Uniting Strangers to Solve Open Innovation Challenges: What’s It Like?
In writing and making public presentations about open innovation, I often remind people that while process is important, in the end success comes down to having people with the right mindset and skills. So much can be accomplished when a good team comes together, even when that team consists of experts in various disciplines around the globe who are total strangers to one another.
This is an experience that, as yet, relatively few people have experienced. So the question naturally arises of what it’s like to join with a team of strangers to solve R&D challenges?
According to individuals who have participated in teams via IdeaConnection, such groups offer a rich opportunity for learning, for honing one’s own problem solving abilities, and to experience the satisfaction that comes with solving a difficult problem that might not have been solved if people were working individually.
Here’s what participants in IdeaConnection challenges report about their experience:
“The aspects I appreciate and enjoy about working on a team are: subjecting my ideas to consideration by others, achieving something that I would not have necessarily achieved alone, the process of collaboration, debate, persuasion and thought that takes place in a team effort, the learning experience of hearing considering and working on the ideas of others,” says Stuart Levy, a principal consultant at SGL Chemistry Consulting, focused on the advancement of small molecules from discovery into clinical trials. He has worked on one IdeaConnection challenge, which his team won.
“Our team members were all committed and gave it all they could,” says Keith Everett, a system and hardware designer working in the biotech/pharma sector. “Solving challenges by myself is usually how things go because I work at a small company, but I enjoy working with a motivated and industrious team just as much, if not more. For IdeaConnection I have worked on four challenges and currently have not completed two, and am still waiting to hear of the success of the other. One I have already won in association with the great team I worked with.
“Solving a challenge with people from various backgrounds is a very rewarding experience,” says Paul Comet, who has worked on three IdeaConnection challenges, including one successful one focused on medical biomarkers and their application.
Of course, things don’t necessarily always go 100 percent smoothly when working with diverse teams of strangers from around the world. The key then is having a skilled facilitator to help people bridge differences. “When things are going well we all learn new approaches and techniques from one another, and with the help of a skilled facilitator, encourage one another forward,” Comet points out. “However ‘perfect harmony’ is rare and ‘keeping a balance’ truly challenges the facilitator’s management skills!”
There will be much more focus on this topic as the open innovation movement continues. I look forward to contributing further as well as reading the thoughts of others on this topic. Perhaps you start by sharing your comments?
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