Annotation #4 Group Creativity
Goncalo, J., Mannix, E., & Neale, M. (2009). Research on Managing Groups and Teams, 12: Creativity in Groups. Emerald Group Pub.
 Find out five important things about successful group creativity.
Chapter 12 of this book Research on Managing Groups and Teams deals with research and scholarly discourse about group creativity, and contains a series of articles that discuss the several facets of group creativity. The first article, written by Rietzschel, De Dreu Nijstad (2009), discusses that there must be a balanced approach to how one researches the phenomena of creativity in groups. Rietzschel and De Dreu Nijstad, believe that there are two primary components to creativity, flexibility and persistence. Interestingly, they also saw in their studies, no difference in people who were happy - or angry - and their ability to be creative. In my own experience, being pretty upset has spurred some of my most creative inspirations. The “I’ll show you” syndrome. If one can look past the initial anger and harness the energy projected by that anger, I think there is a great deal of truth in persistence and flexibility being enabling components. On the other hand, I have also experienced creative moments while in a state of joy/happiness. The difference was, that when I am happy or joyful, I am motivated by playful curiosity and then persistence and flexibility kick in later. So, in groups, one could say that if your group is motivated to “show them” as a competitive or survival emotion state, or conversely, the passionate dedication emotion, “I really love what I do and I do it well - here is what I know . . .” the desire to share expertise and even in times of playful curiosity (if one is creating a piece of art collectively or a motion picture). Regardless of which igniter it is the group will generally generate creative ideas and move them from ideas to something more defined. What I’m saying, is that there must be an igniter. A moment in time when we are sparked to rise to the occasion. Â
 As facilitators, one must be able to move the group into an emotional state (preferably a positive constructive one). In my experience as a knowledge collaboration facilitator for a large automotive company, I have found that igniting cross-functional groups (groups that have different disciplines but have the same focus) through Appreciative Inquiry (AI) focused and moved the groups through passion about the topic to share their expertise. The groups described a perfect future and then from that the ideas were generated. They were ignited to contribute to a collective solution or set of understandings. I personally like using AI to establish the target and then from that target igniting the groups passions on the topic to move them through the creative process. Â
  Rietzschel, De Dreu Nijstad also suggest that in these groups there needs to be shared decision making. That this is a key factor that moves the good ideas (potential innovations) forward. The diversity of the group will also help to consider aspects that a homogenous group could miss. The shared destination also supports shared decision making.
 Some practical conclusions: :
Groups that are diverse in discipline - yet all familiar with the subject matter - have a better chance at generating creative ideas within slightly different contexts
 Have a destination in mind.
 There needs to be an igniting force when trying to begin some kind of creative group activity (competition, justice, passion for the subject, desire to share, playful curiosity)Â
 Some key characteristics of being creative are persistence and flexibly.
 A facilitator holds the key to ignition. Without that, the group will not have the horsepower to keep the persistence going during the selection of good ideas and moving the group to further definition and into an innovation.
