Fostering Creativity: 5 Ways to Cultivate Innovation
Or how to get your team in the habit of getting better.
Hey everyone! ✌️ How's it going? It's Francis. Last week, I had the awesome opportunity to present at Product Tank Montreal. During the event, we dived into the exciting topic of Product Operations and why it should be on our radar.
It was so much fun! I had a total blast sharing my insights alongside Alexandra from SSENSE and Raisa from Coffrages Synergy.
Today, I wanted to give you a sneak peek into my presentation and share five ways to foster creativity while organizing your team.
Drop a comment below and let me know your thoughts on this.
Let’s go!
Before I start, I've got a confession to make: I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to organizing my home. I like things neat and orderly. I organize my clothes by colour. In my fridge, all the products face the front, and all vegetables and fruits are in separate buckets.
The peak of my OCD surface when I vacuum. Nothing makes me feel better than to have symmetric vacuum lines on my carpet.
Ah! The satisfaction!
The Quest for Control
Just like the way I approach my living space, I've discovered that a rule of life is that when people face discomfort, they seek more control. This principle also applies to Product Development.
People usually start thinking about Product Operations when they have problems scaling their Product Team. Their response typically involves implementing additional processes in an effort to exert control.
Consider, for instance, the founder of a startup who's having a hard time effectively communicating a clear strategy to their team. As a result, the team becomes overwhelmed with multiple tasks, unable to prioritize, hindering its ability to consistently deliver value to customers.
In such cases, the founder may feel compelled to require all team members to attend daily status meetings and demand detailed progress reports at the end of each week.
"The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas." - Linus Pauling
However, it's important to recognize that imposing constraints tends to limit not only the generation of new ideas but also, inevitably, the generation of good ideas.
As you read this, I'm sure you can also think of uncomfortable situations that made you crave control. Trust me; I've been there too.
In this article, I share five ways I have learned to organize a product team while fostering creativity.
1. Processes vs Principles
Processes are a series of actions that usually lead to the same outcomes, ensuring consistent results. However, Product Management requires judgment, reasoning, and adaptability. Processes doesn’t give a lot of room for those things.
Principles, on the other hand, are rules or codes of conduct that must always hold true. They serve as tools; they are not prescriptive.
For example, imagine a team has a problem with communication. A process-oriented approach may involve requiring all team members to attend the same daily meeting to share updates. While it ensures regular updates, it may limit adaptability.
In contrast, a team could adopt the principle: “We don’t like surprises”, promoting transparency and proactive communication without dictating specific processes.
2. Optimize for Autonomy
Don’t build workflows; build a culture where teams build their workflows.
Instead of implementing processes when things are not working out in your product team, get in the habit of asking the questions below to your team.
By continuously asking these questions, the team will get in the habit of asking themselves these questions regularly. They’ll get in the habit of reflecting and affecting changes to how they work.
What are we doing to learn from our mistakes?
How are we building product intelligence in our domain?
Are we reflecting on how we work together?
Are we constantly adapting our workflows?
Focus not on telling them what to do but rather on getting in the habit of asking questions the team should ask themselves. By shifting the focus from telling them what to do to asking questions that stimulate self-reflection, you foster a sense of responsibility and creativity within the team.
3. Incentivize Innovative Behaviour
It usually doesn't yield significant benefits to directly reward innovation. For instance, saying, "Oh, Paul had this great idea. We'll celebrate his achievement with a promotion," may reward Paul individually, but it doesn't contribute to the team's collective ability to generate good ideas.
Instead, it is more effective to focus on rewarding actions that foster and support innovation.
Consider the following examples:
Celebrate the team's learnings after a retrospective session.
Promote individuals who actively evangelize new practices beyond their teams.
Recognize and promote team members who serve as mentors to others.
Provide dedicated time for the team to attend conferences and enhance their knowledge.
Support the team by covering the cost of lunch and learn sessions.
By rewarding these types of actions, there is a higher likelihood of nurturing innovation within the team. Encouraging curiosity, experimentation, and knowledge sharing yields greater results in fostering creativity.
4. Document Your Way
It is common practice for teams to document how they "should" work rather than the actual way they operate.
This approach is often ineffective. It requires too much change at once, and this usually leads to those documents being sent to the graveyard documents.
A more effective approach is to focus on documenting how the team "currently" works. By accurately capturing the existing processes and practices, you can better understand the team's dynamics and identify areas for improvement.
The key is to get in the habit of criticizing it and adopting small changes often.
There are several moments within the team's workflow when you can facilitate those conversations:
Retrospectives: This is the easiest one. Retrospectives provide a dedicated space to reflect on past experiences and discuss potential improvements.
One-on-one: Sometimes, individuals may feel uncomfortable criticizing in public. One-on-one sessions are great for team members to share their perspectives and provide suggestions.
End of any ceremony session: Whether it's planning, handoff, grooming, or any other ceremony session, setting aside a few minutes to reflect on how the session allows for regular improvements.
Engaging in these ongoing conversations and adopting a continuous improvement mindset creates an environment where the team feels empowered to challenge existing processes and drive positive change.
5. Vision, Then Goals
Goals are particularly effective when the path to achieving them is clear and well-defined. For example, when setting a goal to increase revenue by a certain percentage before the end of the year, people usually have an idea of the leverage they can move to get there.
On the other hand, vision statements offer a broader sense of purpose and allow room for creative thinking. They provide an overarching direction without a clear path to success.
Both goals and vision statements have their place in guiding a team, but they serve different purposes in driving progress.
The problem with the vision statement is threefold:
First, they may not exist, leaving the team without a clear sense of direction.
Second, vision statements may not be strong enough, lacking the compelling and inspiring qualities necessary to rally the team.
Third, even if a strong vision statement exists, it may not be repeated enough to keep it at the forefront of everyone's minds.
If all three are right, vision statements become a powerful tool to foster creativity within the team.
A well-crafted and regularly reinforced vision statement serves as a guiding light, fuelling innovation and encouraging team members to think outside the box.
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Strategies to Optimize Creative Workflows
By creating a balance between structure and flexibility, you can allow room for experimentation and adaptation while ensuring that the team remains aligned with its goals.
As a product leader, you can promote creativity by adopting the following strategies:
Processes vs Principles - Process yield the same result; Principles leave more room for creativity
Optimize for autonomy - Build a culture where the team builds their own workflows.
Incentivize innovative behaviour - Reward action that leads to innovation
Document your ways - Get in the habit of small changes
Vision, then goals - Get a strong vision statement and repeat it all the time.
Remember, creativity is not a talent reserved for a select few. Instead, it is a mindset that can be cultivated and nurtured over time.
Thank you for reading 😊
See you next week.
Francis