The Power Of Idea Teams
There’s a very interesting book called The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki that explains how large populations of people are collectively more brilliant and better at problem solving than individuals. The Q&A with the author reveals that crowds can achieve great intelligence as long as the expertise of the individuals in the crowd is diverse and demonstrate independent thinking. This is so true, and explains why some of the best ideas are created in teams.While you don’t need to have dozens of people coming up with ideas, it can be very helpful of to get a few people together to come up with ideas. This will accomplish three things:
- A team gets the ball rolling faster - Sometimes it will take a few minutes (or more) to come up with that first idea. I find that once that initial thought comes, more thoughts spring up, which eventually results in a steady stream of flowing ideas. If you have a group of people, that first idea will come quicker, and that means you’ll get the ideas you’re looking for at a faster rate.
- Teams offers unique points of view - Even though one person has the potential to think up an endless supply of ideas, those ideas are always unique to that one person. If a team is working together, each person is bringing their unique experiences and personality to create an idea. This will result in a wide and diverse collection of ideas.
- A team will add to the overall knowledge base - Obviously three heads are better than one. There are hundreds of topics that I just don’t know anything about, and many more that I’m not too interested in learning about. If I’m working with a person who does have knowledge on those topics, there’s a new set of skills that will lead to ideas I’d never be able to think up alone. Not only will the added knowledge lead to more information, but the combination of skill sets between a team has the potential to make interesting connections.
So whenever you have the opportunity, ask others for ideas. Have them work with you on a brainstorming session. You can even just discuss current events or a specific subject. Make sure to include people who have different skills and experiences than you. You’ll usually find that these discussions will lead to everyone involved learning more than they did previously. This, of course, means more ideas.
