Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum, especially at the organizational level. To fuel big, bold ideas, teams typically do better when they come together to share ideas. As they bounce concepts, they find that it’s easier to innovate quickly, learn from one another’s varied experiences, and ultimately help their organizations remain competitive within today’s fast-moving business ecosystem.
To be sure, there are different ways to precipitate crowdsourced innovation. However, more companies are turning to collaborative workspaces to inspire their team members to produce a steady stream of innovative ideas. And the World Economic Forum has flagged collaboration as a must-have element for future business models, too.
Indeed, the construction and implementation of collaborative workspaces are on the rise. According to research from Allwork, nearly one-third of all available office spaces are expected to have coworking capabilities by 2030. In other words, millions of workers will be able to do their best work in atmospheres that promote camaraderie and facilitate invention, like the Missouri Innovation Center (MIC).
At MIC, entrepreneurs — and, when applicable, their partners and teams — are nurtured to create high-growth, scalable ventures. By having exposure to other innovators within MIC’s shared spaces, entrepreneurs can leverage the positive, science-backed advantages that come with working alongside a diverse set of professionals representing different backgrounds, industries, and experiences.
What the science says about collaborative innovation
Anyone who’s been tasked to come up with innovative concepts knows how hard it can be to produce ideas without input. Creativity can arise on an individual level, of course. However, it’s far more likely to come when people collaborate.
This collective process leverages the power of what’s been called “creative collision”. That is, the phenomenon of creative minds bouncing off each other.
As author and creative collaboration expert Dr. R. Keith Sawyer noted in a 2021 interview, the outcome of creative “collision” is akin to what happens for improvisational musicians: As each musician contributes new sounds and tempos to a song, all the musicians must adapt accordingly — and rise to the occasion. The resulting tune is a unique blend of music that couldn’t be achieved by a solo artist.
Although entrepreneurs and their teams might not be engaged in improvisational music, they can leverage crowdsourced creativity to elicit breakthrough ideas through the same creative collision concept.
What mechanism makes this possible? A 2021 review on collaborative creation from Frontiers in Psychology has some answers. (Like Dr. Sawyer, the authors used performance artist improvisation as an example of how collaboration prompts ideation.) The review explains that improvisational collaboration “has the capacity to disrupt or confound” everyday practices. In other words, when people are exposed to new thoughts, they are led toward possibilities that they might never have considered on their own.
In a business context, you and the rest of your organization can lean into the same effect of rampant creativity that comes when people connect in workplace and social settings. In fact, a 2023 study from Thinking Skills and Creativity concluded that collective collaboration was a survival must-have in the ever-changing work environment of the modern world.
What are the key elements of effective collaborative innovation spaces?
This doesn’t mean that you can simply put a group of people from different businesses in a space and watch innovation bloom. Thoughtful design of the actual space is necessary to get the most out of any collaborative work area.
For example, the physical nature of the workspace has to be considered. While open rooms are needed for group collaboration, private areas are also necessary for individual contemplation and execution. Therefore, a collaborative workspace can’t be relegated to large spaces alone. It requires smaller offices and huddle areas, too.
A functional, innovation-fostering workspace requires technology as well; this means it must be laid out for modern working life. And there’s little argument that the infrastructure requirements expected by today’s workers have changed dramatically. A prime example is the need to manage and execute effective hybrid meetings, which requires not just WiFi access but spaces conducive to making all attendees feel involved.
Overall, the best collaborative spaces offer workers a balance between being in a structure setting and having the opportunity to be spontaneous (e.g., moving furnishings around, using a variety of surfaces for ideation, being able to plug into a technically advanced system.) Only when an environment is outfitted with flexible features can it transform into exactly what teams need to collaborate and invent.
Winning collaborative spaces
Thanks to the MIC’s collaboration-focused workspace design elements, many entrepreneurial organizations have found innovation success.
Take Endevica Bio, a startup that moved from North Carolina to be a part of MIC. The company appreciated that MIC offered both the facilities and collaborative opportunities it needed to continue its life sciences and research-based mission to develop innovative products to treat cachexia in cancer patients.
Equinosis is another company that found a home at MIC. Founded to improve the diagnosis of lameness and related diseases in horses, Equinosis also appreciates the research and laboratory access that MIC provides. Being able to work alongside other growing life science businesses has been an asset to the company’s expansion through innovation.
Countless other organizations have experienced similar success in MIC’s 33,000 square feet of shared incubator space. It’s been a place where residents can tap into both physical and human resources — and collaborate their way to innovation.
Overcoming common barriers to cross-disciplinary collaboration
This isn’t to suggest that successful cross-disciplinary collaboration is only about the design of the workspace itself. It’s not. Other factors are involved, which is why it’s important to acknowledge some of the barriers to making collaborative spaces work.
The first barrier is siloed thinking. When teams are not empowered or encouraged to cross invisible boundaries and work with other teams (including from their own organizations, at times) they hold tight to their information. As a result, they create a wall that discourages interaction, despite the space they’re in.
A second roadblock to cross-disciplinary innovation is the human resistance to making any kind of major change. Team members may have difficulty doing something “that we’ve never done before”, such as collaborating across businesses or departments. Often, their reluctance comes from their misunderstanding of what they’re being asked to do. It may also stem from a fear of failing at something new.
Time (or lack thereof) can be another barrier. People who struggle to keep up with their current workloads may be resistant to adding another task or responsibility to their roles.
Fortunately, these issues can all be overcome and resolved through the communication and participation of you and the rest of your leadership team. When people see their leaders jumping into collaborative creativity, they get curious. And when they are trained at the value of being in a collaborative workspace, they can start to achieve their potential and drive greater innovation.
Ways to implement collaborative workspaces
If you’re not yet part of a purpose-built collaborative incubator space like MIC, you may want to rework your existing spaces into more collaborative touchdown spots. For instance, you may want to look at your office layout. Does it allocate enough space for group meetings with several team members? Do departments have the opportunity to share resources and collaborate?
You can also catalyze collaboration by offering programs and other events that bring your teams together. Or, you might want to partner with another organization to have a “meet and greet” brainstorming event that’s led by a creative collaboration consultant. That way, both your organization and the other organization could get the benefit of custom-led cross-disciplinary and cross-industry innovative thinking.
In addition to designing a space and setting up collaborative experiences within your organization, be sure to help your leaders understand best practices to nurture collaborative innovation among their direct reports. Some leaders may not be confident or comfortable promoting collaboration; others may be unsure how to track it, which can be done through measurement processes.
How to measure collaborative success
As with every business practice, you can measure the success of your space-related collaboration efforts. You just need to find the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to track.
For example, you might want to start sending regular assessments to your team members. The assessments could ask for their feedback on how they’re collaborating within your office space, as well as the innovations that have come from their collaborations. Over time, the results of regular assessments should indicate any progress and highlight barriers.
Another KPI could be your organization’s innovation outputs and their measurable outcomes. By taking a look at hard numbers, you could get a better view of how collaborative innovation is helping you achieve your financial and business goals.
The innovative, collaborative approach of MIC
MIC is passionate about making collaboration easier for entrepreneurs and their team members. For this reason, we consistently raise the bar by offering exceptional collaborative initiatives as well as unparalleled resources within our incubator setting.
If you’re an innovator, you don’t have to wait for innovation to happen. You can harness the power of collaborative spaces like MIC to drive the future of your business — and the future of your industry.Contact MIC today to learn more about our opportunities.
