Thursday thoughts: Friction

Friction tends to have a negative connotation. Often, we’re trying to mitigate its negative effects.

Cars with internal combustion engines can have all sorts of problems if there’s too much unchecked friction. And we can either mitigate that friction (motor oil) or we can eliminate it entirely (electric vehicles).

But the same friction that causes problems inside a car is what makes it possible for the driver to control the car. Without friction, the tires would slip and slide across the road, as anyone who’s driven on ice understands.

Sometimes we need some friction.

For example, if you’re trying to build a professional services firm around a specific niche, you need a way for prospective clients to prescreen themselves. You’ll waste a lot of time on discovery calls with prospects who aren’t good fits if you give them direct access to your calendar.

On the other hand, once you know a prospect qualifies as a good fit, you want to make it as smooth as possible—frictionless—for that prospect to sign up with you.

Then, during onboarding, you want to provide a great experience so the new client feels assured she made the right choice. So you make them feel special, with direct access and plenty of attention over the next few days or weeks.

But then you have to get back to work, so you need some constraints. You’ll only respond to messages during certain times. You need calls scheduled with a minimum amount of advanced notice and with an agenda. You add some friction to prevent abuse.

Running a successful business—or firm if you prefer—requires knowing where friction happens, how much and how often, and whether it’s harmful or beneficial. If you can manage friction, you can manage expectations. And as Michael J. Fox said, “Happiness grows in direct proportion to acceptance, and in inverse proportion to expectations.”