The Good Fight
Birds are taken with pipes that imitate their own voices, and men with those sayings that are most agreeable to their own opinions. Samuel Butler
How often do you listen to voices that are disagreeable?
On the 30th anniversary of the Challenger disaster, brought about in part by groupthink, make sure that your teams are skilled in the art of true dialogue, are comfortable with conflict and that you personally find ways to seek out opinions that are different from yours. If you do nothing more than evaluate those opinions, you’ll learn something. At best, you’ll come to a more considered decision.
There was an excellent HBR article several years ago titled “How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight .” I’ve often used it with clients, especially those who have fallen out of the habit of true dialogue. The premise is that by teaching teams how to deal with conflict in a non-defensive way, you can actually foster collaboration focused on the issues rather than debate on interpersonal differences.
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“Karen helped us see what we could be, the possibilities. Definitely a game changer in terms of our thinking.:Steve Schlesinger, CEO, Schlesinger Associates
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Take good care,
Karen