Where do the best ideas come from?

The best ideas come from the intersection of people in different areas with different skills. A lot of people believe in this and someone of them actually put it in to practice.

It is quite understandable that an idea have more potential to work if people from different departments/backgrounds are united with the objective of finding a solution for the problem.

One of the biggest benefits is the fact of having different perspectives from one same problem. Once you have more than one of point of view, chances are that you are much closer to find a democratic and comprehensive solution.

And this works for complex and non complex problems. Several years ago in Brasil, there was a toothpaste company that wanted to grow 10% on revenue.

They invited several top renowned agencies to share their ideas on how to help them achieving it.

Charts, projections, marketing plans were presented to the board. All of them fancy. None of them effective enough to convince them.

Meanwhile, somewhere in a production factory, a mechanic heard about the challenge. He was intrigued and decided to apply to present a solution.

From all the proposals heard by the board his solution was the best and the simplest: increase by 10% the the circumference of the toothpaste opening. By doing this the users would use 10% more toothpaste hence increasing the revenue as requested.

As simple as that.

This was only possible because people out of the “business” area were able to provide their own perspective.

This is just an example, but perfectly encapsulates how important it is to have procedures and mindset that foster people within the team to their challenges with everyone.

I have a framework that I have been using in the last couple of years with the purpose of incentivise everyone collaboration:

1) Everyone have to be aware there’s a problem or an objective

Having teams divided in silos is no solution for bringing up the best of each individuals and power of the collective. If you are having a project and you are facing problems, you can and should always invite other team members to join the meetings and brainstorming sessions.

By doing it, you will allow everyone to have a better grasp about the projects, context and will improve the overall perception of what is happening in the company.

2) in doubt, communicate

Even if you do not work in marketing department, you have install this mindset within every department.

Communicating what your department is doing is relevant to the others, but as well for the members of the team.

Communicate on Slack daily advancements and things worth share about the team

If you are not sure if people know what you know, just communicate it.

By install a obsessive communication approach within your team’s, you will allow every team member to:

1) know what is happening with other teams and give them a chance to provide suggestions
2) By writing, teams will have to stop and think about what they are actually doing and their accomplishments, driving creativity and clarity for both sides
3) Your challenges are everyone challenges. Even if the Product owner is the ultimate responsible for a feature, does not mean he has to be the one finding a solution.

3) Take the ownership of meeting other departments.

The only way to find other ways is to buil bridges. Connect with every department, related or not related with yours.

Knowing more about the other departments and their feedback on overall challenges and projects will impact your perception and even the way you may been operating.

IIf you do this, more and better ideas will come to you from the best: your team.

By Vasco de Matos Ramos