About Creative Tension in the Workplace
- Creativity is the conceptualization, development and design of original ideas or products. It is critical to the success of many organizations, work groups and employees. Home and fashion designers, advertising creatives, and other product designers are among professionals whose success at work depends on their ability to create new things. An environment that is generally relaxed allows for more creative thinking by employees and typically contributes to more effective results.
- In her 2002 article "Creative Tension," Lea Brandenburg explains that tension is not only physical, but also the mental and emotional pressure, or nervous strain that we put ourselves under when goals drive us to perform. For creative people, the tension is the drive to develop something exceptionally original and impressive. In workplaces, creative tension not only impacts individuals responsible for creating, it impacts relationships among colleagues and team members who collaborate on creative projects and pursuits.
- As noted, recognizing the differences between creative tension and in-fighting between employees is sometimes challenging. In his March 2010 BNET article "How to Tell Creative Tension From Team Bickering," Wayne Turmel indicates there are four specific elements that distinguish creative tension from bickering. The four unique traits of creative tension are that the argument centers on work topics, employees involved ask you to take sides, production should move forward and the pressure level rises.
- Creative tension is generally regarded by leaders in creative workplaces as beneficial in improving results. The pressure that creates the tension typically drives individuals and work teams toward better creative development, indicates Turmel. How the tension is managed is critical. A supervisor should typically give disputing employees an opportunity to work through their creative disputes as long as they do not become unprofessional and move beyond productive conversation.