Creative Convergence and the Value of Collaboration With Others

Collaborate to form more and better new ideas

The years teach much which the days never knew.

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

In my career, I’ve had the good fortune of being exposed to many smart people. It never ceases to amaze me how just a few moments of discussion, or sitting and listening to well thought-out debates, can open your mind to ideas you can’t believe you didn’t think of on your own. Creative convergence depends on group collaboration … how well do you work in groups?

I have always found the wisdom of others to be something of a gift: free of charge, limitless of value. Limitless of value because these pearls of wisdom can be connected to some of your ideas to produce something greater than what you might have created on your own.

In thinking about exploring, imagining, learning and collaborating with others, the following thoughts cross my mind:

Imagination is the ability to see what is not there. Creativity is applied to the imagination. Exploring is being open to and experimenting with, new ideas. And innovation is putting good ideas to work. All are stimulated through effective collaboration.

Creativity is not a quality that is only found in the chosen few, but not everyone is as good at finding it as others (though everyone can improve with practice).

Do not get branded by your job description. Think well outside those bounds … all the time.

Build on other people’s ideas. Do not knock them down and try not to start on the ground floor. Learn and connect the ideas all around you.

We are all very busy: personally, professionally, and socially. One of our scarcest resources is time. Time to sit and think. To stretch our own limits. To learn new things. Time to imagine, create, explore, and experiment. Make the time … only then can you start.

As Emerson said in the quote above, time can often be a teacher.

But if you are as impatient as I am, look to your colleagues, your friends, your mentors and to your own self to challenge you to reach new heights. Tap into the parts of your brain you may not use every day. The parts of your brain you may not even realize you can tap into.

Most of all, reach out to others to collaborate. The sum of team collaboration is always greater than the work of each individual.