connecteddale

This article is part of a series called Surface Tension - What invisible force holds your organisation together—and might suddenly tear it apart? You can find an index and introduction to all articles when they are published here .

Anxiety is an inevitable part of organisational life, especially during periods of uncertainty, change, or high stakes. The most effective leaders understand that this anxiety, if left uncontained, will find destructive expressions: blame, disengagement, analysis paralysis, or conflict. By contrast, when properly contained, this same energy becomes a driver of innovation, collaboration, and execution.

Pixar's "Braintrust" – A Container for Creative Anxiety

When developing films, Pixar faced a persistent challenge: how to harness the creative tension that drives innovation without allowing it to derail projects or damage relationships. Their solution was the "Braintrust" – a structured forum where directors could present works-in-progress and receive candid, sometimes brutally honest feedback from peers.

What made the Braintrust effective wasn't just the quality of feedback but the psychological container it created. Four key elements defined this container:

1. Psychological safety – The explicit rule that feedback addressed the work, not the person
2. Clear boundaries – Directors maintained ultimate authority over their films, transforming critique from a threat to a resource
3. Regularity – The predictable cadence meant anxiety didn't build between sessions
4. Balanced perspectives – The mix of creative and technical viewpoints ensured comprehensive feedback

This container didn't eliminate anxiety – it transformed it. The anxiety that might have caused directors to defensively protect half-formed ideas was channelled into the creative development process. The result was a remarkable track record of successful films and an environment where risk-taking thrived despite the enormous financial stakes.

Google's Project Aristotle – A Container for Team Anxiety

When Google embarked on Project Aristotle to discover what made effective teams, they found that the most productive groups weren't those with the most talented individuals but those that created the strongest containers for anxiety. The project revealed that psychological safety was the critical differentiator – more important than individual brilliance, experience, or even team structure.

What Google discovered was that the highest-performing teams created informal but powerful containers where team members could express uncertainty, admit mistakes, and share half-formed ideas without fear of judgement. These containers allowed anxiety to be expressed and processed rather than channelled into defensive behaviours.

In teams lacking these containers, Google observed predictable patterns: members withheld ideas, avoided accountability, and engaged in extensive "impression management" – all adaptations to uncontained anxiety that ultimately compromised performance.

Implementation Insights

Creating effective containers for anxiety doesn't require elaborate structures. Here are practical approaches any leader can implement:

1. Establish a "safe-to-fail" space

Designate a regular forum (weekly or bi-weekly) where team members can discuss experiments, present partial solutions, or share challenges without the expectation of perfection. The key psychological shift is separating the exploration space from the execution space – different rules apply in each. When team members know there's a designated place to work through uncertainty, they're less likely to avoid risk altogether.

2. Implement "anxiety check-ins"

At the start of high-stakes projects or during periods of significant change, create a simple ritual: ask team members to briefly share their primary concern about the work ahead. This practice normalises anxiety as an expected part of challenging work rather than a sign of weakness or lack of confidence. The simple act of naming anxieties frequently reduces their power to distort behaviour.

3. Create decision boundaries

Clearly delineate which decisions need consensus, which require consultation, and which can be made autonomously. Much organisational anxiety stems from unclear decision rights, leading to either paralysis or conflict. A clear framework for who makes which decisions creates a container that allows appropriate autonomy while managing interdependencies.

4. Practice "anxiety mapping"

When persistent problems defy rational solutions, try mapping the anxieties that surround them. Ask: "If we solved this problem, what new anxieties might emerge? Who would face increased uncertainty or risk?" This exercise often reveals hidden resistance that logical arguments can't address. By mapping these concerns explicitly, you can design initiatives that address both the problem and the anxiety it generates.

From Destructive to Productive Anxiety

The difference between organisations that struggle with change and those that thrive through it isn't the absence of anxiety – it's their capacity to contain it productively. Without effective containers, anxiety manifests as politics, paralysis, or persistent underperformance. With them, this same energy becomes a source of creativity, appropriate caution, and motivation to excel.

As a leader, your most important work may not be eliminating anxiety but creating the containers that transform it from a destructive to a constructive force. Like a pressure vessel that harnesses steam to drive an engine rather than letting it escape as waste, these containers turn a potentially destructive force into a source of power.

Next week, we'll explore Strategy Three: Moving Beyond Team-Building Workshops.