Social Control

04 February 10

We're not bragging or anything but we're pretty damn proud of our work. (Okay, maybe we are bragging. Deal with it). It's not that we're resting on our laurels – whatever those are – and living on past success. Rather, we've enjoyed successful projects and we're thinking about how to make future projects even more successful.

One of the ways that we've enjoyed successful deliverables is from teamwork. Yeah, that's something I'm sure you learned in first grade, but it's as true now as ever. When we work together as a team, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts… as long as those parts are giving their best.

So, how can you get the best out of your team? Here are some tips:

First, invite open-minded creativity. Everyone has ideas and those ideas shouldn't be shot down by someone else. This might require that stakeholders and idea makers be put in separate rooms at the beginning.

Second, understand there will be conflict. Let people know that. But also let them know that conflict is not necessarily bad as long as people are genuine and do the following 2 things: (1) Keep the ultimately outcomes of the project in mind; (2) Separate project-related criticism (which is okay) from people-related criticism (which isn't).

The third tip is our favorite. We wish we could have coined it but we didn't. It's something that the creative folks over at Disney and Pixar do. It's called "plussing". It works like this: When someone presents and idea, it's someone else's responsibility in the meeting to "plus" the idea by adding to it. This is a great way to address any nay-sayers in the group who typically shout down ideas rather than build the team up. Hey, there must be something here because Pixar rocks out one great movie after another.

Hear more about this great "plussing" idea. This is a 9 minute video but you'll love every minute, we promise and it can transform how your teams work.

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