Like many other sectors, the design industry often treats competitiveness within an office as something positive. After all, there's nothing like a bit of healthy competition to motivate a team, is there? The reality is that whilst competition might be motivating for certain workers, it has been found to stifle collaboration within teams. This is an important issue because collaboration, not competition, is key for an inspired and motivated creative workforce.
So what is it that makes collaboration so important?
If people are actively encouraged to share knowledge and experiences, then suddenly the work environment becomes a learning environment. This means there isn't the pressure on designers to have all the answers, but simply to actively seek them out, giving them the space to try new things without the fear of failing. This is something Michael Eraut found when studying informal learning in the workplace. One of his key discoveries was that “Much learning at work occurs through doing things and being proactive in seeking learning opportunities, and this requires confidence. Moreover, we noted that confidence arose from successfully meeting challenges in one's work, while the confidence to take on such challenges depended on the extent to which learners felt supported in that endeavour. Thus there is a triangular relationship between challenge, support and confidence”.[1]
Then what's the problem with a bit of competition?
For a studio to have a collaborative culture you need your team members to trust each other, as this will allow them to work together towards a common goal. However, if there is competitiveness between them, it can hinder mutual trust and reduce their willingness to collaborate. For a creative, sharing your work with others can be quite scary for a number of reasons. There can be a fear that if you share things or ask for help, your ideas will poached by a colleague, potentially with that person then receiving all the credit. There is also a fear of you not being heard amongst these other ideas or even that, if your ideas are not well received, it will reflect badly on you. All of these fears can be amplified in a competitive environment, whether or not they are well founded.
That's great but how do we go about creating a collaborative culture?
There are various ways to do this, starting with the makeup of your team. The more diverse the team is, the more these different skills and experiences contribute to a richer learning environment, and in turn coworkers gain more through working together. A flat hierarchy can also be beneficial, although it is still important that individuals are clear about their own responsibilities. One study of more than 50 teams across a variety of industries found that “collaboration increased when people had clearly defined roles but were uncertain about how to achieve the team’s goals. The uncertainty encouraged everyone to collaborate and think more creatively about different ways in which to fulfill the group’s mission”.[2]
In terms of what the collaboration should look like, this will largely depend on the team and the type of work you are doing, with the manager’s role being to strike the mix between working individually and collaboratively that the team find most beneficial and productive. One technique I encountered whilst working as freelancer, which I have since implemented with my current team, is having creatives literally swap work when they are stuck on a concept. It is an incredibly daunting activity as a designer, but particularly when working to a tight deadline, it can be a great way to help your team become unstuck. However, for this to be effective a designer shouldn’t feel forced to hand over their work, but given the encouragement to open up and receive advice from their colleague. It also doesn't mean the work is no longer theirs, but it is simply getting a more in-depth and visual opinion that will hopefully help them push the idea forward once they return to working on it afterwards. It is also an excellent way of building trust within your team because, as creatives, trusting someone with your Adobe files really is the ultimate test!
As managers, your role in all of this should be as a facilitator more than anything else. As you are able to see the team as a whole, you should have the best sense of who might be struggling and then finding ways to support them, whether it be bringing other team members in for a quick discussion, suggesting they swap work with someone, or even chatting with someone external to your studio. What was interesting from Michael Eraut's study was, “the balance between support provided by people on the spot when, or soon after, the need first became apparent, and support from a designated mentor or manager. We encountered many contexts where informal support from whoever was available was more important for learning than were formally designated helpers”.[3] This shows the importance of managers being available for informal chats, and for there to be an environment where creatives feel they can simply open up and exchange views with the rest of their team at any given time.
Creating a collaborative culture in your studio takes time. As Keith Ferrazzi has commented “Achieving true collaboration — in which the whole is definitely more than the mere sum of the individual parts — is difficult in any environment. People have to set aside their egos, trust one another, and share their expertise willingly”.[4] But as creative leaders we have an opportunity to radically transform the way we operate. I'm not talking about increasing your weekly team catch up to twice a week, I mean putting collaboration at the heart of how you operate, creating studios that are less about individuals working and more about groups innovating, teaching, learning, inspiring and being at their best. In short, it’s about unlocking the creativity that comes from a truly collaborative studio culture.
Footnotes:
- Michael Eraut * (2004) Informal learning in the workplace, Studies in Continuing Education, 26:2, 247-273, DOI: 10.1080/158037042000225245
- Ferrazzi, Keith. “How Successful Virtual Teams Collaborate.” Harvard Business Review, 1 Feb. 2018, hbr.org/2012/10/how-to-collaborate-in-a-virtua.
- Michael Eraut * (2004) Informal learning in the workplace, Studies in Continuing Education, 26:2, 247-273, DOI: 10.1080/158037042000225245
- Ferrazzi, Keith. “How Successful Virtual Teams Collaborate.” Harvard Business Review, 1 Feb. 2018, hbr.org/2012/10/how-to-collaborate-in-a-virtua.
Header illustration by pikisuperstar