Co-creation is a process that gets multiple stakeholders to work together to generate solutions and strategies to overcome challenges or take advantage of opportunities. This approach taps into the collective wisdom of the group and takes into consideration diverse perspectives to deliver more comprehensive and effective outcomes.
Relevance of co-creation
The world has become a complex and dynamic place today. Organization leaders today encounter increasingly difficult and often ambiguous situations or challenges, which they may not have faced before or even anticipated. They may, at times, be ill-prepared to deal with or respond to such situations and may not have all the answers.
Co-creation as an approach is likely to serve well in dealing with such challenges and situations as it enables tapping into the collective intelligence of people with multiple years of experience and diverse perspectives, to generate alternatives or solutions. The approach also enables decision making through consensus which builds alignment on the solution and actions, and ownership on the outcomes of the actions. Thus, co-creation is a powerful approach to build clarity, alignment and ownership to serve a desired purpose.
Benefits of Co-creation
Diverse perspectives: Incorporate a wide range of ideas and insights
Smoother implementation: Higher acceptance leads to easier adoption
Improved Solutions: Results in more robust and effective strategies
Enhanced Buy-in: Stakeholders are more invested in the outcomes
How can leaders develop this capability?
Leaders can learn to use structured approaches to build or strengthen their ability to co-create and use it to address a diverse range of situations and challenges.
Technology of Participation (ToP™) is a suite of facilitation methods that equips leaders and facilitators with the necessary skills to engage stakeholders effectively through structured co-creation. Focused Conversation and Consensus Workshop Method are 2 foundational methods in ToP™. Both methods are underpinned with the natural thinking process of human beings i.e. they are based on the way the mind functions, moving from sensory stimuli to action.
The Focused Conversation method provides a structure for conducting a meaningful dialogue while broadening perspectives, allowing the entire group to participate and directing the thinking of the group towards decision making.
The Consensus Workshop method is based on the assumption that consensus creates a larger answer that is not identical to any one participant’s view, but includes the wisdom of many. It enables participants to let go of their individual views and allows them to expand with the help of the new insights and synthesis in the workshop. It also allows the participants to see the relationship between their own and others’ ideas. In doing so, it opens up and broadens their own thinking, so everyone walks away with a different perspective on reality while converging on a decision or solution or an agreed roadmap.
At Core Creators, we train leaders on building these facilitation and co-creation capabilities. We also use these and other ToP™ Facilitation methods to help leadership and groups co-create the change they want to bring about in their organization or teams and the roadmap for implementing the change.
Read about how we partnered Suntory Pepsi in Vietnam in co-creating its 3-year vision and strategic direction.