Co-Creation In The Workplace
Updated: Feb 22, 2024
Written by: Steve Bredschneider, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
There’s a beautiful concept that’s been around for hundreds of years, but no one seems to know about or use it in the workplace. It’s simply co-creation. Co-creation is a method so simple that it is elegant in its nature. Imagine a workplace where everyone is happy, healthy, and joyful attitudes. It is possible, and there are many examples of this happening in companies that employ it.
In my experience, I’ve seen company owners, presidents, managers, and team leaders occupying time trying to figure out what tasks need to be performed by their team members and whom to give what job to. It seems that that’s a lot of time and energy misdirected. Do you remember when you were handed a task, and it was something that you didn’t want to do but grudgingly did it anyway because you didn’t want to lose your job or your relationship with your boss? It’s still the same way in the majority of companies.
How do you correct this? Study and understand co-creation. It’s not rocket science, and believe it or not, your time will be better spent creating goals and imagining better results.
Start with a goal. Let’s say the company is earning $1,000,000 per year. What would happen if the owner decided he wanted the company to make five times as much? Pretty scary, right? You know your teams are working hard and that your assets, team members, are stretched to the maximum as it is. How are you going to accomplish this incredible goal? That’s not your responsibility. What your responsibility is, is to lead people to manifest this result. Now the question is, “How in the hell do I do that?”
You may be the president of the company or a department manager. The process is precisely the same. Bring your team together and ask them how in the hell will they do that? Now here’s something that they can all get excited about. They may be scared at first, but how to make it happen becomes more apparent as you discuss possible outcomes. One secret that must be employed is that negative ideas be dismissed immediately. Only positive thoughts can be entertained. Using those ideas, the team members can help you create the systems and processes necessary to execute the goal. It is a compelling process.
Instead of delegating tasks to team members, you ask them what job or process they want to do. You don’t have to waste time creating tasks anymore. You get to use your creativity to figure out even bigger and better goals.
As a leader, you’ll have to be willing to support your team members in all of their ideas and efforts 100%. It doesn’t matter how crazy an idea may sound; you must support their ideas and decisions. This allows them the freedom to try something and learn from the experience. If they grow in their knowledge and understanding, your company must evolve too.
As you can see, increasing a company’s income by 500% can easily be accomplished with this simple but elegant idea.
Steve Bredschneider, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Steve Bredschneider is a Certified Proctor Gallagher Consultant. Continually mentored by the legendary Bob Proctor, the world’s foremost instructor in personal development and human potential. Steve has been studying under Bob for ten years and has become an expert in helping organizations and individuals achieve goals and dreams.
There is a simple system to achieving all you want, and Steve has dedicated his life to understanding, using, and teaching that system. Steve knows that there is no way you can fail using the system unless you quit.
Steve is a former Air Cadet, mechanic, and Certified Engineering Technologist. With this background of discipline, structure, and ethical behaviour Steve has brought the best aspects of leadership, instructional techniques, and organization skills to the table for the benefit of his clients. Steve knows how to take all this knowledge and break it into bite-sized chunks to enable his clients to increase their awareness, understand the material, and use this understanding in practical application in their lives. This results in increasing the quality of their lives and improved results for organizations and businesses’ bottom lines.
