I’ve been a fan of Keith Sawyer’s book Group Genius since it was first published in 2007. It is on my top 10 list of "must-have" business books.
When Sawyer wrote that group improv was the purest form of collaboration, I actually took an improv class to experience firsthand the concept of group flow. Like improv, group flow and innovation take practice. Lots of practice and failures along the way.
The premise of Group Genius is simple but profound: there is no single “lone genius” in an organization who is responsible for innovation. Creativity doesn’t come from one brilliant mind—it comes from an environment that fosters it from many brilliant minds, with many ideas that at first seem unrelated.
And innovation doesn’t always mean inventing something brand new. Innovation improves existing products, services, back-office processes, and customer interactions.
Journey to Excellence emphasizes the inner life of the leader, moral identity, servant leadership, and esprit de corps. All of these are the soil in which collaborative creativity grows.
In practice, it means building organizational cultures where:
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Leaders are humble learners who understand that creativity is messy, can be expensive, and can often lead to dead ends.
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Leaders build ecosystems that allow ideas to move freely, eliminate functional and knowledge silos, and teams feel safe enough to create boldly.
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People are united by purpose, trust, and a shared commitment to serving one another.
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When you cultivate that kind of culture, innovation isn’t forced; it emerges naturally.
I think that innovation always starts with the thought, “there’s got to be a better way.”
“We find group flow by listening closely, by blending egos, by balancing familiarity and diversity, by fostering the psychological safety that prepares us for the inevitable failures. The peak state of group flow. The conversations that spark ideas, as we play off one another. The improvisational flow of a process that generates surprising and unpredictable creativity. The collaborative webs that result in innovations that are more surprising and wonderful than what any one person could create alone. That’s group genius.” —Keith Sawyer
Sawyer reminds us that innovation is essential for building a better future—for our organizations and for our world. And while cynicism is rising around us, as a positive guy, I think leaders (International, national, state, local, business, non-profits, etc.) who create a climate that allows group genius to develop solutions to our many problems in the world will be building that better future.
And the requirement for this group flow, which results in group genius, is an organizational culture that promotes it. It’s always about culture!
You should get a copy of Group Genius for your bookshelf, too!
