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Putting your company's whole brain to work
Harvard Business Review
|June 6, 1997
Summary
Fostering innovation requires embracing diverse thinking styles and managing constructive conflict, a process termed creative abrasion. Effective leaders facilitate this by respecting cognitive diversity and establishing clear working guidelines to prevent disputes from becoming personal.
Area of Science:
- Business Management
- Organizational Psychology
- Innovation Studies
Background:
- Innovation is crucial for business competitiveness.
- Innovation arises from the collision of diverse ideas and perspectives.
- Interpersonal conflict often hinders productive idea generation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To define and explain the concept of creative abrasion.
- To identify strategies for managers to foster innovation through constructive conflict.
- To explore the role of cognitive diversity in the innovation process.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative analysis of management practices in organizations.
- Observation of how managers facilitate or inhibit creative abrasion.
- Identification of different thinking styles (analytical, intuitive, conceptual, experiential, social, independent, logical, values-driven).
Main Results:
- Creative abrasion is a productive process where differing approaches generate innovation.
- Managers can foster innovation by deliberately incorporating cognitive diversity.
- Respecting diverse thinking styles and setting ground rules are key to managing creative abrasion.
Conclusions:
- Successful innovation hinges on managing constructive conflict, or creative abrasion.
- Managers play a critical role in promoting an environment where diverse perspectives can collide productively.
- Understanding and respecting different thinking styles is essential for unlocking innovation potential.