Collaboration is the key that unlocks creative greatness. The best films, music, food, advertising, media, and so on, are all made by teams. Therefore, joining a highly functional team and learning to be a productive member of the team is the way forward for ambitious makers.
Two professors at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas wanted to bring this message to their students and the world. Mike Wiggins is a professor of graphic design. His colleague Kyle Dickson teaches literature, writing, and film at ACU. Wiggins and Dickson recently teamed up to direct and produce Assembly Required, a short documentary about the creative process and the importance of healthy teams.
Probably the most underrated skill is listening. And I worry about this in the workplace setting because I feel like it’s going in the wrong direction.
Leaders of teams are often the worst on this skill set. Any team member ought to be better at asking questions than making statements. But in particular, the people in positions of power or the team leaders ought to be better at asking questions than making statements.
So, one characteristic of a well-functioning team is there’s just a lot of listening going on. You don’t have people talking over each other. There’s a receptivity to ideas.
The film also features interviews with Kim Scott, Robert Sutton, Nina Means, José Canales, Gina Rudan, Andy Pratt, Ed Catmull, Nelson Coates, William Joyce, Leah Rama, and Ken Kocienda.
All told, this film is tightly packed with valuable insights for anyone working in a creative field. I chose to focus this article on Brown’s insights, but all the contributors have a lot to offer.
For instance, author Kim Scott says, “We’ve got to come up with a way of making it safe to fail, making it safe to make mistakes—not making it safe to be sloppy or lazy—but making it safe to make the noble mistake. Learning how to shut down that sense of shame that we have when it doesn’t work out.”
