Into The Future With Co-creativity And Collaboration Skills

In order for the leap into the future to be successful, a co-creative mindset is required, as well as work locations and tools that enable cross-functional collaboration, i.e. comprehensive cooperation between people and teams - the time of lone fighters in companies is over.

In a world in which everything is networked with one another, everyone in the company must also be networked with one another – across departmental and hierarchical boundaries. Optimal results come from co-creativity and collaborative work. And that's exactly what we find easy, because people are community creatures. We not only work for ourselves, for our sole good, but always also for others in our environment in order to win together with them.

Collaboration Strengthens The Whole Community 

We need the closeness, the protection and the security of a community. Isolation, the "social death", is one of our worst fears because it leaves us vulnerable. "You are not alone" is probably the most comforting thing we can say to a person. The lazy, uncooperative, solitary person is the exception. Cooperation is the rule. For the vast majority, being socially meaningless and useless is a nightmare. Feeling involved and creating something valuable together fills us with joy and pride.

The hypothesis of homo oeconomicus, on the other hand, who acts selfishly and purely rationally seeks his own benefit, is a sad invention of unworldly economic economists, an anthropological lie - and has long been refuted. There is the deepest happiness in serving a cause greater than oneself, meaningful, meaningful, and altruistic. When the person next to you is happy, you also feel happy yourself. That strengthens the whole community.

This Is How The Future Works : Collaboration Instead Of Competition 

Complex tasks can only be solved well together. We must come closer together than ever before. The major challenges of the future can only be mastered by working together. It is therefore important to create structures in companies that encourage collaborative thinking and action. This requires inspiring multi-space workspaces, social collaboration tools, an internal social platform (Enterprise Social Network) and a culture of sharing.

We must finally get rid of the idea that internal competition leads to the best results. Another doesn't have to lose for you to win. Competition strives for a win-lose situation, while collaboration strives for win-win. For example, if there are 20 sales people in an organization and they all share their best sales tip, then everyone benefits from 19 more excellent ideas. And the company as a whole also benefits from this.

Preferably Cross-Functional And Inter-Hierarchical

A community progresses when it treats each other peacefully, openly, honestly and on an equal footing and includes everyone. It's clear as day, isn't it? Not at all! In larger classic organizations, the individual areas as well as their employees are in competition. They are evaluated against each other and receive incentivized individual goals. In such environments, selfishness, power struggles, trench warfare, intrigue, cheating, lies and deceit abound.

Individual bonuses are isolation measures that cause the common to die. Those who are uncooperative, protect their assets and keep their knowledge to themselves benefit. A system that rewards selfishness creates selfish people. Only what there are bonuses for is made. Other, better, more desirable not. Therefore, from now on it is important to promote a culture that focuses on mutual success, i.e. a culture that rewards cooperation - and not self-centered security.

Top Results Through The "Wisdom Of Crowds "

Although the expertise of the individual members of a group is of great importance in order to achieve good results, the bringing together of knowledge, skills and collective intelligence plays a much more important role. Innovation is most likely to happen when people across the organization are thinking about the future of the company, and when you integrate every helpful suggestion, no matter where it comes from.

The invisible walls between the departments have to come down and the notion of responsibility has to go away so that cooperation works smoothly.The term “wisdom of crowds” fits here. This means a more or less self-organizing collective intelligence that can produce a variety of innovations beyond isolation, departmental egoism, bureaucracy and power authorities. I don't use a second common term in this context, that of swarm intelligence, because unfortunately there are also very stupid, noisy, misguided swarms.

Share Blank Thoughts Copiously With Others 

Not in isolation, but together and with a broad field of vision, it is best to develop ideas that nobody had before and that you would not have come up with on your own. The variety of opinions of the individual members and an opening for the most diverse ways of thinking lead to a wealth of variants, to co-creativity, to experimentation and an exciting new combination of possibilities. In addition, the penetration depth increases. Many can “ignite” many more.

The best output arises even with each individual when we share our ideas with others in an appreciative manner. Every thought becomes smarter, sharper, more precise, more brilliant if you discuss it extensively. Third parties help to find out what you have not thought of yourself. Exchange with substance always takes you further. In this way, a simple idea, well enriched, can finally form something great.

Decode Peaceful Intentions - And Nefariousness.

Body language signals are most likely to be decoded when all the senses are involved. Empathy, in particular, works better when there is physical proximity. Trust, the complexity reducer par excellence, also needs presence. We tend not to trust anyone we don't know personally. Inhibitions sink in the anonymity and with increasing distance. On the other hand, closeness and, above all, eye contact change people's behavior for the better.