Dealing With Creative Conflict Within a Team

Creative Teams Like To Fight

Those who have a passion for something will have high emotions regarding it. This is a gift.

Those of you who work with other creatives and at times want to rip their heads off, take a step back and think about how lucky you are. You’ve got talented (hopefully) peers with which you can exchange ideas and who care about the work you’re doing as a team. That can be a wonderful thing once you’ve sorted out all the ego.

It doesn’t matter if you are a creative director or a junior designer, you will both teach and be taught at some time. Learning to work through conflict and putting your ego in occasional check can help you grow as a designer, no matter what level you’re at.

It can be hard, but as a veteran of many creative conflicts (I’m probably more of a pain than most) and heated design reviews, I’ve got a few tips that I think might help when you don’t quite see eye-to-eye:

• Don’t get defensive! Defend your ideas if you believe in them, just don’t over do it. Defensiveness will make you seem desperate and unconfident. You’ll be eaten alive!
• Be respectful. It’s easier to get respect if you give respect. If you’re someone’s senior, take the time to explain your position and don’t speak down to anyone.
• Be brutally honest, in a nice way! Honesty is important, usually more important than watching out for a fellow designer’s feelings. Still, it’s possible to be honest and nice, even when ripping someone’s work.
• Use humor. Laugh at your mistakes, and make light of others’. A little humor can go a long way to help diffuse creative conflict.
• Be constructive. This one should be obvious, but it’s often overlooked. If you can’t be constructive with your criticism, don’t criticize.
• Avoid the personal. Try to focus on the output, not the personality or skills of the person doing the creating. Even the most talented designers will drop a dud now and then.
• Recognize strengths. Try and pull out what is good about a design and emphasize that. Even if you need to go back to the drawing board, you can probably find something positive from which to start over with.
• End on a positive. Even if there is nothing good about the design. Always try and find something positive to end any conflict with.
• Learn from negatives. Hold yourself responsible to learn from your mistakes. Even if your fellow creatives can’t give you any constructive criticism, try to pull some nuggets of knowledge from their negativeness.

The “Creative Dictator”

If all else fails it’s a good idea to have someone in place with whom the buck stops. Let’s face it, nothing causes more chaos within a creative team than too many opposing ideas and no accountability. Enter the Creative (or Design) Dictator, as I like to call it.

This person could be your Creative Director, an Art Director or anyone with lots of creative experience, the ability to mediate and manage egos and the empowerment to make a final decision. This person must also have the respect of the who team as well as stakeholders and clients.

It’s important that everyone involved with a creative project knows that this person will make the final decisions if a consensus can’t be reached. It can be a tough spot to be in, as this person will also take the brunt of the blame if a project fails, but in many cases it’s a necessity.

Can’t we just get along.

In any professional setting, creative or otherwise, interpersonal relationships are key. It’s just that us creatives are willful, egotistical, finicky and downright difficult at times. It’s pretty rare that two creatives agree all the time.

Learning how to sort out creative, artistic and design differences is an important skill for anyone working on creative projects. It can be just as important as artistic skill, a good working ethic or any other skill or talent you need to succeed.

Let’s face it, if no one wants to work with you, you probably won’t work. All it takes is a thick skin, a positive attitude, a smile and a little knowhow to get past creative conflict.