TEI 107: Create group flow for radical innovation – with Laurie Buss

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The Everyday Innovator with host Chad McAllister, PhD.

The podcast is all about helping people involved in innovation and managing products become more successful, grow their careers and STANDOUT from their peers.

About the Episode: I’m very interested in how innovation can be made better and one category of tools is related to team performance – higher performing teams can create products that produce higher value.

One particular tool is Group Flow, which was the topic of a paper published by The International Council on Systems Engineering titled “Group Flow: the Genesis of Innovation.” Its author is Laurie Buss, who I interviewed to learn how teams can create group flow. When I discovered Laurie’s work, I felt like I found a kindred spirit based on how she describes innovation, which is, that …

Innovation is key to the continued growth of established economies, not only for the creation of new designs, products, services, and markets but also for the development and retention of top-performing employees.

She has a degree from UCLA in Aerospace Engineering and is highly regarded in the international satellite industry, working with numerous large organizations in spacecraft design and test, launch, operations, and many other aspects that require innovative thinking. She also has a new book coming out in the second quarter of 2017 with a working title of “Brainpower Redemption.”

In this interview Laurie shares concrete steps to facilitate group flow, which includes 4 elements that are easily remembered using FLOW as an acronym:

1. Focus,
2. Location,
3. O (for round table), and
4. Work tools.