You’ve heard it before: “We value collaboration.” But in the real world of work team dynamics, it’s often an empty phrase.
Why? Because what most leaders call collaboration is actually consensus-seeking or polite input-gathering—neither of which builds ownership, accountability for follow-through or drives implementation.
At TIGERS 6 Principles, we define real co-creation as a leadership process that produces shared ownership, not just shared opinions. And the key to making that shift stick is behavior-based leadership.
What to Expact From Our Post Today
In this Leadership Toolkit article, you’ll learn what co-creation actually requires (beyond good intentions), how the TIGERS 6 Principles make it work, and what to do when teams resist stepping into accountability. You’ll also get a free downloadable TIGERS® Co-Creation Scorecard to assess your team’s current strengths and gaps.
Let’s break it down principle by principle.
What Co-Creation Requires (That Most Leaders Overlook)
Co-creation isn’t just about group work. It’s about creating structured opportunities for people to engage with a shared challenge, contribute meaningfully, and commit to outcomes.
To lead this kind of collaboration, you need more than facilitation tactics. You need a framework that:
Builds psychological safety (so people can speak honestly)
Clarifies expectations (so people know what they’re co-creating)
Supports constructive tension (so disagreement fuels insight, not conflict)
Turns plans into behavior (so decisions get followed through)
This is where the TIGERS 6 Principles™ come in—Trust, Interdependence, Genuineness, Empathy, Risk Resolution, and Success.
Let’s look at how each one creates the conditions for effective co-creation.
1. Trust: Lay the Groundwork Before the Meeting
Co-creation requires truth-telling. If people don’t trust that their ideas will be respected—or worse, if they’ve been burned before—they’ll hold back.
As a leader, build trust by:
Sharing why the topic matters and how input will shape outcomes
Following through on past feedback to signal accountability
Clearly stating where there’s flexibility and where decisions are already made
In our Mastering High-Trust Leadership training, leaders practice creating clarity and closure—two foundational trust behaviors that ensure participation feels safe and valuable.
2. Interdependence: Design for Connection, Not Competition
True collaboration only happens when people see their success as tied to others. This is why randomly mixed brainstorming groups often fail—people default to “my idea vs. yours” rather than “how do we build something better together?”
Build interdependence by:
Assigning small group roles (facilitator, note-taker, challenger) to equalize participation
Using team norms to prevent domination and spotlight quiet voices
Posing shared challenges that can’t be solved by one person alone
In our Leaders as Facilitators program, we teach how to frame co-creation challenges so that the group becomes the solution—not just the source of scattered ideas.
3. Genuineness: Say What You Mean, Invite the Same
Genuine leadership is transparent leadership. If you’re asking for co-creation but you’ve already chosen a direction, say so. People can work with constraints—what they resent is pretense.
Support genuineness by:
Being honest about unknowns or tensions you’re navigating
Asking open-ended questions without baiting people toward a specific answer
Modeling vulnerable thinking (e.g., “Here’s where I’m torn…”)
Genuineness creates room for disagreement—without posturing or politics. That’s the fuel of effective problem-solving.
4. Empathy: Include, Don’t Just Invite
Inclusion is more than sending the meeting invite. If people don’t feel emotionally safe or culturally empowered to contribute, you’ll get silence or surface-level ideas.
Bring empathy into co-creation by:
Matching the format to the group (not everyone thrives in public ideation)
Offering pre-work or reflection prompts for internal processors
Calling out potential power dynamics so junior voices don’t shrink back
When empathy is present, participation is authentic—not performative. This is one of the subtle yet powerful shifts leaders learn in our Transformational Feedback training.
5. Risk Resolution: Normalize Tension as a Signal, Not a Threat
The best co-creation sessions involve friction. That’s how you know people care. But without skillful facilitation, disagreement gets labeled as “uncooperative” and shut down.
Resolve risk (don’t avoid it) by:
Establishing norms for how to disagree (e.g., challenge ideas, not people)
Naming tensions as they arise (e.g., “There’s disagreement here—let’s explore why”)
Encouraging multiple perspectives before narrowing solutions
Risk Resolution builds a culture where learning and innovation can actually take root—not just be talked about.
6. Success: From Insight to Action
Co-creation without implementation is wasted goodwill. The final TIGERS principle ensures that what’s built in the session leads to impact.
Lock in success by:
Ending with a visible plan: What’s next? Who owns what? By when?
Recapping how input shaped direction to validate contributors
Following up visibly—so people see their work in motion
This is what separates “we talked about it” from “we’re doing it.”
From Participation to Shared Ownership
Co-creation isn’t just a workshop format—it’s a culture pattern.
It’s how your team solves complex challenges, generates alignment, and scales problem-solving capacity. When leaders understand and apply the TIGERS 6 Principles, they create the behavioral backbone that makes co-creation reliable, repeatable, and real.
If you’re ready to move beyond High-Trust Leadership and Transformational Feedback, the next step is to learn how to facilitate planning and rollout through co-creation.
Inside our Leaders as Facilitators program, we show you how to:
Guide teams through discovery, planning, and accountability conversations
Use the TIGERS Team Wheel™ to surface root-cause behaviors
Build group consensus without sacrificing clarity or speed
Because co-creation done right doesn’t just generate ideas. It builds the team capacity to own the outcomes.
Download the TIGERS® Co-Creation Scorecard now and add it to your leadership tool kit.
