在工作中激發創意的最佳途徑

An essential part of IBM’s IBM -0.09% campaign to conquer cloud computing is a new product called BlueMix. Launched in February of this year, the platform offers developers tools to create and run new apps for business. Unusually for a project of its size, it came together fast. A team of IBMers took only about 18 months to build BlueMix from initial concept, through technical underpinnings and design, to beta testing and marketing.

今年2月，科技巨頭IBM公司發佈了BlueMix雲平臺，作爲其征戰雲計算領域的殺手鐗。這一平臺向開發者提供了多種工具，爲企業創建和運行新的應用。對於一個如此大型的項目來說，其完成速度之快簡直異乎尋常。從初步構思、技術攻堅和設計，再到測試和展開營銷，這一系列流程IBM團隊僅僅用了18個月就完成了。

Phil Gilbert, Big Blue’s general manager of design, who led the BlueMix project, thinks it’s no coincidence that the dozens of engineers, developers, and designers who worked on it are scattered all over the world and have rarely, if ever, sat down with each other at the same time and place. “You get much more diversity of thought with virtual teams,” Gilbert says. “A well-run virtual team comes up with, not just more ideas, but better ones, and faster.”

此次BlueMix項目的帶頭人、IBM設計部的總經理菲爾o吉爾伯特認爲，這樣的高效率並非巧合。負責該項目的數十位工程師、開發人員和設計師分散在世界各地，他們甚至從來沒有在現實生活中碰過面。“虛擬團隊帶來了思維的多樣性。”吉爾伯特說，“一個運作良好的虛擬團隊不僅可以獲得更多創意，而且他們的創意往往更加出色和高效。”

It seems BlueMix was no fluke. Adam Kingl, executive director of learning solutions at London Business School, has studied teams and consulted with managers at more than 120 companies, across a range of industries, from pharmaceuticals to retailing to banking. “When it comes to innovation or solving complex problems, virtual teams often get better and faster results,” he says. “And that is true whether you’re looking at teams in different office locations around the world, or teams that simply have some members telecommuting from home.”

BlueMix的成功似乎並非僥倖。亞當o金格是倫敦商學院（London Business School）學習解決方案課程執行主任，他對製藥、零售和銀行業等120多家企業的團隊進行過相關研究，還諮詢過他們的管理者。“在創新和解決複雜的問題方面，虛擬團隊的效果更好、速度更快。”他介紹說，“無論這些團隊成員是來自公司的各海外辦事處，還是在家通過網絡遠程辦公，他們都有着同樣出色的表現。”

The key, Kingl says, is to brainstorm using the BlueMix approach, a technique some companies call an “idea jam.” Instead of a teleconference or conference call that brings everyone together (no matter what time zone they may be in), an idea jam poses a question or describes a problem and then gives the whole team a chance to weigh in online, typically over a 48-hour period, via a message board or chat room.

金格說，關鍵在於要運用BlueMix的方法進行頭腦風暴。有些企業也把BlueMix的這種方法稱爲“創意腦力激盪（idea jam）”。這種方法並沒有採用傳統方式，通過遠程會議或電話會議把所有團隊成員召集在一起（無論成員身在哪個時區），而是提出或者闡述一個問題，讓成員在一定時間範圍內思考併發言（一般是48小時），採用的形式是留言板或者聊天室。

Letting people make comments and suggestions on their own schedule contributes to “a meritocracy of ideas” in a couple of ways, says Kingl. First, the group dynamics are different. Whether in person or online all at the same time, team members “often agree with a dominant person—either the most senior, or simply the loudest or most persuasive—to keep the peace,” Kingl observes.

金格表示，讓人們按照自己的時間安排發表意見和評論，可以在很多方面產生“非凡的創意迴響”。首先，這種情況下團隊會更有活力。根據金格的觀察，無論是辦公室會議還是同時在線討論，團隊成員們“往往會贊同某個主導者的意見來維持一團和氣——這個人可能是最資深的，或者僅僅是嗓門最大的，又或者是發言最具說服力的。”

By contrast, opening up a forum for discussion where people weigh in one by one “prompts the participants to evaluate ideas based on their merit, rather than deferring to one team member,” he says. Phil Gilbert agrees. People who might otherwise hesitate to disagree with a colleague directly—even if they have a better idea—are bolder in an asynchronous, idea-jam-type setting. “It’s not confrontational, more just contributing a different opinion,” he says.

而開闢一個論壇讓人們逐個參與討論，“可以促使參與者根據各個創意的優點進行客觀評估，而不是盲目聽從某一位成員”。菲爾o吉爾伯特對此深表認同。即便自己創意更好，有些人也不好意思直接反對某個同事，而在匿名創意腦力激盪的環境下，這類人會變得更加勇於發表意見。金格認爲，“這並不是和別人對着幹，而是貢獻不同的意見。”

That’s especially true for teams with members who are introverts, notes Kingl. “Introverted people often have valuable insights to contribute, but they often take time to formulate their thoughts,” he says. “In traditional meetings, they may not get that.” With a couple of days to speak up, instead of a couple of hours, introverts are more likely to be heard.

金格指出，這一點在那些性格內向的團隊成員身上表現得更加明顯。“性格內向的人通常會有一些高見，但是他們需要比較多的時間來整理思路。”他說，“在傳統的會議中，他們可能無法獲得充分的時間來思考。”如果給他們幾天時間而不僅僅是幾個小時來組織發言，那麼性格內向者的發言就會更顯分量，容易引起大家的注意。

When team members are all together in one place or at one time, the result is sometimes “a tendency toward groupthink,” Gilbert adds. Since BlueMix is a global platform, he says, “we very deliberately put the team on every continent, in Canada, India, Brazil, England, and so on. So even when the whole group came together online, what had happened in between was very different because the locations and cultures were so different.” That approach breeds innovation, he says, by eliciting “not just diverse ideas, but independently developed ideas,” he says. “It can lead to great outcomes.”

吉爾伯特補充說，當所有的團隊成員全部集中在某個地方或者同時集中討論，有時候“會出現集體趨同思考的傾向”。他說，因爲BlueMix是一個全球性的平臺，“我們故意讓團隊成員來自不同的洲，比如加拿大、印度、巴西和英格蘭等等。所以，即便整個團隊同時上線，他們的不同地理位置和文化背景也會帶來很多不一樣的想法。”他表示，這種方法有助於孕育創新，“不僅僅是激發多樣化的創意，而且可以讓這些創意獨立形成，”吉爾伯特說，“最後往往會產生令人驚豔的結果。”