Cracking the Innovation Code: The Power of Collective Thinking and FourSight®

Is it possible that breakthrough innovation depends less on the ideas themselves and more on the collective mindset of your team and the way the team collaborates?

Allow me to share a powerful example from a client’s experience with the FourSight® assessment, which helped us uncover some fascinating team dynamics. Recently, I explained this to Hector Ramos, Ph.D.

FourSight® is an instrument that measures individual preferences for different aspects of the innovation process. While it is only a preference, these preferences often correspond to areas where we have higher energy and engagement. 

In contrast, regions of low preference tend to drain our energy and sometimes prompt us to cut corners or not spend enough time there. 

It is based on the universal principle of creativity, which involves four types of thinking in solving a challenge: understanding and clarifying it, ideating, developing and testing, and finally, implementing. 

The interesting part is that we each have preferences for different areas, and this is what often creates conflicts and limits collaboration. 

In the example of my client team, one of the founders was an ideator - visionary, creative, and always coming up with bold, new ideas. 

The other founder was a clarifier-asking probing questions and clarifying problems.

The team’s preference was for implementation-getting things done. They gravitated to jumping on an idea, rushing to implement it-often with a high rate of failure.

The co-founder, who preferred to clarify and ask questions, was often overlooked despite their perspective being crucial for understanding the problem and gathering data.

Once every team member became aware of their preferences and we mapped the team profile, the team dynamic became obvious. We had two co-founders with different profiles, and a team had a very similar profile, resulting in a lot of friction.

 My role was to help the whole squad recognize these different thinking preferences were critical for effective team collaboration.

Once the team became aware of their preferences, they had more respect and understanding of what each team member uniquely brought. We also developed training on the innovation process and tools, ensuring each step was completed more systematically without overlooking critical areas. 

This helped ensure that each voice could be heard and support a more collaborative innovation process that was both creative and well-grounded. 

As a result, the rate of failure decreased dramatically. 

Curious about how FourSight® can help your team? Reach out or message me so we can schedule some time to discuss further and check the instrument for yourself!