Eric Mankin writes and distributes short articles on innovation for Babson’s Innovation & Corporate Entrepreneurship Research Center (ICE). I’ve been subscribing to these ICE updates for some time, and they are always insightful. He’s offered a guest spot this month to Fred Mandell for an article on collaboration. True to the innovator’s secret of looking outside one’s own industry or knowledge domain for inspiration, Mandell describes how artists innovate and collaborate. With examples of Monet shifting his perspective late in his life to bring us the water lilies at Giverny and of how Picasso and Bracque worked together, he summarizes research that identified seven core creative competencies

1. Preparation: Deliberately engaging in activities which predispose us to creative insight;
2. Seeing: The ability to observe without preconceived ideas;
3. Leveraging Context: Taking advantage of one’s understanding of the strategic and social environments in which one works and lives;
4. Embracing Ambiguity: Acting on opportunities presented by change and uncertainty;
5. Risk Taking: Taking action without certainty of outcome;
6. Discipline: Acting consistently whether or not one feels motivated;
7. Collaboration: Working with others towards a common end.

And provides a test for whether we are collaborating. We are collaborating, he says, when we:

• Believe that the outcome of collaboration will be better than what we could accomplish on our own
• Actively seek people with whom to collaborate
>Share ideas and techniques
• Experiment with ideas that come from another
• Build on others’ ideas whether or not we initially agree with them

You can find the link for this update on Eric’s blog, along with links to other recent ICE Updates.