29 Jan “Okay, But Hear Me Out…”: The Value of Creative Differences on a Diverse Team
Picture this: the creative team is sitting at their desks, quietly tinkering away at their latest projects when the Associate Creative Director decides to pick a silly fight with a copywriter about… actually, we don’t even remember. But there was yelling. And impassioned hand movements. And onlookers trying to hold in their laughter.
The stakes of that argument were low, and the outcome was not actually important. But it speaks to our ability to navigate a difference in opinion. Creative differences > echo chamber. And the line between healthy banter and a Sonny-and-Cher situation is camaraderie and respect for diverse opinions.
Adobe says it best with the help of research from McKinsey & Company, “It’s a fact: diverse teams are more successful, more innovative, and more profitable than their homogenous counterparts.” It’s the variety of perspectives and culture that lead to a really rich campaign. Luckily, we’ve got multicultural teams in droves. But how do we play off that most effectively?
“We needed an idea that talked the talk and walked the walk in equal measure, and we needed the input of a variety of backgrounds to accomplish that.“
Multicultural teams bring different lived experiences, cultural references, context, and ways of thinking into the room. This means fewer blind spots, fewer accidental missteps, and a much better chance at creating work that feels human and connected.
Take our recent work with Visit PA for example. When tasked with creating a campaign that would speak to Black travelers, diversity on the team was key, and challenging each other’s opinions was vital. We needed an idea that talked the talk and walked the walk in equal measure, and we needed the input of a variety of backgrounds to accomplish that.
Many of the conversations around our early-stage ideas involved questions like: Would a Black traveler really be interested in that? Would our audience actually speak that way? What cultural experiences in Pennsylvania are we not thinking about – for all travelers?
Our ability to tap into an experience from a place of authenticity is what ultimately made the end result successful, and it was a product of well-received pushback and teammates who respect each other enough to engage in a little bit of tension without a massive fallout.
If you invite disagreements and strong opinions into the room, that’s where an eye roll can become an “oh, good catch.”