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CHAPTER
16
Creating a Safe Place
Criticism should not be querulous and wasting, all knife and
rootpuller, but guiding, instructive, inspiring.
—Ralph Waldo EmersonHow do we create safety in a group? How do we make it safe for
open and honest conversation? I remember reading an article in
the Chicago Business School magazine about brainstorming, in
which a consultant from Andersen described an incredible “war
room” that clients use for brainstorming. It had special whiteboards
for capturing and printing ideas, teams of IT people behind the
scenes calling up data as it was needed, ergonomically correct chairs... you name it, they had it. For these fancy digs, clients paid as
much as $100,000 for a few days of brainstorming. I got discour-
aged reading it because my approach seemed so simple and folksy.
No gadgets, no high-tech. (And a lot cheaper, I might add!) Then
I read the last paragraph of the article, in which the consultant
said, “All this fancy equipment is really for one purpose: to get
people talking.” Bingo. That is the heart of creativity: good, hon-
est, open dialogue. And that occurs only if people feel safe. No
profound breakthroughs will occur if people are in danger.
Does this mean that there must be no conflict? Does this mean
that no one will feel scared?
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