The Art of Co-Creation
There are many buzzwords floating around in the innovation space but one that I wanted to accentuate is “Co-creation”. As always lets…
There are many buzzwords floating around in the innovation space but one that I wanted to accentuate is “Co-creation”. As always lets refer to the Wikipedia definition of it:
Co-creation is a management initiative, or form of economic strategy, that brings different parties together (for instance, a company and a group of customers), in order to jointly produce a mutually valued outcome.[1] Co-creation brings a blend of ideas from direct customers or viewers (who are not the direct users of the product) which in turn creates new ideas to the organization.
The theory is easy: bring two or more parties (firm and its customers, or corporate and a startup) to generate combined value that is larger than the sum of its individual parts and learn together. When each party is learning on the inside, it learns how things operate today. With openness, however, it begins teaching, learning but also contributing to what things could be that not just match but exceed end customer expectations.
There are many pitfalls in co-creation and many stem from the basics of human behavior to win vs. win-win:
Will we depend on the co-creator for a long term?
Will the co-creator be transparent?
Who owns the final product?
Will this relationship dilute the brand or the final product?
But all these questions arise when there is lack of trust. Trust is not given but earned and hence assuming the best intentions and building the trust with minimal milestones allows all parties to build a trustful relationship. Ultimately people work with people not organizations or logos.
Note: I am trying something new starting today: to write a short post of my top thoughts for the day. As always, would love your thoughts, opinions and critical feedback