Simjen’s Guide To Collaborative Work Processes
Creativity is the key to business. It’s the basis for great products and the driving force behind the world’s most effective advertising campaigns.
The main question for any business is – how do you foster real creativity? Is it just one guy locked away in a room jotting down every last little thing comes into his head? Or is it a matter of multiple minds coming together to create something rounded?
If you follow the logic of companies such as Apple, pop culture’s kings of business creativity, the latter is definitely the way to go. Look how it has paid off for them – even when their products are just a reinvention of something else, they still blitz the market. This is why companies such as Simjen have made collaboration and team work central their creative work processes.
How does the collaborative process really work though? Read on to find out:
As the old saying goes, no man is an island. True creativity cannot flourish in isolation. Embrace the diversity of your staff and bring them together to create better products, services and promotions. With this approach Simjen has been able to vastly improve our creative work processes, resulting in better creative work with each client and campaign.
The main question for any business is – how do you foster real creativity? Is it just one guy locked away in a room jotting down every last little thing comes into his head? Or is it a matter of multiple minds coming together to create something rounded?
If you follow the logic of companies such as Apple, pop culture’s kings of business creativity, the latter is definitely the way to go. Look how it has paid off for them – even when their products are just a reinvention of something else, they still blitz the market. This is why companies such as Simjen have made collaboration and team work central their creative work processes.
How does the collaborative process really work though? Read on to find out:
- Get your team together: Whether it’s solely writers or engineers, or it’s a mish mash of all your best minds, you need to get the right people together. Quality collaboration is born out of differing perspectives – so a team that always thinks the same is definitely not the best choice.
- Start with a single premise or problem: Once your team is in the room together, present them with a single concept to tackle. It doesn’t matter whether you pose it as a problem or question, all that matters is that there is a single, simple starting point for the team to focus on. Some of the greatest products, ads and even films started off as the simplest of ideas.
- Embrace Conflict – Going back to what we said before, differing perspectives are crucial. Debate and argument can help refine or transform otherwise cut and dry concepts. Every comment, objection or suggestion matters whether everyone likes it or not.
- Start all over again – Once you have an idea worth using, see if it is possible to drum up extras. This gives you a point of comparison and extends your options. Even if your first idea is the best thing you can come up with, the bonus concepts can either be used later or to prove the strength of your original creation.
- Remember to refine it – Don’t just jump on the end result of initial discussion. It doesn’t matter if you have the one idea or a total of ten, make sure to refine every idea worth using. This ensures that everything produced is of a higher quality and requires less reworking further down the track.
As the old saying goes, no man is an island. True creativity cannot flourish in isolation. Embrace the diversity of your staff and bring them together to create better products, services and promotions. With this approach Simjen has been able to vastly improve our creative work processes, resulting in better creative work with each client and campaign.