Creative abrasion

My article this week is inspired by the work of Linda Hill from the Harvard Business School. Her research focuses on leading agile and innovative organisations and teams. In her books Collective Genius: The Art and Practice of Leading Innovation and Being the Boss and The 3 Imperatives of Becoming a Great Leader Linda writes about the concept of creative abrasion.

Creative abrasion is the recognition that innovative organisations have a diverse team and in order to generate new ideas, and test these ideas, to arrive at the best outcomes, a level of robust conversation is required. This can lead to what I refer to as constructive conflict, or, as Linda puts it, creative abrasion.

If you want to have an innovative solution, you as a leader actually want to amplify the differences that are happening, not minimize them. And once they’re amplified, if people are talented and passionate, guess what? There’s going to be a little bit of tussle. - Linda Hill

So how as a leader can you ensure that the creative abrasion in your teams results in innovation rather than harmful interpersonal conflict?

Here are my suggestions:

1. Establish shared goals.
2. Build rapport and connection in your team. Ensure there are many moments of fun, togetherness and humour shared before any creative abrasion is introduced. Connect first - debate later.
3. Ensure roles are clear by answering these questions: Who is making the decision? Who needs to agree? Who needs to be consulted? Who needs to be informed? Who is impacted?
4. Design a communication process that moves a 'creative abrasion' effort towards an outcome, with the identified goals and roles in mind. If you leave these conversations open ended, the disagreements that start in the meeting room can continue throughout the workplace and result in inter-personal tension.
5. If in doubt, hire a conflict expert! Like a mediation, business meetings must reconcile differences in positions and interests, generate options and reach an agreement around future actions. Rather than an opportunity for connection and growth, meetings lead to increased hostility. This is where the mediator’s skills and the mediation process have immeasurable value to organisations. I have written more about this topic here: 3 reasons to hire a mediator for your next team meeting (shivmartin.com)

If you're interested in learning more about Linda Hill's work, here's a great podcast to start with: Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast | Stanford Graduate School of Business

Is there anything else I can help you with?

As a conflict management specialist, I work with government and business teams and provide services in mediation and conciliation, customized conflict skills training, facilitation of meetings and workshops, conflict coaching and workflow and policy design. If there is anything I can assist you with, please get in touch here: www.shivmartin.com/contact