The Power of Collaboration

When people collaborate to develop ideas together, they are capable of more than the sum of their parts. These ideas evolve because a collective group put energy into them. In creative endeavours, teams collaborating often achieve a much better result than individuals.

As ideas evolve, the key to success is not superiority, but diversity. When teams bring different perspectives to idea processes, the end result is a stronger idea. Individual ideas are not complete. They need to be vocalised, discussed , and re-adjusted before one puts them into practice.

If these ideas are not exposed to a larger audience, as so many ideas were in the pre-Internet era, they will never become fully formed.

Nowadays, there are many ways to share our ideas on the Internet. Minds from all over the world are able to collaborate in a focused manner to influence the outcome of a single project. People from different groups can come together, providing a distinct area of knowledge. For example, a cab driver, with his experience, may provide the needed input to create a new paradigm in city planning.

With an open innovation platform, every person has a voice. People from any discipline, background, or gender can contribute to discussions and create impact.

Some may call this democratic decision making, others may use the term civic innovation. But, when a culture comes together to innovate, great things are possible. With outside inspiration for your ideas your work will become stronger, richer, and more robust as a result.

The Internet is not only a great storage place of static knowledge, but also of dynamic ideas. With so many people involved, it is inevitable that ideas will begin to shift and evolve. The interchange of ideas is approaching, and those who join the crowd will find that their projects catch fire. Intellectual capital that sits in a vault goes nowhere. When it is in the open, it will become far more valuable.