The Forces of Collaborative Creativity

Peter Comber is the inventor of the Collaborative Creativity methodology and founding partner of Atstrat, a company providing Collaborative Creativity services to the healthcare industry. An expert in applied creativity, with 35 years of professional experience that also includes a deep understanding of qualitative research, strategic planning and international marketing and management, Peter has unique practical knowledge of the power of group creativity.

About the author ........................................................................ xiii Acknowledgements .........................................................................xv A brief introduction to Collaborative Creativity ................. 1 Part 1: The foundations of Collaborative Creativity ..7 The five forces of Collaborative Creativity .......................... 9 Self-discovery ............................................................................ 12 Empathy .................................................................................... 16 Invention................................................................................... 21 Realization ................................................................................ 27 Cohesion ................................................................................... 31 Five-in-one ............................................................................... 36 Making sense ..................................................................... 41 Exceptional pharma ........................................................... 47 Creativity and ideas ........................................................... 51 Part 2: How to use Collaborative Creativity .............59 Do-it-yourself .................................................................... 61 Terminology not jargon .................................................... 65 The eight principles of Collaborative Creativity ................ 69 Clearly stated objective ............................................................. 70 Rational and emotional responses ............................................ 72 Exercises are unique to each project ........................................ 74 Multiple, diverse exercises ........................................................ 76 Safe and stimulating environment ............................................ 78 Individual, team and group tasks ............................................. 81 Repetitive organizing structure ................................................. 82 Group discussion ending .......................................................... 83 The Collaborative Creativity project .................................. 85 Problem paper .......................................................................... 86 Project briefing ......................................................................... 86 Mapping .................................................................................... 87 Project statement and project design ........................................ 88 Project output ........................................................................... 92 The Collaborative Creativity session .................................. 93 Coach ........................................................................................ 94 Moderator ................................................................................. 94 Participants ................................................................................ 94 Other actors .............................................................................. 95 Collaborative Creativity session agenda .................................... 95 Designing a Collaborative Creativity session ............................ 96 Refining the session ................................................................100 Before and after the session ...................................................102 Collaborative Creativity exercises .................................... 105 Curating the flow of the exercises in a session .....................106 Inventing a creative exercise ..................................................110 Designing the worksheet and stimuli .....................................116 Collaborative Creativity exercise formats ........................ 119 Time travel ..............................................................................119 Lifebelt ....................................................................................121 Transforma ..............................................................................123 Collage ....................................................................................124 Identikit ..................................................................................127 Parallel universe ......................................................................129 Pre-session exercises ...............................................................130 Moderating ...................................................................... 133 Preparation ..............................................................................133 Session moderation .................................................................134 Deposition ...............................................................................141 Change and opportunity ................................................. 143 Quality office time .................................................................144 Mass distraction ......................................................................144 The soul in the machine ........................................................145 Signal-to-noise ratio ...............................................................146 Plastic brains ...........................................................................146 Trains and helicopters ............................................................147 Further resources ................................................................... 149 Further reading on how we think and act ............................................149 Further reading on creativity ..............................................................150