How to Build Creative Teams - Dr. Amy Climer on Team Creativity #356

Creativity at work isn’t random—it’s designed. In this SuperCreativity Podcast episode, Dr. Amy Climer (author of Deliberate Creative Teams and creator of Climer Cards) joins James to break down her Purpose–Dynamics–Process model for team creativity. We dig into psychological safety and “creative abrasion,” reframing the right problem before ideating, meeting redesigns that unlock innovation, and practical tools like ethnographic interviews and image prompts. Plus: exnovation (what to stop doing) and how leaders can turn conflict into better ideas, faster.

Key takeaways

• Be deliberate to be creative: rituals + structure make innovation repeatable.

• The Deliberate Creative Team model = Purpose, Dynamics, Process—alignment matters.

• Clarify before you ideate or you’ll solve the wrong problem.

• Encourage task conflict (“creative abrasion”), avoid relationship conflict—psychological safety is the guardrail.

• Redesign meetings: less reporting, more collaborating through clear stages (clarify → ideate → develop → test).

• Make time by stopping things: exnovate outdated tasks and meetings.

• Practical tools: Creative Problem Solving, ethnographic interviews, and image-based prompts (Climer Cards).

Memorable quotes

• “Be deliberate to be creative.”

• “Creativity is novelty that is valuable.”

• “Teams think they have a process—until you ask them to describe it.”

• “If you didn’t spend time clarifying, you’d solve the wrong problem.”

• “Creative abrasion means disagreeing about the work—respectfully.”

Timestamps

• 00:08 — Intro to Dr. Amy Climer and her work with innovative teams and organizations.

• 01:16 — Amy’s path: from The Artist’s Way to a PhD and a consulting practice.

• 03:23 — Creating the Deliberate Creative Team Scale: measuring behaviors, not just traits.

• 04:36 — The model: Purpose, Dynamics, Process (and why all three matter).

• 06:17 — Applying the model to an engineering team: purpose, process, and meeting design.

• 10:53 — Clarifying the problem: how five minutes can change the brief.

• 12:25 — Ethnographic interviews: talk to the people who actually have the problem.

• 14:55 — Dynamics & “creative abrasion”: productive task conflict vs. harmful relationship conflict.

• 18:05 — Safety, hierarchy, and speaking up (airline cockpit lesson).

• 22:58 — The biggest blocker is “time”—and how exnovation frees it.

• 29:47 — Letting go to innovate: pausing projects to serve emerging client needs.

• 30:30 — A teacher’s influence and early psychological safety.

• 33:59 — Leaders’ misconception: “I don’t want creativity, I want innovation.” Defining terms.

• 36:56 — More people now self-identify as creative; culture and generational shifts.

• 38:41 — The 1950 APA moment and the boom in creativity research.

• 39:37 — If you do one thing: fix your team meetings to unlock brainpower.

• 41:03 — Tools: Climer Cards and image prompts to deepen conversation and ideation.

• 43:42 — Book pick: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

• 45:12 — Connect with Amy: Climer Consulting and LinkedIn.

• 45:58 — Close.

Resources mentioned

• Deliberate Creative Teams — Dr. Amy Climer

• Climer Cards (image-based facilitation/ideation decks)

• The Artist’s Way — Julia Cameron

Call to action

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