Know few tricks to bring out Collective Innovation

New emerging working trends like cross functional teams, joint ventures and collaborative projects are making greater cooperation among work force an imperative. Getting things done through collective innovation and cooperation has become a major challenge for Managers and Leaders. Now its not just subordinates but peers and even superiors of various divisions or personal from other companies are there in the team and all should be coordinated well enough to generate a collective effort. Remember the need of the hour is to bring out collective innovation from the team.

As a manager you may wonder everyday on how to motivate a highly individualistic work force and get innovative ideas and collective effort from them. You really need some kind of magical power to mesmerize the audience and turn opponents into followers. But very few people possess such eloquence as a natural gift. But this art of persuasion is some thing that can be developed in everyone. What you need to do is play up to the innermost psychological needs of people around you. Spent extra time, to help team members to realize the need of collective and cohesive effort to achieve the goal.

In the present day work environment more than formal authority it is the power of persuasion that has a great impact on the behavior of other people. In a group setting, securing consensus is a premise to move ahead. However consensus does not always come by easily and you are bound to encounter resistance on the way. Your attempt to succeed resistance will be a success only when you know the reason for resistance. Find new innovative ideas to overcome resistance and make your opponent a follower.

Generally people exhibit three level of resistance. Level one resistance relates to the contents of your idea, that is the other party differ from your views. Level two resistances arise from a feeling of fear experienced by the other party. They don’t like your idea because they perceive it to be against their interests. Level three resistance springs from the fact that the other party does not like you.

Whenever you face an objection you need to explore the existence of resistance at all the levels. Many people fail to turn opposition into support because they fail to acknowledge the presence of resistance level three.

The trick lies in acting well before actual resistance crop up. Following are few easy methods to overcome resistance.

1. Listen well to build trust: To build trust with others first you must make genuine attempt to listen to their views. Only then you stand a chance of persuading them to view things from your perspective.
2. Present other perspectives: While dealing with highly contentious issues present your opponent’s point of view before your own. When you present a two sided argument the other party has no option but to participate in the solution. This technique is particularly useful when forging long term relationships and is considered to be more valuable than obtaining gains in the short term.
3. Discover similarities: People like people who are like them, is a fundamental principle put forward by behavioral scientists. You can use similarities to create bonds with your team members, superiors or clients. Through informal conversations try to discover at least one similarity be it a hobby or a common background. This helps to build a relationship early on and you can count on their goodwill and trust when the need arises.
4. Identify positive traits: Praise can be used to build productive relationships as well as repair damaged ones. People like those who like them. Identify at least one positive trait in all the people you deal with. Make appreciative comments about the trait in all the people you deal with. Make appreciative comments about the trait when you meet them. This has big impact in making them incline in your favour and finally make them contribute well in the collective innovation.
5. Model the behavior: Give others what you expect to receive from them. When you extend cooperation or foster a sense of trust you can expect a similar behavior from others. When you help your colleague or boss to achieve his goals he is more likely to help you reach your own milestones.

By establishing rapport with the people around you can increase your persuasive power manifold. Noticing similarities, offering compliments and lending a helping hand are very useful in building bonds and a collective team work, which might leads to innovations, thus make collective innovation a reality.

Now let us say goodbye to bruising battles to overcome resistance. Win support for your ideas through friendship and mutual trust. A leader always lead team with the goal in mind, so for a manager to be a leader always keep focusing on the goal, hence always avoid conflicts with team rather motivate them to achieve the goal as a collective teamwork.

Collaborative innovation a form of Collective Innovation

The ENTOVATION a form of Collaborative knowledge innovation methodology includes 10 dimensions of Innovation strategy, the first being the collaborative nature of the process itself. The term Collaborative innovation is an output of explosion in virtual networks, cross boundary interactions and development of shared purpose. Knowledge leadership has became a matter of being able to create value through collective competencies often harnessed through vertical and diagonal initiatives versus the traditional hierarchical management techniques.

As a result of Collaborative innovation there are many changes happening to companies and community as a whole.

Company to community: The validity of the current concept of abstract corporate legal entities is being questioned as being part of the discredited rationalist doctrine, which separates mind and body and thoughts and emotions. A new community value system based on compassion is advocated.

Collaboration to Cohesion: It now almost goes without saying that collaborative relationships are being increasingly emphasized at the corporate level. Competition remains the dominant paradigm at the level of the nation state. Here is the first indication that beyond collaboration, there exists another more intense relationship called cohesion.

Communities of Practice to Shared Meaning: When the certainties of our era dissolve before our eyes into chaos, the time has come to make new meanings. Sharing best practice is not about asking question “why”; sharing meaning is.

Security to Trust: Cheating in an open knowledge-trading environment is not sustainable since it would quickly lead to exclusion. Trust and reliability are seen as becoming more important, as security and contractual enforcement become less certain.

The focus on knowledge and collective innovation has provided a common language across functions, sectors, stakeholders and nations. Education based strategies are seen as an equalizer between industrialized and developing nations. There is a major shift from teacher oriented to learning centered education strategies enabled by advanced technologies and the explosion of internet and intranet communications.

Study of best practices and adopting into business was the common techniques followed by organizations so far. But this method has lost its punch in today’s fast growing world, where competitors are moving very fast. Only mechanism that can keep one in business is innovate new concepts and technologies in a regular basis and provide value added products to customers on a regular basis.

Global consciousness based on a critical mass of individuals sharing both knowledge and meaning is seen as the way to ecological and economic sustainability. Knowledge professionals are expected to become increasingly key players in the world of trade in a “dematerialized” economy. Product life cycles are predicted to be short with new waves and more complex generations spawned by intensive innovation.

In today’s world partnering and successfully managing strategic alliances becomes a norm not an exception. To manage strategic alliances effectively there need to be a shift from self-interest to group interest. As more and more collaborations happen knowledge should be shared across boundaries, so as to promote collective innovation.

New rules are being shaped; and they are based upon collaborative strategy. The new game is one of leadership, that will get there first and become the enterprise to emulate. Those who establish the managerial standars are likely to be successful.

The core premise of the future is collaboration. This does not mean that organizations don’t compete. This is inevitable. But there will be a shift in orientation, organizations collaborate for mutual success. This era is of knowledge and focus of all organizations will be to tap that resource more than anything else. Organizations are now creating a integrated connection between the human values, capital and economic prosperity. Creating the Innovation Language, culture and shared vision is, by definition is a collaborative process. The faster the companies realize the need for collective innovation and collaborative strategies, the faster it progress.

Develop Leadership Qualities to make you a Successful Manager - A true leader always promote Collective Innovation

People in managerial roles often struggle between being a good manager and a leader. In the initial stages of career as a manager, one may feel that being a good manager could not be a good leader. If a person tries to be a good manager and not a leader, success will be for a short period. If leadership qualities are exhibited then the success will be long standing. So managers should strike the right balance between managerial skills and leadership traits to pursue a successful career.

One of the most important traits that can make you a successful leader is trustworthiness. Trust is fundamental for leadership. Leadership necessitates influencing others to put them on the right track. But people are willing to be led only by the person whom they trust. So a leader should essentially exhibit all the aspects of trustworthiness to assume the responsibility of guiding others. For this he first needs to have a proper understanding of trust and dynamics. A leader should always promote collective efforts of the team, rather than concentrating individual innovations.

According to Charles M Green trust is composed of credibility, reliability, intimacy and self-orientation. Credibility is how believable a leader is. Reliability is how dependable he is. Intimacy rates how safe people feel sharing information with the leader. Self-orientation is how much the leader focuses on himself compared to his focus on others.

At workplace employees evaluate your trust-worthiness by analyzing factors like their experiences with you, your record, competence and attitude and the organizational culture. So you must use your speech and actions to make the right impression on your employees.

Here are few guidelines to begin:
 Keep up your promises
 Do not put blame on others for your mistakes
 Contribute all you can do for the success of your team
 Keep developing your abilities
 Talk to your employees honestly and clearly
 Do what you believe is right though you have to pay price for it
 Be confident
 Listen to what others have to say and do it with empathy
 Trust your employees and their abilities
 Praise them for their success and share their success stories with others
 Accept people as what they are and respect them
 Place interest of your team members before yours
 A leader should always promote collective innovation.

To gain trust from others you must first trust them. Distrust is the biggest obstacle in the way to becoming trustworthy. But trusting others can sometimes land you into trouble, so you must promote a trust based work environment. The initial struggles you may face in this attempt are worth it as such an environment promotes good teamwork and success. A leader always motivates employees to come out with innovative ideas.

Once mutual trust based relationship is established between you and your employees, leading them becomes easy. The task of management is a cakewalk for a good leader. You can educate, counsel, inspire and motivate them. But you must also ensure that you do not through any actions that raise doubts about your trustworthiness.

Remember it takes years to build trust but it could be broken by a single action.