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Jake Levirne
May 15, 2015
Fostering a workplace environment that s conducive to creativity is a top
priority for many companies and it s no surprise why. The companies dubbed most
creative actually outperform their counterparts in revenue growth and market
share, and they re 50% more likely to be market leaders.
Some companies attempt to inspire bursts of creativity using crazy perks (for
example, Google regularly invites famous people like Lady Gaga to the office
for lectures), but there s an often-overlooked strategy for fueling long-term
inspiration: creative discomfort. An environment of discomfort contributes to
creativity by breaking people out of their normal thought patterns, encouraging
original thinking and risk-taking.
But there s a fine line between creating discomfort and breeding fear.
Understanding the difference between the two is the first step in cultivating
an environment of maximum creativity.
As a manager, I ve seen fear enter the workplace firsthand. At Yesware, a sales
email software startup, we use product roadmaps to decide what we ll build and
how we ll execute. When we first started creating these roadmaps, our
objectives were rigid and our timelines were fixed, creating a sense of
fear-driven urgency.
Fear often manifests in primal responses: running, hiding, removing yourself
from the threat. At work, fear makes people lose sight of business goals and
become more concerned about self-protection. As my team had setbacks or saw
changing market needs, we were unable to innovate too afraid of risking failure
to offer honest opinions and feedback. We struggled to have productive
conversations as a team since everyone was worried about missing a deliverable,
or even being fired.
So when we sat down to develop the next roadmap, we did some reevaluating. We
realized that the first roadmap s lack of flexibility set us up for failure.
This time, instead of setting a checklist, we set a vision. We considered the
big-picture goals we wanted to accomplish and left it up to the team to decide
how to execute.
There was discomfort with how big our goals were at the beginning, but
discomfort put us on edge in a different way than fear did. Fear was
paralyzing, but discomfort made us want to move, want to act, want to create.
When we made the roadmap more aspirational and less cut-and-dry, our team was
much more comfortable asking questions like Why? and Is this the best way?
and What if? They were also more comfortable communicating these thoughts
with one another and working together to solve problems.
As I learned the hard way, calibrating an office for just the right amount of
discomfort requires vigilance. Here are the five steps I use to get better at
fostering creative discomfort on my team:
1. Start with communication. Open and honest communication across all levels
brings understanding and context to each individual. If everyone knows what is
expected of their team members and how this plays into the leadership team s
ultimate goal, they ll be empowered to be proactive, not reactive. They
understand how their work fits into the bigger goals of the company.
At Yesware, we use a goal-setting method called OKRs, which stands for
objectives and key results. Anyone in the company can see them. Objectives
are broader, more aspirational goals like deliver two new features this
quarter. Key results are specific and actionable: increase the number of
users completing onboarding by 30 percent. OKRs open channels of communication
and provide a method for maintaining clarity.
2. Get everyone involved. Rather than having a meeting and assigning employees
their next project, get their input and investment at the earliest stages. When
my team is designing a new product or feature, we have a group sketch session
where everybody designers, engineers, executives works together to come up with
a visual plan. Having a variety of input not only helps us develop the best
product possible, it also puts everyone in the best position to execute the
plan once it s in place. Employees have a very clear understanding of what they
re doing and why, which often leads to greater personal investment in the
project.
3. Trust. Increasing employee involvement helps create a sense of trust. To
allow employees to take big risks and work creatively, you need to give them
room to do so.
We recently gave our engineering team almost total control over what they work
on and who they work with, asking only that they regularly show how their work
brings value to the company. This was the opposite of comfortable for the
executive team, as we had no idea how it would turn out and less control over
what developments employees would produce. But we knew that level of discomfort
would allow much greater creativity and choice.
4. Review, Reassess, Repeat. Our plan didn t work that well. After
communicating with the team, we found that while some people liked the
opportunity and embraced it, most were more interested in figuring out how, not
what, to build. It was an important learning experience for both sides and
allowed us the opportunity to communicate about process. Now we have a better
and more effective plan going forward.
This regular rethinking and reassessing is essential to maintaining discomfort
without edging into fear. It s easy to focus only on the next deliverable, so
every four weeks we have retrospectives where we talk about what s working,
what isn t, and how we can change. This way, we re constantly checking in about
our process and communicating with each other. We also have the flexibility to
try new things as we continue to find that knife s edge of optimal
productivity.
5. Be Creative. Your end goal is to inspire a little creativity in the
workplace, so doesn t it make sense that you should be creative in the process?
I have a variety of strategies for my team for example, letting them know a
high-profile user is excited about using the feature. Instead of delivering the
product to the boss, the team feels like they re delivering a product for the
benefit of the end user. Targeting delivery at a conference or trade show also
creates a sense of discomfort and excitement. While the conference isn t a hard
deadline, everyone is motivated by the idea of a big unveiling.
At the end of the day, you have to find the amount of creative discomfort that
works for you and your team. It may require some trial and error, but the end
result will be a more productive team and a better workplace overall.
Jake Levirne is the VP of Product at Yesware and is responsible for product
strategy. Prior to joining Yesware, Jake was a product manager at a range of
companies including IBM. His experience runs the gamut from consumer to
enterprise, and he maintains a keen focus on benefiting the end user.