Early 20th-century psychologist Graham Wallas set out to understand what goes on in our minds when we think creatively, what we now call the creative process. From Preparation to Incubation, Illumination to Evaluation, and finally Verification, the framework he developed is still being used today to aid our understanding of creativity.
But thinking about the creative process as something that only happens within the head of an individual means we overlook a crucial element: collaboration.
Creative breakthroughs often come out of a collaborative process, with people pulling together to ideate, iterate, and implement their way to success. Even when you are working “alone”, you’re rarely operating in a vacuum: having people to act as inspiration, sounding boards, or sources of constructive feedback makes all the difference to a creative project.
So, what happens when we take one of the most famous models of creativity and look at it through the lens of collaboration?
The 5 Step Creative Process – But Make it Collaborative
Fascinated by creative breakthroughs, Graham Wallas aimed to discover whether there was a systematic pattern of thought that we all have in common when engaging in creative thinking.
The best creative ideas do not (typically, at least) pop into our heads fully formed and vetted. By studying his own experiences and those of successful creatives, ranging from poets to physicists, he arrived at his multi-stage creative framework.
He set out this process, originally featuring 4 stages – preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification – in his 1926 book The Art of Thought. In the century since then, it has been researched, iterated on, and expanded upon to include a penultimate stage: evaluation.
While Wallas was originally interested in solo creative work, it’s highly useful to enrich his framework by expanding it to encompass collaborative work. In fact, collaboration can be an invaluable tool at each of the 5 stages, whether you’re working as part of a group or on a solo project (hint: there are no truly solo projects).
1. Preparation: Gather External Input
To create, we first need to prepare. This stage involves thinking about what we want to achieve and identifying the problem or desire we’re hoping to address. Then we gather information and inspiration that we can use to do it.
Collaboration is highly beneficial during this preparatory stage of the creative process. Inviting input from others provides greater “informational diversity” to draw on, enabling us to think outside the boundaries of our perspectives. Because others have different experiences, expertise, and values, they’ll be able to help refine the goal and provide a much larger knowledge base to work with.
2. Incubation: Let Others Distract You
This is where we stop thinking about the project, do something else, and let the brain get to work in the background. While we’re not actively focused on a particular project, our subconscious minds work through the information we’ve gathered (and what we already know) to find possible solutions.
A large body of scientific and anecdotal evidence shows that this processing time is crucial for creative breakthroughs. Recent scientific studies suggest that a moderate amount of procrastination can even lead to more creative outcomes because it facilitates incubation.
As for how collaboration can help, you’ve likely noticed how difficult it can be to put a problem to the back of your mind. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of overthinking creative ideas – after all, trying not to think about something is thinking about it.
Involving other people in the effort to do something unrelated to the project could help to keep things on track. You could suggest a group activity or simply recruit a friend or colleague to be your accountability partner. We’ve seen this work with fitness time and again – there’s no reason it can’t work with incubation.
3. Illumination: Welcome Collective Breakthroughs
You know that “lightbulb” or “aha!” moment? It’s when a sudden flash of creative insight shows us the way forward.
While this may feel spontaneous or like “good luck”, it’s the natural result of the previous two phases. It means our subconscious has been hard at work making fresh connections between the pieces of information we’ve gathered.
The traditional idea of illumination is very individualistic, but it can also happen at a group level thanks to collective intelligence. In other words, rather than a fully formed solution, we might come up with a piece of the puzzle, an insight that turns into a breakthrough when combined with insights from others.
Collaboration can also be useful if we haven’t had a discernible “aha moment” yet. The act of explaining our thinking to others can help to refine the ideas while inviting questions could help us to uncover progress we’ve subconsciously made without realizing it.
4. Evaluation: Invite Diverse Perspectives
This is the stage where we view the ideas on the table through an analytical lens. Are they worth pursuing? Do they meet the criteria we’ve set?
Evaluation involves thinking about ideas in concrete terms. It’s a chance to see which is most likely to succeed and to identify any issues or limitations that need to be addressed. In particular, we need to weigh the benefits of pursuing an idea against the costs.
As with previous stages, inviting people with diverse perspectives to offer their thoughts increases the likelihood that useful insights and potential issues will come to light. Collaborating with people who haven’t been involved up until this point can also be particularly valuable as it’s easier for them to be objective
5. Verification: Get Feedback
This is when ideas become reality, but creative thinking doesn’t stop. Whether executing a new strategy or designing a new product, refining as we go is crucial. It’s important to test the validity of the ideas and adjust the approach based on real-world factors that haven’t yet been accounted for.
Ideas probably won’t go through a neat, linear progression and move from one stage to the next without any overlap. We may have to circle back to an earlier stage in response to something discovered during verification – that’s normal and can even be helpful.
Different parts of the project could also evolve at different rates. As Graham Wallas explained in The Art of Thought: “Even in exploring the same problem, the mind may be unconsciously incubating on one aspect of it, while it is consciously employed in preparing for or verifying another aspect.”
Assistance from people with particular skill sets can help the idea come to fruition. At the very least, having someone to act as a sounding board for problems or thoughts that occur during implementation can be a huge help, both practically and emotionally.
Then there’s that all-important feedback from collaborators and stakeholders. Whether it’s constructive input from other people on the team or results from user testing, other people’s opinions will help you hone the concept and make it as good as it can be.
Involving Others in Your Creative Process
Inviting other people’s input can enhance, support, and challenge creative thinking at any stage of a creative project. Getting feedback from coworkers, collaborators, and fellow creatives (something which is made much easier with online proofing) can add value to ideas and maybe even help uncover a better path forward.
The 5 stages of the creative process aren’t just useful for understanding creativity at an individual level. They can also provide a practical way of thinking about when and how collaboration can be used to push a project forward.
