Overview

As you have seen from the initial blogs on Imagineering, it is a subject that is rather complicated.  It has very many parts.  Each part itself may not be terribly difficult, but the problem is there are so many of them.  That is what makes teams so valuable to Imagineering.  The literature on Innovation does not recognize this as well as it should.  That is because that literature concentrates on creativity and creativity does not require as much team-work as the other aspects of Imagineering, even though even creativity can benefit greatly from teamwork.

Significant Benefits of Teamwork to Creativity

It does not seem to require a very large team to come up with important ideas.  Quite often a team of two is sufficient for creation of the key idea or ideas that start an innovation.  But teams of two seem to be much more effective at this than individuals.  A large number of the famous companies in Silicon Valley were started by teams of two.  Somehow the interaction of two brains talking to each other produces more and better results than one brain talking to itself.  That is not surprising when you think about it.

Highly Significant Benefits of Teamwork to Completivity

Teams tend to be extremely important to completivity.  That is the case because when an idea is realized that usually involves many elements besides the element defined by the key idea.  All of these elements have to be made to work, and then made to work together.  Some of the elements may involve creativity and some may not but it can be very hard to create them all, put them together, and make them work, without a team.

Significant Benefits of Teamwork to STEM

The imagineer leading the innovation process may be quite expert in his or her particular area of STEM.  But the usual complexity of a complete innovation almost always extends beyond the capability of one individual.  It is always helpful, and often absolutely necessary to have some other STEM capabilities available.  If these capabilities can come from your team that will provide the most convenient help.