photo credit: Giuseppe Bognanni

If you’re a manager, chances are you think your job is harder than that of your reports’. Perhaps it’s uncomfortable to admit, but it’s probably at least an occasional fleeting thought. And if you’re a ground-level player, chances are you think your job is harder than your manager’s job.

And how about those slackers in that other department? They always seem to be goofing off every time you go by for coffee.

You know where I’m going with this, I’m sure. Sometimes it’s easier to be hard on others than it is to empathize. But truly great accomplishments are rare when there isn’t a healthy spirit of collaboration and teamwork.

Yes, I know: teamwork. It’s a concept so overused by motivational posters and earnest HR professionals, I’m cringing even as I type it.

But like most cliches, it has roots in some grounded truth. Great things happen when we start looking at issues the way our colleagues see them, the way our customers and clients see them, the way our bosses see them. It takes looking beyond your day-to-day frustrations, and seeing new possibilities for progress.

Maybe this week is as good a week as any to try looking over the wall at what those around you are experiencing. There’s a chance you’ll be just the right person to solve someone else’s problem for them. And there’s even a chance that’ll solve problems of your own.

photo credit: torres21

For some of us, creativity just spews from our core, touching everything we do, whether we design a newsletter, write a song or paint a bedroom. For others of us, it may come a bit more slowly as we wait for inspiration to strike or a skill to develop.

Whether you work alone, at a small shop or for a big corporation, you’ll often have the chance to collaborate with other people. And, whether that collaboration takes the form of a strategic partnership, a volunteer committee or a special project team, there is an art to making sure that the group inspires action and change, rather than prohibits it.

Sure, group think and stagnation can set in. Or, the collective wisdom and inspiration of a particular assortment of people can raise the level of everyone’s participation and performance.

For example, I recently participated in Nashville’s 48 Hour Film Project. A group of friends and I had just two full days to write, create, shoot, edit and produce a 7-minute film that used a required character name, prop and line of dialog.

Like many things, inertia was key. Things started slowly, but in no time (once the pizza and beer arrived on Friday night), ideas were shared, improved upon and agreed on. Each team member made the others better and come Sunday afternoon, we had a product that we were proud of – and one that was a lot of fun to make.

There’s a difference between making a movie on the weekend and working on something for the boss. But, we’re wondering this weekend: Do you think teams inspire or kill creativity?

Tell us in the comments, or even weigh in on the following questions:

• How do you keep your team creative?
• Are teams better when participation is voluntary, as opposed to required?
• How do you decide when teams are worth using in the creative process?
• When is it time for a team to call it quits?