Okay, so, let’s talk about this thing called “friction parties” that I tried out. I’d heard it mentioned somewhere that getting people together who don’t always see eye to eye could actually be a good thing. Sounded a bit crazy, but I figured, why not give it a shot? I’m always up for trying something new, you know?
So, first thing I did was gather a bunch of folks from different teams in my company. I made sure to pick people who had different roles and usually work separately. I’m talking about the marketing folks, the tech guys, the finance people, even a couple from customer service. A real mixed bag, basically. I sent out invites, explained the general idea—we’re gonna hash things out, talk about where we’re bumping heads, and see if we can smooth things over. I made sure it’s like a casual get-together, not some stuffy boardroom meeting.
Next up, I booked a room. Not just any room, though. I wanted a space that felt relaxed and informal. Somewhere with comfy chairs, maybe even a couch or two. Definitely not the usual conference room with that long, intimidating table. I brought in some snacks and drinks, too—gotta keep everyone fueled up, right? Food always makes things better.
When the day came, everyone showed up, a little unsure of what to expect, I could tell. I kicked things off by explaining the whole point of this little experiment. I said, “Look, we’re all working towards the same goals here, but sometimes we trip each other up without even realizing it. Let’s talk about those sticky points and see if we can find some common ground.” I basically laid down some ground rules. Everyone gets a chance to talk. No interrupting. And, most importantly, no personal attacks. We’re here to talk about the work, not each other.
- Started with the marketing team. They talked about how they needed more data from the tech guys to really target their campaigns effectively.
- The tech team chimed in, saying they were swamped with other priorities and didn’t always have the time to pull those specific reports.
- Finance jumped in, saying they could help streamline the budget approval process if they got clearer forecasts from everyone else.
It was messy at first, I won’t lie. People were a little hesitant, a little defensive. But slowly, they started to open up. They listened to each other, really listened, maybe for the first time. They started to see things from each other’s perspectives. There was some serious debate, some “aha!” moments, and even a few laughs. It was actually pretty cool to witness.
By the end of the session, we hadn’t solved all the world’s problems, but we had definitely made some progress. We came up with a few concrete action items. The tech team agreed to prioritize building a self-service data dashboard for marketing. Marketing promised to give tech a heads-up on their upcoming campaigns so they could plan accordingly. And finance committed to hosting a workshop on budget forecasting.
What I Learned
We even decided to make these “friction parties” a regular thing, maybe once a quarter. It wasn’t perfect, and it definitely took some effort to get everyone on board, but I think it was worth it. It felt like we were finally breaking down those invisible walls between teams and building a little more trust and understanding. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m feeling pretty good about where we’re headed. I mean, who knew a little friction could actually be a good thing?
