risk.   Is your team confident enough in their creativity to really put effort into gambling with a positive risk?

Defections in the Ranks: Have you lost any of your best people?  “Sharp, creative professions are attracted to work environments that inspire innovation”, Barner says.  Not being part of a inventive, resourceful project team is an employee satisfaction issue and can cause team members to look for greener, more inspired, fields.  

Causes

Here are some causes for lack of innovation identified by Barner.  Are any of these conditions affecting your team?

Insular Views: Creativity breeds creativity, and teams need access to other people and ideas to perform at their best.  “Some teams suffer from a type of organizational inbreeding that provides little access to ideas and individuals outside their organizations”, Barner says.  “The most isolated teams are usually the ones with the greatest deficits in creative thinking.”  Are your team members active in their professional communities?  Are they exposed to new ideas with any regularity?

Consequences That Discourage Risk Taking:  Does your organization reward risk-taking?  Teams that fear punishment for trying something new will naturally be hesitant to try new things.   

Censorship: “Within some teams, the team leader or selected team members exert subtle but powerful control over the team’s innovative thinking process”, Barner says.  “New or junior-level team members are reluctant to express new ideas and have great difficulty obtaining a fair hearing for their ideas”.  Observe your next team problem-solving session and see what indirect power dynamics are at play.    

Lack of Challenge:  Does your organization have high expectations for your team?  Does your team know what the competition is doing and how their work fits in to the organization’s strategy?  Is your team appropriately utilized?  “Innovation requires a work climate that compels teams to leap beyond barriers to problem solving and explore totally new approaches to their work”, Barner notes. 

Limited Interaction:  Is your team working with other parts of the organization?  Do they feel connected to their customers, partners and stakeholders?  “Innovation is a synergistic process that thrives within work environments where team members learn from and build on one another’s ideas”, Barner observes.    

In my next series of blog posts, I will discuss treatments and techniques for helping your team improve their creative problem solving skills in the New Year.