Everything I've learned about creative abrasion I've learned from Lance Dublin.
Lance is an acknowledged leader in the learning, elearning and human capital management communities for work that enables enterprise and individual learning and performance improvement. He's also been a friend and adviser for more years than I care to count.
Back in the days when I was trying to figure out an elearning solutions agenda that would bridge the different product agendas lurking inside the company where I used to work, I often found myself turning to him for advice. Lance would always remind me that sometimes the most interesting developments in organizational change take place at the points where divergent and competing interests rub up against each other. He explained that the trick was to figure out how to leverage and channel the energy that gets generated from the friction that occurs when different styles, priorities and personalities intersect rather than letting that energy run wild and burn down whatever happened to be in its path. Think controlled burn, not forest fire raging out of control.
In recent weeks, as I have read articles, posts, tweets and blogs in which a few innovative thinkers in the elearning community have sniped at those who are engaged in some of the slower moving, large-scale change management efforts, I have been reminded of Lance's advice that abrasion can be a very effective catalyst for change - as long as the energy it creates can be channeled toward positive action.
It was with Lance's advice (and with Clark Quinn's and Mark Oehlert's encouragement) ringing in my ears that I cranked out last week's Creative Abrasion Taxonomy (For a closer look at my proposed 5-step Creative Abrasion taxonomy, please refer to my blog posting dated June 29th). It seems as if a categorization schema for considering different levels of abrasion encountered at work in schools and in our communities could help us figure out where things were rubbing the wrong way, and figure out how to turn that friction toward positive results.
Creative abrasion is so much more than simply pissing people off!! For creative abrasion to work, it needs to enable necessary preconditions that create discomfort whereby people are willing to change their attitudes, behaviors or opinions - or at least moving to the next level, or for achieving results. Case in point - abrasion of the Aggravation (3.0) or Alarm (4.0) varieties without any awareness-building (1.0) or attention-focusing (2.0) will simply polarize. Similarly, it's hard to get to a point of Action (5.0) without having been pushed to the brink of aggravation or alarm where the resolution of one's angst is a driving force for change.
As I told Lance the other day, my interest in proposing this taxonomy was to help figure out a way to be both positive and constructive. He's told me that he has a few things to say on the subject and is looking forward to adding to the dialogue. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to hearing from him. Stay tuned.
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