Enhancing Team Creativity Through Psychological Safety and P.A.S.S.

Thesis Project

Introduction

Organizations consistently rely on teams of individuals to perform specific creative tasks. It is important for employers to recognize the dynamics at the group level that can be harnessed to foster creative performance. Psychological safety has also been found to be vital for enhancing creativity in teams.

We need to expand upon team-level creativity research and further explore the dynamics that increase and hinder group creative performance.
The current study attempts to understand the group-level factors underlying creative success by implementing a new intervention called the P.A.S.S. (Partner Advocacy Support System) Technique in a laboratory setting.

What is P.A.S.S.?

P.A.S.S. was developed by Dr. Sam Hunter and colleagues as a method of enhancing team creativity

A structured

form of idea sharing where members are asked to advocate for others. members brainstorm ideas individually, then anonymously exchange their ideas with a fellow teammate who is then responsible for presenting that list of ideas to the group.

Team

Introduction

We propose that group idea generation will be enhanced by:

Anonymity:

Anonymity can benefit creativity by decreasing evaluation apprehension. (Paulus, 2000; Sassenberg & Postmes, 2002) Safety: When group members feel that they will not be judged, they will be more likely to take risks with their ideas and share more information. (Diehl & Stroebe, 1987; Jessup & Tansik,
1991)

Psychological

Partner advocacy can also enhance creativity. Personal attachment is reduced when sharing ideas other than your own.

Procedure

Participants (from undergraduate subject pool) were told to create an office game that would be sold for $20 or less.
Stage 1: Idea Generation. Participants brainstormed individually and then shared the ideas with the team (Control: shared their own ideas; P.A.S.S. condition: shared an anonymous team members ideas). Stage 2: Idea Evaluation. The group was given time to evaluate (high psych. safety condition) or critique (low psych. safety condition) each members list of ideas. Stage 3: Final Idea Development. Teams chose a final idea and developed the office game. Groups created product descriptions with drawings, and planned a five-minute pitch for the game. Participants completed questionnaires both before and after the creative task and were debriefed. Three trained, independent coders rated the final ideas for creative quality.

Findings and Implications

Groups with higher psychological safety and groups that used the P.A.S.S. technique had overall better creative performance P.A.S.S. technique is a viable method for eliciting successful creativity in teams. Teams with both P.A.S.S. technique and high psychological safety had the best creative performance.

Psychological safety is an important component to creative performance in teams. Organizations need to provide a supportive and non-judgmental environment to improve idea generation in groups.