Comment l’ouverture d’esprit peut-elle améliorer le travail d’équipe et la créativité ?

Open-mindedness can improve teamwork and creativity by enhancing communication. One popular definition of open-mindedness is "the willingness to search actively for evidence against one's favored beliefs, plans, or goals, and to weigh such evidence fairly when it is available". This concept is aligned with older concepts such a parallel thinking and cognitive dissonance. There is a cognitive burden involved in challenging your own thoughts, but there is great benefit. Improving teamwork and creativity are only example. By going through this arguably creative mental process you open your mind to new possibilities and expanded potential.

Strengthen Relationships: Clear and effective communication fosters better understanding and trust among individuals, whether in personal relationships, professional settings, or within communities. It helps in resolving conflicts, avoiding misunderstandings, and building stronger connections. Facilitate Collaboration: In workplaces or team settings, enhanced communication ensures that everyone is on the same page, leading to more productive collaborations. It encourages sharing ideas, constructive feedback, and a conducive environment for innovation. Boost Personal Development: Improved communication skills often lead to increased self-confidence.

Sit down at the table. Decide who you want on your team. Everyone has an obligation to create and do it effectively, and with clear understanding. Everyone must be able to give their opinions without judgment. Brainstorm together as a team. When you have a whole team with you, you have just increased the possibility creating new ideas. Fresh ideas.

I like the "Ooooo! This is new!" approach. So many times information is categorized as either right or wrong before someone even finishes speaking about it. Just like so much that we don't understand is categorized as difficult. It's not right or wrong or difficult at first, it's just new. It may be difficult because we don't have the skill needed. It may be wrong for us because it challenges a long-held belief. It may be right if it adds to the abundant knowledge base we already have. BUT, it cannot be judged without corroboration, investigation, and analysis. This type of study cannot be approached from a biased standpoint. A person must decide to receive new information if it proves better than the information it replaces.

Open-mindedness makes communication a sum game. Every idea is considered because the concept can be valuable, or where it leads may be helpful. Open-mindedness is connected with the personality trait of openness to experience. This makes communication more agile and productive.

Open-mindedness makes the team perceive the differences as a good sign. I usually say that I like it when people disagree. It's not about who is right. It's about improving the quality of our reasoning. When diversity is balanced with solid purpose and alignment on what really matters, it thrives and adds a ton of potential to a team.

People from different backgrounds bring in a lot of their diverse experiences to the team which can be used to solve problems in different scenarios. Lack of open-mindedness becomes a barrier in understanding different viewpoints thus, restricting the team to fully utilize its strengths. Open-mindedness helps recruiters in hiring diverse people into the organizations because they do not allow their inherent biases clash with those of the applicants thus, increasing diversity.

One of the things you notice in groups is that after a while, everyone starts to think the same. The longer the group stays together, the less diverse it becomes. They find they have more things in common than not. It becomes their new normal. Seeking diversity to enhance the group is a task not usually encouraged, but not because of bias or rejection of new things. They believe they are diverse already. The members get comfortable with each other. That sometimes indicates to visitors that the group is not accepting or open-minded. They would be reluctant to join a homogenous group that thought they were diverse.

Efectivamente fomenta la diversidad de pensamiento: Al estar abierto a nuevas ideas y perspectivas, un equipo puede aprovechar una amplia gama de experiencias y conocimientos lo que enriquece el proceso creativo, llevando a soluciones más innovadoras y efectivas.

Open-mindedness is closely related to a learner's mindset. This means that regardless of your experience, you keep learning and remain curious to know more. This is contrary to the expert mindset, where people believe and act like their experience and know-how are enough.

Shared Knowledge Exchange: Open-minded team members are receptive to learning from one another. They share their expertise, experiences, and insights freely, creating an environment where knowledge flows seamlessly among team members. Diverse Perspectives for Learning: An open-minded approach encourages the inclusion of diverse perspectives within the team. This diversity of thought fosters a rich learning environment, where team members gain insights and learn from different cultural, professional, and personal backgrounds. Adaptability and Learning Agility: Open-minded team members are more adaptable to change. They embrace new methodologies, technologies, and approaches, leading to a collective learning agility within the team.

Mantener una mente abierta significa estar dispuesto a aprender y crecer constantemente. Esto no solo mejora las habilidades individuales, sino que también eleva el nivel de conocimiento y competencias de todo el equipo.

Enhanced Problem-Solving: Open-minded individuals are more adept at tackling complex problems. They can consider a broader range of perspectives and potential solutions, leading to more innovative problem-solving approaches. Increased Adaptability: Open-mindedness fosters adaptability and flexibility in different situations. Individuals who embrace new ideas and viewpoints can quickly adjust to changing circumstances, which is invaluable in dynamic environments.

Having open-mindedness can improve the team's performance. It helps in understanding different viewpoints of the team's members and utilizing their strengths. For example, if a company wants to launch a product in a culturally different market. Having a member from that market in the team and using their experiences in crafting a marketing strategy personalized towards that market will be advantageous for the company. Now if there would have been a lack of open-mindedness then, that team member's strength would not have been fully utilized.

In my experience, you don't cultivate open-mindedness, you must practice it. Everyone starts with an Us vs Them approach. As we get older and more mature, we have probably added more and more types of people to our Us column. It is that practice we must encourage. To do this we look past the surface, the language, the basic communications, the cultures and get to the parts we do have in common. We seek justice, integrity, kindness, hard work, charity... a plethora of values you can observe by what people do and how they talk about things. If we look for those things in people, we add many people to our Us column and we open our minds little by little until there isn't a door.

It all starts with your hiring procedures. These are vital because open-mindedness can be stimulated but is typically tied to personality, which is hard to change. Then, in your onboarding process. People are most flexible and permeable during the first weeks at a job. This is a golden window to shape this trait. Finally, coherence. As a leader or team member, you must display open-mindedness across multiple situations. It is always easier to be open-minded when you agree and forget about it when you disagree. Feedback is an essential tool in stimulating a culture of open-mindedness. Also, in meetings, make a point of listening to everyone's perspectives without judgment.

Busca siempre comentarios constructivos de los demás, desafía tus propias suposiciones y creencias de manera regular, exponte deliberadamente a nuevas ideas y culturas, practica la empatía y la compasión en tus interacciones, y mantén la humildad como un valor central. Además, es importante recordar que la mentalidad abierta es una habilidad que se puede desarrollar con el tiempo, así que no dudes en comenzar hoy mismo. Observa cómo estos cambios positivos en tu mentalidad abierta pueden mejorar significativamente tu trabajo en equipo y fomentar la creatividad en tu vida profesional y personal.

Practice Empathy: Put yourself in others' shoes to understand different perspectives. Actively listen without judgment, seeking to comprehend rather than refute or dismiss opposing viewpoints. Be Curious and Inquisitive: Embrace a mindset of continuous learning. Ask questions, seek new information, and be open to discovering different viewpoints, even if they challenge your existing beliefs. Challenge Your Assumptions: Recognize and question your biases and preconceptions. Engage in critical thinking by examining why you hold certain beliefs and whether they are based on evidence or assumptions. Stay Open to Change: Be flexible and adaptable. Accept that your views and opinions might evolve as you learn and experience new things.

Open-mindedness in fostering teamwork and creativity centers around the concept of the 'beginner's mind,' taught by monastic, Shunryū Suzuki Roshi: “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.” During my early developer days, our tech team struggled with an innovative project. My manager Myra introduced a playful approach to brainstorming, encouraging wild, judgment-free ideas. This shift to a fun, open-minded atmosphere dissolved hierarchical barriers and sparked creativity. A junior developer's unexpected suggestion, overlooked in conventional settings, eventually led to a breakthrough concept. The team took this concept and co-created an innovative, empathy-driven solution.

When you have a culture of open-mindedness, it becomes a beautiful process of social contagion. The more your team displays it, the more incentives there will be to remain open-minded.

Facilitating Collaborative Problem-Solving: When team members are open-minded, they actively listen to each other's viewpoints and consider various approaches to solve problems. This collaborative effort benefits from a collective pool of ideas, enabling the team to explore unconventional solutions and think outside the box. Reducing Resistance to Change: Open-minded individuals are generally more adaptable to change. In a dynamic environment, this quality is invaluable. Teams comprising open-minded members are better equipped to embrace change, pivot strategies, and explore new methods, leading to increased flexibility and agility.