Creativity and the Executing Process • 223
TABLE11.5
Executing Process and Groundwork for Team Creativity
Action Example
Act as if on a mission Keeping the vision, goals, and objectives at the forefront
of the team when making collaborative decisions
Allow for open discussion and
have a tolerance for ideas
Conducting frequent meetings to share knowledge and
experiences on common issues and problems experienced
Allow individual and group
to coexist
Giving everyone an opportunity to speak, share
thoughts, and contribute at meetings
Avoid noncontributory
activities
Sheltering the team from insignicant administrative
responsibilities so members can focus on their activities
Be collegial and hierarchical Encouraging team members to communicate informally
as well as formally, both laterally and vertically
Be curious Providing subteams with opportunities to experiment
with new tools and techniques to determine if schedule
performance can improve
Be emotional and logical Building esprit de corps and excitement among team
members while simultaneously encouraging people to
continue to comply with the schedule
Be small in size Keeping teams as small as possible and breaking into
subteams, if necessary
Be synergistic Encouraging everyone to work as harmoniously as
possible to capitalize on their combined strengths
Be true believers Reminding everyone constantly of the importance of the
team’s work in achieving the vision, goals, and
objectives of the project
Be unafraid to push
boundaries
Encouraging team members to “break set” when
executing their responsibilities
Emphasize relationship
building
Providing opportunities for team members to work
together, addressing problems or issues
Engender facilitative and
supportive leadership
Providing the necessary protection from bureaucratic
obstacles and interventions from stakeholders who are
not directly involved with the project
Have fun Holding celebrations aer delivering a major deliverable
or completing a major milestone
Know the priorities Reminding the team of the vision, goals, and objectives
when executing activities
Seek balance among creating,
planning, and implementing
Reminding the team that it must be not only creative, but
must also implement the ideas
Share tangible and intangible
assets
Enabling team members to share information, tools, and
knowledge among colleagues
View failure as a learning
experience
Reminding everyone on the team that groups, as well as
people, do not always succeed, at least as expected, and
should use failure as a learning experience