Stop Avoiding Frustrations. Start Harnessing Them.
A playbook for leaders who want to turn complaints into creativity.
In 2018, I ran a workshop for a team at a Fortune 500 company. The leader kicked things off with this:
“We’re here to be innovative today… but let’s keep the complaining to a minimum.”
The room nodded politely. And then innovation died before it started.
That’s when I first started teaching The Frustration Game.
Not because I wanted people to vent. But because I realized something powerful:
If you want your team to create, you first need to give them permission to be frustrated.
Creativity Doesn’t Start with Ideas. It Starts with Irritations.
When I interview the most innovative teams and companies, I don’t ask, “How did you come up with that idea?”
I ask:
“What frustrated you before that idea happened?”
It turns out, the best innovations are born from irritations.
Gmail was created because an early engineer hated Outlook.
Slack started as a gaming team who hated email.
Airtable came from engineers tired of clunky databases.
The best “aha!” moments usually start with “Ugh… why is this so broken?”
But most teams never get there.
Because leaders have trained them to bottle up frustrations.
They’re told to “be positive” or “don’t rock the boat.”
And when you kill frustration, you kill fuel.
Frustration is the spark of creative capacity.
Here’s How the Frustration Game Works
What surprised me most when we studied the highest performing organizations in our Creative Capacity Index (the companies that were the best at producing innovators) was that they talked differently… they didn’t complain; they identified opportunities hidden in their frustrations.
Next time you want your team to be more innovative, don’t hand out sticky notes and say, “Be creative.”
Instead, run this 20-minute exercise:
Ask your team to write down everything that frustrates them in their daily work.
Tools that suck.
Processes that waste time.
Policies that block momentum.
Little things that should be better.
Have them pick ONE that they think is fixable… and worth fixing.
It should make life better for more than just them.
It should solve a real, recurring pain.
Challenge them to write one sentence:
If we fixed this, we could ________.
That sentence is gold. It shifts people from complaining to creating value.
“If we fixed our vendor approval process, we could onboard partnerships 10x faster.”
“If we made our slides easier to find, we’d save hours every week.”
“If we simplified our compliance review, we’d close more deals.”
Suddenly, frustrations become opportunities.
That’s Creative Capacity in action.
The Most Innovative Teams I Know…
Don’t chase big disruptive ideas.
They chase small annoying ones.
And they do it over and over.
They create rituals to surface friction, talk about frustrations, and test better ways forward.
Some of the companies I’ve worked with even turned this into a monthly rhythm, a “Fix One Frustration” challenge.
The results?
Better tools.
Smoother processes.
More empowered employees.
A culture where creativity isn’t siloed in “innovation teams.” It’s everywhere.
Creative Capacity Starts with What’s Bugging You
If you’re a leader, and you’re not making time for your team’s frustrations… you’re leaving creative capacity on the table.
You don’t need big brainstorms.
You need consistent problem finding.
That’s where creativity lives. Not in inspiration. In irritation.
So next time someone complains, don’t shut it down.
Say, “Interesting. Let’s play with that.”
That’s how you unlock innovation… one frustration at a time.
Want to bring The Frustration Game to your team?
I run workshops, trainings, and keynotes to help teams unlock Creative Capacity — whether you’re trying to drive innovation, improve efficiency, or boost morale.
📩 DM me or visit erickoester.com to learn more.
Let’s fix what’s broken — and create what’s next.
The timing of your post reminds me that there was a lot of “complaining” that led to the Declaration of Independence. Innovation that can be replicated in the workplace. #July4th
Love the "turning problems into opportunities" mindset and the lesson on asking about frustrations that led to company origins rather than simply their origin story.