Comments on: Want Great Ideas? Use Smaller Creative Teams

By: Jenna

Jenna — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Years ago, my church decided to create a musical play "in house" and started out with maybe 6-8 people writing the script. The first draft read-through was painful…The wide variations in writing styles and Scripture versions used made it SOUND like it had been written by a plethora of people. Eventually they narrowed it down to 2-3 people rewriting the script and it turned out to be a very good project…however, a lot of time and effort could have been saved and perhaps some hurt feelings could have been avoided by starting out with a smaller writing team and adding others if needed.

By: Alec McNayr

Alec McNayr — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Great post.

I'll add that if you're using a small team, say, 2-3 people, there isn't any room for egos. Each person has to want to work with each other, and sacrifice their ideas for the good of the project (organization, team, etc.). It pays enormous dividends to trust each other: expect good things to come from the other members (and not just yourself!).

By: Osborn4

Osborn4 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I l ove the pizza metric. I’ll have to mention that to the head of our creative team.

By: David

David — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Strongly agree. A couple of well-selected, highly capable imaginative people are better than a room of 20-30 people in which louder voices get priority and some of the best ideas don’t get heard at all.

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Great post — I strongly agree. I used to bring a camel figurine to large "creative" meetings and pull it out and set it on the table. Finally, someone would get the nerve to ask what was it for. I would reply, "its a reminder, that a camel is a horse designed by a comittee".

By: Jared Smith

Jared Smith — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As we all know, change is the only permanent thing. We may think that what we have right now will linger but in actuality it will only hold on for some time. That is why it is very important to never rest on our laurels. Always thinking creatively and out of the box is will propel companies into the future.

There is actually some accuracy on the idea between having a smaller group being able to deliver great ideas. The thing about a smaller group is that its input and outcome can be controlled so there is cohesiveness in the thoughts and ideas which makes it more effective.