Enhancing Team Creativity
Through Psychological Safety
and P.A.S.S.
Thesis Project
Introduction

Organizations consistently rely on teams of individuals to perform specific
creative tasks.

It is important for employers to recognize the dynamics at the group level that
can be harnessed to foster creative performance.

Psychological safety has also been found to be vital for enhancing creativity in
teams.

We need to expand upon team-level creativity research and further explore the
dynamics that increase and hinder group creative performance.

The current study attempts to understand the group-level factors underlying
creative success by implementing a new intervention called the P.A.S.S.
(Partner Advocacy Support System) Technique in a laboratory setting.
What is P.A.S.S.?

P.A.S.S. was developed by Dr. Sam Hunter and colleagues as a
method of enhancing team creativity
 A structured
form of idea sharing where members are asked
to advocate for others.
 Team
members brainstorm ideas individually, then
anonymously exchange their ideas with a fellow teammate
who is then responsible for presenting that list of ideas to the
group.
Introduction

We propose that group idea generation will be enhanced by:
 Anonymity:
Anonymity can benefit creativity by decreasing
evaluation apprehension. (Paulus, 2000; Sassenberg & Postmes, 2002)
 Psychological
Safety: When group members feel that they will
not be judged, they will be more likely to take risks with their
ideas and share more information. (Diehl & Stroebe, 1987; Jessup & Tansik,
1991)

Partner advocacy can also enhance creativity. Personal
attachment is reduced when sharing ideas other than your own.
Procedure

Participants (from undergraduate subject pool) were told to create an office game that would be
sold for $20 or less.

Stage 1: Idea Generation. Participants brainstormed individually and then shared the ideas
with the team (Control: shared their own ideas; P.A.S.S. condition: shared an anonymous team
members’ ideas).
Stage 2: Idea Evaluation. The group was given time to “evaluate” (high psych. safety
condition) or “critique” (low psych. safety condition) each members’ list of ideas.


Stage 3: Final Idea Development. Teams chose a final idea and developed the office game.
Groups created product descriptions with drawings, and planned a five-minute pitch for the game.

Participants completed questionnaires both before and after the creative task and were
debriefed.

Three trained, independent coders rated the final ideas for creative quality.
Findings and Implications



Groups with higher psychological safety and groups that used the
P.A.S.S. technique had overall better creative performance
P.A.S.S. technique is a viable method for eliciting successful creativity
in teams.
Teams with both P.A.S.S. technique and high psychological safety had
the best creative performance.

Psychological safety is an important component to creative performance in
teams.

Organizations need to provide a supportive and non-judgmental
environment to improve idea generation in groups.