Challenge 11 was centered on dissecting data on traits that may be used to increase the success of innovative team projects at IDEO and JWT. We focused specifically on IDEO teams and two key psychological concepts: unresolved relationship conflicts and the IKEA effect. Unresolved relationship conflicts were reported in almost 75% of unsuccessful team projects. The IKEA effect- a feeling of investment in the project- was present in 85% of successful team projects. Our model is to set aside time in weekly “check-ins” to allow individuals to describe their interpersonal problems and have the entire team ideate on solutions. We isolate the conflict from the people and leverage the IKEA effect by letting the whole team have a hand in conflict and problem resolution to create group investment. This creates a psychologically safe environment to bolster individual creative growth and foster collaborative solutions to relationship conflicts to prevent them from growing to a point where they inhibit the success of the team. The project will be rolled out in a pilot of 20 randomly selected teams who have worked together previously. 10 will be assigned to treatment and 10 to control, with balancing across the groups based on team size, type of product, and level of previous reported conflict. The treatment team will be trained in the new model, and we’ll collect survey data at three stages through the pilot. Our key metrics are: level of self-reported conflict, number of conflicts where HR was involved, and success of the project. Learn more here.
