Encourage Dissent Fear, uncertainty and doubt are good things

Encourage dissent: Many view conflict as bad and try to suppress it, but disagreement is healthy. It is an opportunity to have a meaningful conversation. We should encourage it.

FUD – fear, uncertainty, and doubt. No, not the marketing sort of FUD but the kind of stuff in your head whenever a change occurs.

It is OK to fear and question things. Having doubts and reservations is OK. It is a natural part of the thinking, reflection, and commitment process.

Every new endeavor starts this way. If it doesn’t, then the chances are that something is wrong.

The last thing we should do is stifle these thoughts. They must be expressed openly. They should be actively solicited.

Coercing people to agree or commit is one of the many destructive things we do to each other.

Expressing our true feelings starts a conversation that leads to ownership, responsibility, accountability, and commitment.

If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.

Credit: George Patton

Knowledge Cafés and Dissent

A reason managers sometimes give for not running a Knowledge Café is that they feel the participants will complain or whine and express contrary opinions on emotionally charged or contentious issues.

Or, if they run a Café, they try to craft the question carefully to prevent people from being negative.

They will also often try to control who takes part to eliminate the more outspoken negative people. Or, in one case I heard of, brief the table hosts as to who are the likely troublemakers and how to control them.

They try to control people by preventing them from expressing what they feel, but all this does is drive the dissent underground. People are still negative but do so quietly out of sight, over lunch or coffee.

Surely it is better to surface the issues?

Many managers fail to realize that dissent is positive, not negative. People need to feel free to express their opinions, views, and reservations.

You want more than just lip service. It is good for people to have reservations, doubts, and concerns.

You need to surface these doubts and reservations, even hostility. It is healthy people for people to vent their feelings.

Once in the open, issues can be addressed. If they remain hidden, they fester. Misunderstandings can be quickly cleared up, and genuine issues can be addressed.

Dissent is the cousin of diversity; the respect for a wide range of beliefs.

This begins by allowing people the space to say “no.”

If we cannot say “no” then “yes” has no meaning.

Each needs the chance to express their doubts and reservations without having to justify them or move quickly into problem-solving.

“No” is the beginning of the conversation for commitment.

Doubt and “no” is a symbolic expression of people finding their space and role in the strategy.

It is when we fully understand what people do not want that choice becomes possible.

The leadership task is to surface doubts and dissent without having an answer to every question.

Credit: Peter Block

Dissent is healthy. We should not try to suppress it.  It is an opportunity to have a meaningful conversation.

Tweet This

• Dissent is not something to be suppressed. “No” is an opportunity to start a meaningful conversation.

Things Todo

• Next time someone disagrees with you, don’t try to argue with them but take the time to listen to them and have a meaningful conversation.

Resources

• Psychology Today: Strengthening Collaboration Through Encouraging Dissent by Miki Kashtan

Posts that link to this post

•  Acts of Conversational Leadership Adam Grant

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