Why some innovation teams deliver better than others

What makes some innovation teams tick? These teams just seem to hum. Let's discuss two main factors for that.

How can we identify these folks in the first place?

A couple of tell tale signs are finishing each other's thoughts. They know what the inspiration behind that half baked idea is. Kind of like watching some sports teams or artists. One glance and the other player(s) know what to do. These teams trust and understand each other.

The two factors that develop these are frequency and intensity.

Frequency is easy to understand. More practice sessions, more group work helps build familiarity. Good innovation teams meet at a biweekly or sometimes weekly frequency, if not more.

Yet, increasing frequency is not enough.

If it was, everyone you studied with in high school would be your best friend today. You met these people everyday, sat next to them. Yet, only a handful at best make it to your list of people you can count on today.

The factor which ties it together is intensity.

This is how good your connect is, which is dependent on how well the participants can understand each other. There is phenomenal context sharing. So much that even during mistakes, there is an implicit observation of the right intentions.

How do we build this level of intensity?

The easiest is to hope that things click. We all have that friend or colleague where we connected instantly. Aside from those kinds, it takes work. One of you has to be the initiator who puts in the time to get everyone on the same page as the time. You can't force the connect to happen. It develops with time and frequency.

Good innovation teams meet with a reliable frequency. They work with a high level of team intensity, which comes from cont1ext sharing.

Strive towards a methodical approach for both.

Your teams will be humming surely.

That's it for today.

Happy Ideating!

Hemang