EP. 24 How to Leverage Teamwork Skills: Curiosity and Creativity

There is a battle going on between humans and technology. How can we humans differentiate ourselves in a world of digital technology and machines, particularly artificial intelligence? If you’re leading virtual calls, one of your main concerns is how well you are doing at keeping the attention of the people in this meeting. If we lose they’re attention, chances are that they are scrolling on social media. Greg’s framework identifies four super powers humans have to leverage in a way that keeps your team in their maximum zones of genius. With these teamwork skills leaders can (and should) leverage on their team. These skills are: consciousness, curiosity, creativity and collaboration. These four skills are not only a way to differentiate yourself from AI, but also from fellow robotic humans. This pandemic has greatened a divide of two types of people. First, there are those who are purpose-driven, curious, leading to their creativity and collaboration. On the other hand, there are those who are just working for a paycheck, and not inspired to develop themselves. Those of the latter type, can be identified as robotic humans. These are the humans on your team that you want to engage, connect, harness and awaken using these strategies. Curiosity in TeamworkCuriosity is a teamwork skill that we all might have, but don't always tap into. At this point in the pandemic, we need to work on defeating the feeling of the mundane. We can defeat this groundhog day feeling by diving into our curiosity and consider how we can redesign our days to find the part that’s the most productive. Leverage Curious Discussions Around Meaningful WorkWhat is the meaning of our work? Why do we do what we do? Who are we helping?Weaponize Curiosity Curiosity is not a fixed trait, think of it more like the mercury in a thermometer rather than having blue eyes. The level of curiosity in people goes up and down depending on who you’re with and what you’re doing. Curiosity is the gateway drug to creativity and if leaders leverage this they can use curiosity to get their team excited about their work. To weaponize curiosity on your team: Encourage Time for Personal Learning. Personal learning- Even in the most wide variety of interests and areas are crucial to creating innovative connections between things. Creativity in TeamworkWhen and how leaders should find time to be creative in their team and then bounce between creativity and execution is an important teamwork skill. Execution is what happens for this year’s profits, creativity is what happens for next year’s profits. It’s challenging to balance between these two. Leverage Your Sense of HumorIf you can make someone laugh or even smile a little bit, it will release oxytocin in their brain. This helps you bond with them, lowers anxiety, helps them listen to you and take action on what you say. There’s a great correlation between having a laugh and being more creative and collaborative. It seems counterintuitive to focus on laughing more, particularly when many people are facing dark times, but Greg thinks we need to laugh more in dark times.Creativity Isn’t Always Sunshine and RainbowsCreativity isn’t always a happy scenario, there’s a yin and yang to it. Also, creativity is driven by a kind of relentless perfection, a restlessness, a passion that is not always very comfortable. As a leader, you need to understand this yin and yang of creative leadership and balance the mood of the team depending on where you are in the creative process. Questions Leaders Should Ask themselvesHow can I effectively make an impact through a screen?If productivity is the same remotely or in person- what would that look like if it was the best of both worlds? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.