The document provides an overview and introduction to co-creation by Jack Martin Leith, director of Leith Co-creation. It defines co-creation as jointly solving problems, accomplishing change, unlocking potential or creating new value by bringing together organizations' internal and external stakeholders. The document discusses basic vs holistic co-creation and provides strategic questions to consider for holistic co-creation. It also outlines principles of co-creation, tools, and milestones in the development of co-creation.

1. Leith’s Guide to Co-creation By Jack Martin Leith Director, Leith Co-creation London | United Kingdom www.leithcocreation.com Version 11

2. Why did I create this guide? Having already spent 22 years fostering co-creation in organisations ranging from National Association of Street Artists to Royal Dutch Shell, where I was involved in the acclaimed GameChanger programme, I founded Leith Co-creation in April 2010 to foster holistic co-creation in organisations and society. Contrary to popular belief, co-creation is not just a way of creating new products in partnership with customers. It’s also a way of solving a complex or intractable problem, or unlocking the potential of the assets you own or steward, or accomplishing systemic change. Some global corporates have gone all the way and created an organisational culture in which every employee is a co-creator. CONTINUED

3. Co-creation is nothing new. It has been around since the birth of humanity. Forming a relationship is a process of co-creation. Making a home is a process of co-creation. Breeding children is a process of co-creation. The scope of co-creation is vast – much bigger than most people realise, including the pundits. The discipline of co-creation is evolving rapidly, and it’s important that we all keep up to speed. I have created this guide to share what I have learned about co-creation over more than two decades. I hope you will find it useful. Your comments, suggestions and questions are welcome.

4. What is co-creation? A working definition Co-creation brings together an organisation’s internal and external stakeholders to jointly solve a complex or intractable problem, accomplish systemic change, unlock potential, or bring forth the new. Co-creation is not just about creating new products, and not just about innovation: The four co-creation application areas Unlocking potential by leveraging existing assets, or by acquiring new assets Development Eliminating a malfunction so that things are restored to full working order Problem solving Bringing about a shift from the existing state of affairs to the desired state of affairs Change Bringing into being something new that generates stakeholder value Innovation

5. Basic vs. holistic co-creation Co-creation is an enterprise-wide capability, and co-creative principles and practice are woven into the organisational culture The co-creation capability of the enterprise resides in a limited range of functions True co-creation paradigm Engagement paradigm Within the enterprise, co-creation is undertaken by cross-functional teams who see their co-creation projects through to completion Within the enterprise, cross-functional co-creation is limited or non-existent The co-creators are focused on fulfilling the value requirements of all stakeholder groups The co-creators are focused on fulfilling the value requirements of customers Co-creative practice is employed not only to create products, services, experiences and other value generators, but also to solve complex or intractable problems, unlock potential, and accomplish organisational or social change Co-creation is limited to product innovation HOLISTIC CO-CREATION BASIC CO-CREATION

6. Co-creation: the big picture The organisation Functional areas: operations, marketing, finance, talent development etc. Other stakeholder groups Customers, suppliers, partners, investors, local communities etc. Four broad types of co-creative practice Co-creation 1: Simple Co-creation 2: Relational Co-creation 3: Systemic Co-creation 4: Transcendent Value generator Examples include products, services, experiences, work practices, and organisational cultures. Generated value Value generated by the value generator. Other value Other value received by the co-creators, such as financial reward, social interaction, the feeling of being part of something of significance. The co-creative process Prepare, Conceive, Develop, Realise are the four stages of the problem solving, development, innovation or change process. Co-creation can be used to solve a complex or intractable problem, accomplish systemic change, unlock the potential of existing value generators, or create a new value generator.

7. Holistic co-creation: some strategic questions THE CO-CREATORS Co-creation team Who needs to be a member of the co-creation team? (A principle of Co-creation 3: Include upstream all those whose contribution, co-operation and consent will be required downstream.) The organisation Functional areas: operations, marketing, finance, talent development etc. Other stakeholder groups Customers, suppliers, partners, investors, local communities etc. Required contribution What contribution is required from each individual co-creator or group of co-creators? Co-creator inclusion Will every co-creator remain part of the creative process all the way through to completion? If not, what are the implications? CONTINUED

8. Power dynamics Will the co-creators work together as equals, or will one party call the shots? If the latter, what are the implications? Communication How will communication between the co-creators, and between the co-creators and other interested parties, be enabled? CO-CREATIVE PROCESS At which stage of the co-creative process (Leith Co-creation defines these as preparation, conception, development, realisation) is the required contribution to be made? See Open Innovation Goes All the Way , by Stefan Lindegaard APPLICATIONS Co-creative practice can be applied to solving a complex or intractable problem, accomplishing systemic change, unlocking the potential of existing value generators, or creating a new value generator CONTINUED

9. Application: change If co-creative practice is being deployed to create organisational change, what has already been decided (e.g. vision, strategy), and what is open for co-creation (e.g. implementation plans)? VALUE GENERATOR What is being co-created? For example: a product, a service, an experience, a work practice, an organisational culture. GENERATED VALUE What are the value requirements of each stakeholder group, including the co-creators? What value can be created for each group? What existing value must be preserved? How can any destroyed value be replaced? OTHER VALUE Other value received by the co-creators, such as financial reward, social interaction, the feeling of being part of something of significance. CONTINUED

10. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS Co-creation, consultation or collaboration? Is this true co-creation, or are people being invited to help shape or implement a scheme that has already been devised? If the latter, you are probably talking about consultation or collaboration rather than co-creation. Management and leadership How will the co-creative endeavour be managed and led? How will decisions and agreements be made? Invisible forces Do you acknowledge the existence of the creative energy that Ted Matchett describes? If so, how can each person co-create in partnership with this energy?

11. What do I mean by ‘stakeholder’? 1. An individual or organisation that derives value from the activities of a particular organisation, and therefore has an interest, or stake, in the ongoing existence and prosperity of that organisation. (Jack Martin Leith). 2. Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by organisational purpose. ( R Edward Freeman ) An organisation’s stakeholder system is generally made up of the following stakeholder groups: employees, investors, customers, suppliers, strategic partners, trades unions, bankers, the media, and local communities. If we accept the definition offered by R Edward Freeman, the father of stakeholder theory , then Exxon’s stakeholder system includes Exxon protestors, and the stakeholder system of a police force includes criminals.

12. What do the co-creators co-create? They co-create value generators . A value generator is value in latent form. Products, services and customer experiences are value generators. So are business strategies, marketing plans, corporate cultures, websites, and public facilities. A product does not generate value until it is consumed. A service does not generate value until it is used. An experience does not generate value until it is experienced. When businesses say they create value, they usually mean they create value generators . CONCEPT                VALUE GENERATOR MAXIMUM STAKEHOLDER VALUE

13. Why co-create? These are the main advantages of co-creation over conventional approaches to problem solving, development, innovation and change: Co-creation harnesses the knowledge, wisdom and creativity of a large number of people with diverse perspectives A richer mix of ideas and views is generated Insights are revealed that might otherwise remain undiscovered People are more committed to implementing the plan ‘ Resistance to change’ is treated as valuable feedback Productive relationships with customers and other stakeholders are engendered There is greater likelihood of delivering breakthrough results Results are much more likely to be sustainable More value is generated for more people Co-creating is a more fulfilling way of working

14. Bringing the new into being: five broad approaches The basic Tell–Sell–Test–Consult–Co-create model was originated by Bryan Smith and published in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook , based on Robert Tannenbaum and Warren Schmidt’s groundbreaking 1957 Harvard Business Review article, How to Chose a Leadership Pattern . The model was elaborated by Jack Martin Leith. High Low Level of ownership and commitment Systemic Transcendent Pre-systemic Newtonian-Cartesian Newtonian-Cartesian Newtonian-Cartesian Corresponding worldview High Low Ability to respond to complexity Conversations Top-down and bottom-up messages Top-down and bottom-up messages Top-down messages Top-down messages Communication method Everyone Leaders Leaders Leaders Leaders Who makes the final decision? No No Yes (in draft form) Yes (in final form) Yes (in final form) Does vision, strategy or plan already exist? CO-CREATION ENGAGEMENT Engagement or co-creation? “ We’ve got a blank sheet of paper. Let’s sit down and create the plan together.” “ We are developing a plan and would like to solicit your ideas and opinions before putting pen to paper.” “ This is the plan. Tell us what you think about it and we will consider incorporating your ideas.” “ This is the plan, the benefits of which are as follows … ” “ This is the plan. Everyone must adhere to it without deviation, or there will be trouble.” What the leaders say Create with others on an equal footing Request input Invite response Seek buy-in Demand compliance What the leaders do CO-CREATE CONSULT TEST SELL TELL APPROACH >

15. LEVEL OF OWNERSHIP, AND COMMITMENT TO SEEING THINGS THROUGH TO COMPLETION When to use each of the five approaches TELL SELL TEST CONSULT CO-CREATE CIRCUMSTANCES TYPICAL ISSUE High Low We want to solve an intractable problem We want to integrate the company we recently acquired We want to make an announcement to the media We want to co-create a vision of the future We want employees to implement the corporate strategy at local level We want to show the new advertising campaign to the sales force We want to enable strategic conversations with diverse stakeholder groups We want people to recognise the need for change We want to inform everyone of the year-end results We want breakthrough ideas We want people to adopt the new process or work practice that has been developed We want people to be aware of the need to cut costs by 25% We want to foster a sense of community and belonging We want to hear employees’ problems, and their suggestions for tackling them We want everyone to know what the company’s vision is Single stakeholder group / single agenda Pre-determined outcome Low uncertainty Low complexity Issue / desired results / way forward are clear Multiple stakeholder groups / multiple agendas Open outcome High uncertainty High complexity Issue / desired results / way forward are unclear

16. What is a worldview? 1. The overall perspective from which one sees and interprets the world. 2. A collection of beliefs about life and the universe held by an individual or a group. (Source: Dictionary.com ) 3. An individual’s unquestioned assumptions about the nature of reality. A worldview is like the operating system in a computer, controlling operations behind the scenes but mostly outside the user’s awareness. When someone upgrades his or her worldview, certain things that were previously impossible become possible, a much wider range of options is available, and personal effectiveness is greatly enhanced. Learn about the Four Worldviews and their relationship with the Spiral Dynamics® development stages (PowerPoint document).

17. Some principles of holistic co-creation Actions are determined by purpose A shared vision of realised potential creates cohesion By seeking to maximise value for the entire stakeholder system, breakthrough results can be delivered and resistance to change eliminated People aren’t resisting change – they are signalling that their value requirements are not being fulfilled To sustain the organisation, sustain the entire stakeholder system In a complex adaptive system, behaviour is emergent Only take action when the outcome of your last action is known ( Stafford Beer ) Create then adjust ( Robert Fritz ) All sub-systems (e.g. stakeholder groups) have equal value CONTINUED

18. Include upstream all those whose contribution, cooperation and consent will be required downstream Systems are self-organising Creating the new is more effective than solving problems ( Ron Lippitt ) Systemic change cannot be effected through non-systemic thinking Co-creation is a triple-loop learning process (being before thinking, thinking before doing) Project breakdown is to be welcomed as an opportunity for breakthrough Co-creation projects are learning laboratories for the wider organisation, and lessons learnt need to be spread across the organisation Note: many of the listed principles are based on systems thinking

19. Some co-creation tools SELF AS TOOL Seven Creative Powers Nowhere Academy’s inspiring-innovation™ programme TOOLS FOR CO-CREATING IN SMALL AND LARGE GROUPS Co-creative workshops Large-scale co-creative events using methods such as Expeditions , Future Search , Open Space Technology , Real Time Strategic Change , SimuReal , and The World Café Grove -style templates, Celemi -style workmats, and other visual collaboration tools Collaborative workspaces Customised social networking sites, such as those located on the Ning and Groupsite .com platforms Web conferencing, such as that provided by WebEx TOOLS FOR TEAM AND ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING Action learning After action reviews

20. Some co-creation milestones * Martin Leith became Jack Martin Leith in July 2006. CONTINUED Edward Matchett ’s book, Creative Action, is published by Turnstone Press. Although Ted Matchett does not use the term co-creation, his book is a practical guide for those who wish to practice what Jack Martin Leith* later calls Co-creation 4, as revealed in these two passages: ” In Creative Action the intuitions continue in one unbroken stream; they are always in context with the work which the person has in hand, the human and external components linking up in the most glorious organic partnership.” “ Begin to practice in earnest calling for help with ‘your’ creation. Make the ‘call’ outside and also deep within. It takes a special humility to be able to do this, for it means in effect that the act of creation is being shared.” 1975 Jack Martin Leith experiences Open Space Technology for the first time and adopts it as a method for organisations to use as a co-creation tool. 1988 Three co-creative conferencing methods come into being: Future Search, Open Space Technology and Real Time Strategic Change. The term co-creation is not associated with the methods until publication of The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook in 1994. 1980s

21. Some co-creation milestones CONTINUED Julie Beedon, Anne Brooks, Paul Cox and Martin Raff launch Vista Consulting Team to help organisations use Real Time Strategic Change and other large group methods. Vista makes Bryan Smith’s model part of its consulting toolkit. 1995 Jack Martin Leith contributes a chapter, Creating Collaborative Gatherings using Large Group Interventions , to Gower Handbook of Training and Development . The chapter is about co-creation, although the author refers to it as collaboration. 1999 Jack Martin Leith moves to Amsterdam and establishes The Centre for Large Group Interventions. Many of his clients in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are using co-creation to some degree. 1995 Nick Udall sets up Limited Nowhere to foster co-creative practice. The company becomes Nowhere Group in 2001. 1999 In The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook , co-author Bryan Smith introduces his Tell–Sell–Test–Consult–Co-create model. Smith presents co-creation as an effective way of creating a shared vision. Jack Martin Leith reads the Fieldbook and adopts the term co-creation . He elaborates Smith’s model to include strategy and plans in addition to vision, and links the model to co-creative conferencing methods. In 2010 he is still using this model. 1994

22. Some co-creation milestones Promise publishes a report, Co-creation: New Pathways to Value , based on a study conducted by LSE Enterprise . 2009 HarperCollins publishes The Way of Nowhere , written by Nick Udall and Nic Turner . On page 21 the authors state: “The Way of Nowhere is based upon the philosophy of co-creation.” 2008 Job Muscroft establishes Face , a co-creation planning agency that “uses co creation to enable the direct and active involvement of consumers with brands to deliver a range of insight, strategy, innovation and planning objectives”. 2005 Charles Trevail, Roy Langmaid and Clare Fuller launch Promise , describing it as “the world’s leading co-creation company”. 2003 Jack Martin Leith forms Leith Co-creation to foster co-creation in groups, organisations and communities. 2010 Prahalad and Ramaswamy develop their arguments further in The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique Value with Customers , published by Harvard Business School Press. 2004 In their Harvard Business Review article, Co-opting Customer Competence , C K Prahalad and Venkat Ramaswamy write about co-creating with customers. 2000

23. About Jack Martin Leith I have been helping companies take a co-creative approach to innovation and organisational change for more than 20 years. Past clients include global corporates such as Royal Dutch Shell, where I was involved in the acclaimed GameChanger programme, GlaxoSmithKline, and ABN Amro Bank, as well as government bodies, the National Health Service, charities, and community arts organisations. My first encounter with the term co-creation came in 1994, when I discovered it in The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook . I immediately made co-creation the focus of my innovation and change consulting practice. During the mid 1990s I spent three years in Amsterdam running The Centre for Large Group Interventions, which helped companies and non-profit organisations use Open Space Technology , Real Time Strategic Change , Future Search and related methods as the basis for co-creative conferences. Before becoming an independent consultant, I was director of innovation and development at Leith & Price, a London-based company that provided business development services to clients in the advertising and marketing sector. I was born and raised in an east London funeral parlour, later becoming a boarder at Earls Colne Grammar School in rural Essex. My home is currently in London, United Kingdom.

24. Thank you for viewing Leith’s Guide to Co-creation. If you would like to know more about co-creation, or if you are seeking assistance with a co-creative endeavour, please contact: Jack Martin Leith Director, Leith Co-creation Based in London, United Kingdom Tel: 07831 840541 International: +44 7831 840541 email: jack@leithcocreation.com www.leithcocreation.com