How to unlock your team's creativity

Creativity isn't reserved for “creative” roles. Explore what it really takes to unlock genuine creativity in your team — and the leader's role in making it happen.

Published Jun 7, 2026

Before You Start

Goal: Explore what it takes to unlock genuine creativity in your team, and challenge the assumption that creativity is only for ""creative"" roles.

Watch: "How to manage for collective creativity" — Linda Hill on why innovation comes from ""collective genius,"" and how leaders build the conditions for it. Members are encouraged to watch beforehand, but a quick recap at the meeting works too.

Meeting Agenda · Approx. 60 mins

Member Updates · 10 mins
Icebreaker · 10 mins
Key Takeaways · 5 mins
Discussion Questions · 20 mins
One Action · 10 mins
Wrap-Up · 3 mins

👋 Member Updates · 10 mins

Go around your Circle and share personal updates. Keep them brief and focused on significant changes or important decisions since the last time you met. It's OK not to have one every month. If you have a One Action update from last time, share that too.

🧊 Icebreaker · 10 mins

Invite everyone in the group to share. Keep answers to one or two minutes per person.

When have you surprised yourself with a creative idea or solution at work? What conditions made it possible?

💡 Key Takeaways · 5 mins

Innovation happens when leaders act as architects of collaboration rather than visionaries with all the answers. By fostering diverse perspectives, experimentation, and inclusive decision-making, teams turn individual talents into collective genius.

Innovation is collective genius, not solo genius. Breakthrough ideas emerge when diverse people collaborate, challenge each other, and build on one another's ideas.
Leaders create the environment, not the answers. Their role is to build the conditions where talented people can experiment, contribute, and solve problems together.
Healthy conflict drives creativity. Innovative teams encourage debate, different perspectives, and constructive disagreement rather than avoiding conflict.
Experiment to learn. Innovation comes through trial and error, rapid testing, reflection, and adaptation — not detailed planning or trying to be right from the start.
Seek ""both/and"" solutions and empower ideas from everywhere. The best teams combine competing ideas into stronger outcomes, and make space for all voices — especially those closest to customers and problems — to contribute their "slice of genius."

💬 Discussion Questions · 20 mins

Move through the questions at the pace that suits your Circle. You don't need to cover every one — pick the prompts that resonate and let the conversation breathe.

Linda Hill's research shows that creativity doesn't come from one brilliant leader — it comes from diverse, collaborative environments. Does that match what you've observed?
What conditions in your current environment support creative thinking? What shuts it down?
Have you ever seen a great idea killed before it had a chance? What happened?
How do you react when someone on your team proposes something unconventional? Be honest.
What's one thing you could change about how you run meetings, give feedback, or set goals that would unlock more creativity?
How can this Circle itself be a space for more original, creative thinking?

🎯 One Action · 10 mins

Commit to one concrete action — big or small — you'll take before next meeting. Go around the Circle and share (1 minute or less per member). Vocalizing it helps hold each other accountable.

What's one small change you could make to create more space for creativity, new ideas, or different perspectives — at work and in other spaces?

📅 Wrap-Up · 5 mins

Before you break, plan your next meeting and close on an energetic note. Go around your Circle one by one and finish the sentence:

Now I am feeling… (choose one word).

Set the day, time, and location
Choose the next topic or resource
Confirm who's leading the discussion
Decide how you'll stay in touch in between