I hear frequently from leaders that wish their employees would disagree with them more often when discussing complex issues. 

“I’ve told everyone over and over again that they should be comfortable disagreeing with me, but other than some polite alternatives, no one seems to have the courage to speak up,”  indicated one frustrated executive that I talked with recently.

“We all know that when the discussion ends we’re going to do it her way, so why bother wasting our time debating,” said one of the employees of the frustrated executive.

In this situation, the executive was sending mixed signals.  While her employees acknowledged that she verbally encouraged constructive debate, no one seemed to believe that she truly meant it.   One of her employees indicated that the message never matched the body language—“she never looks like she truly wants anyone to disagree,” he said. 

In the article Reaching Your Potential, by Robert S. Kaplan, in the July-August, 2008 Harvard Business Review, Prof. Kaplan cites a scenario where a CEO was frustrated that none of his three top reports raised their concerns over a prospective hire, in spite of the fact that two of them had serious reservations.  The candidate was hired and the concerns only came to light once he began to struggle.  The executives had concluded, “the CEOs mind was made up and that speaking up was unwise.”

Professor Kaplan observes that: “Otherwise overconfident executives sometimes overestimate the career risk of speaking up and meaningfully underestimate the risk of staying silent.”  He adds: “I have seldom seen people hurt their careers by speaking up and appropriately articulating a well-thought out contrary position.  However, I have seen many bitter and confused people who stalled their careers by playing it safe.”

Leader, Heal Thyself!

In both examples above (and in most examples that I've observed), the leaders clearly failed to create the working environment that allowed and even encouraged constructive dissent. While the employees can be faulted for not acting in the best interests of their firm, there was something in the environment that triggered their survival instinct and indicated that it was safer to stay silent than to speak up.  The leader invariable controls the “something” and needs to focus on reshaping the environment to open up the communication flow. 

  • How severe is the problem?  The leader should ask his or her reports about their comfort and discomfort in providing feedback. What are the barriers?  What behaviors is the leader displaying that shut down constructive dissent?  If the personal interviews go nowhere or if there is no 360-degree feedback system in place, try a simple, anonymous survey. 
  • Leader, learn to manage your body language.  We all learn somewhere in our travels that if you combine a verbal message with seemingly conflicting non-verbal cues, the non-verbal wins out every time.
  • Recognize that giving in to alternative viewpoints (from your own) does not mean that you are weak or ineffective.  To the contrary, it’s your job to hire smart people with different ways of looking at the world and solving problems.  The greatest leaders have great advisors.  Give your people a chance to play that role.
  • If you are like many of the leaders that I know, you will allow a group to run in their own direction even though you had a different idea of where they should go.  You will also come to the uncomfortable conclusion that they were right and you were wrong.   Your confidence in calling this out will reinforce the notion that you encourage well-thought out dissent. 

The Bottom-Line for Now:

This topic goes to the heart of creating an effective feedback culture—one where everyone is comfortable tackling the tough topics and highlighting when the Emperor has no clothes.  The discomfort of a team in expressing alternative viewpoints with a leader is one sign that all is not right with the feedback culture.  In many cases, some simple behavioral adjustments and appropriate reinforcement on the part of the leader can open the spigot to some great ideas from some smart people.  Remember, the contest is in the market for the hearts, minds and dollars of your customers, it’s not in your team meetings to show that you’re the smartest. 

How comfortable are your associates in disagreeing with you?