Method
Do you want to know how co-creation works?
Read our FAQ.
What is cocreation?
Co-creation is the way organizations shape the future together. People combine their skills to create creative and sustainable solutions. It is based on connections between people who understand each other, are in contact with each other and share a common goal.
This approach is not just a process, but an attitude. It requires openness, trust and transparency in order to tackle complex problems successfully. Co-creation follows an eight-step process that ensures each step strengthens collaboration and unleashes collective creativity.
In summary, co-creation is a powerful method for actively shaping the future. Through human connections, open attitudes and structured processes, we can find solutions together that go beyond individual skills.
“cocreation is about making the impossible possible: There’s nothing we can’t do if we do it together.”
Dr. Georg Michalik
cocreation
8-step process
The first step is the beginning and the end of cocreation. It's about connection. This connection should be the basis for everything else. First of all, it's about the goal and the question of "why". Does the shared idea answer the question of meaningfulness, the "purpose"? What benefit, what motivation do people see in this goal? And what connects them to this idea? And finally, what connects them as a group of people who want to work together here on the levels of their being, their basic motives and their values.
Now that the connection for the joint work has been established in the first step, the second step is to understand more precisely how the "actual" situation is perceived. The current status is purely an inventory. The aim is not to evaluate the current or past situation, but to carry out pure data collection.
The third step of the "Explore" cocreation process is about understanding the current situation in more detail. In "Discover", we looked at the situation of the organization or company. The next step is to assign a meaning to the current situation. The section shows how the analyzed situation could arise. To do this, we get to the bottom of the causes together. Various methods are described as to how this can be carried out with different numbers of participants.
The fourth step forms the middle of the process and concludes the analysis phase. An assessment can be carried out by means of a root cause analysis. Even if the entire process has been shared so far, the conclusions are generally different. The "sharing" of personal conclusions leads to a common opinion about what is really important in order to achieve the common goals.
The fifth step of the cocreation process describes which paths can be taken at decisive forks in the road. Once the participants have drawn their individual conclusions from the analysis and jointly set these in relation to the goal, it is a matter of setting a fundamental course for the next steps. The participants decide on the necessary fields of action that need to be addressed in order to achieve the goal.
The sixth step of cocreation describes the development of joint solutions on the basis of the analysis and the fields of action. The aim is to utilize the full creative potential and fill the fields of action with possible solutions. As a result of the process to date, many ideas have already matured and now only need to be brought together. A joint decision must then be made as to which of the ideas should subsequently be implemented.
After deciding which solutions should be pursued in the sixth process step, the next step is to organize the implementation. Responsibilities are clarified, possible milestones with time horizons are defined and the team members are named. This is often the first phase of the implementation project.
The circle of co-design closes in the eighth step, which began with "Connect". How is the cocreation workshop evaluated? Looking back on the collaboration and drawing conclusions together about what went well or what can be done better in the collaboration is the basis for further collaboration in the project and should not be neglected.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Creating solutions together: cocreation is a way of shaping the future together in organizations.
- cocreation builds on human connections: knowing yourself, connecting with others and being united by a common purpose.
- cocreation is an attitude: only with openness, trust and transparency is it possible to find sustainable solutions to complex problems.
- cocreation is a process that leads people to consistent collaboration in eight steps.
cocreation can change corporate cultures and lead them out of the old world and into a new one.
- When organizations are looking for a future-oriented form of value creation.
- When a major goal, strategy or vision needs to be defined or implemented.
- When people no longer work well together.
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If the will to share responsibility is not there.
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If there are not enough decision-making powers.
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cocreation instead of agile methods: If the relevant structures, processes and attitudes have not yet been clarified, cocreation is a progressive way to get there.
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Co-creation instead of team development: when the development of a team is to be linked to a specific goal.
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Co-creation instead of continuous improvement, lean, kaizen, etc.: when the gap between "actual" and "target" has become so large that it can no longer be bridged by mere corrections.
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Project management: If it is clear why, how and what is to be done, then it is a matter of implementing this through projects.
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Process management: when the projects have been implemented and it is time to integrate them into daily processes.
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Meetings: when cocreation is too stressful and you want to switch off a little
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An initial measurement is carried out by the Potentialum organization diagnosis. Follow-up measurements will determine how successful the measures were.
