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Agree to disagree: A leader’s guide to supporting healthy dissent

Harmony Internal - McKinsey

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ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD

Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities

Few leaders would dispute the importance of collaboration, consensus, or teamwork in an organization. But the complexity and challenges of today’s workplace make it equally important to nurture competing points of view. As the writer F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said, “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” It is difficult to do this in a hybrid, global, and multicultural business environment, but adopting practices for constructive dissent allows organizations to effect change and benefit from the improved business outcomes that diverse perspectives can bring. Here are some strategies to make the process easier.

AN IDEA

Image of two water streams colliding in midair

Explicitly demand dissent (really)

Leaders often pay lip service to the idea of dissent. When it actually occurs, however, they may react with fear and defensiveness—and sensing this, people may be reluctant to speak up in the future for fear of seeming confrontational or disloyal. But dissent can spark an open-minded exchange of ideas that may help solve tough challenges, point out senior partners Ben Fletcher and Dana Maor and their colleagues in their research on problem solving. In fact, they assert, “It’s not enough for leaders to give people permission to dissent; they must demand it of people.” This may involve taking a nuanced approach called “contributory dissent” that enables individuals and groups to differ on and debate business problems in ways that produce positive results. A critical aspect of this is discouraging unquestioning obedience and actively seeking out naysayers : for example, most companies have informal influencers who may offer innovative solutions to problems.

A BIG NUMBER

43%

That’s the percentage of respondents to a McKinsey Global Survey who report a positive climate within their teams—and that number needs to be much higher, suggest McKinsey senior partner Aaron De Smet and coauthors. “Only a handful of business leaders often demonstrate the positive behaviors that can instill this climate, termed psychological safety, in their workforce,” they note in their analysis of the survey results. Consultative and supportive leaders —those who solicit input from and demonstrate concern for the welfare of team members—are most likely to create an environment where people believe they are respected and can express their opinions without fear of reprisal.

A QUOTE

“Psychological safety is needed today to enable productive conversations in new, challenging (and potentially fraught) territory.”

That’s academics Amy C. Edmondson and Mark Mortensen on how hybrid workplaces require leaders to rethink the parameters of psychological safety. As work–life boundaries become increasingly blurry, dissent may go beyond discussions about work content to the personal aspects of employees’ lives. For example, some people may feel uncomfortable about returning to an on-site office because of health risk concerns—but may not voice them. It’s up to leaders to make it easier for people to share personal challenges: actions such as starting out with small disclosures and sharing positive examples can help employees “build confidence that sharing is not penalized,” say the authors.

A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

Image of many balloons tied together, floating up through an outdoor spiral staircase

‘Leaders need to listen, but they are also responsible for adding positivity,’ says organizational psychologist Richard Boyatzis in this McKinsey Quarterly interview on psychological safety and leadership during uncertain times. “It could be as simple as showing genuine excitement over something you’re working on to lift the mood of the team.” Positive energy creates a shared sense of purpose that increases employee engagement and fosters an environment of trust, collaboration, and healthy conflict . “Although sometimes leaders may want to induce some stress into a situation to insert new energy and momentum, most of the time it’s better to engage people in positive pursuits to retain a higher level of creativity, productiveness, and engagement,” Boyatzis says.

HERE COMES TROUBLE

Image of several orange tornado sirens and one blue tornado siren on an orange backdrop

Organizations have their share of nonconformist employees, and many such individuals may shine as innovators or entrepreneurs. But it’s important to distinguish between the brilliant maverick and the combative troublemaker. Rude or disrespectful behavior—even when cloaked as a “legitimate” divergence of opinion—can severely undermine collaboration, says author and business professor Christine Porath in this McKinsey article. “Civility . . . enhances individual contributions and team performance by increasing the feeling of ‘psychological safety,’” she says. “In one test, psychological safety increased by 35 percent when people were offered a suggestion civilly as compared with uncivilly, for example in an interaction marked by inconsiderate interruption.”

Lead by encouraging healthy dissent.

— Edited by Rama Ramaswami, senior editor, New York

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by "McKinsey Leading Off" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 02:10 - 27 Feb 2023

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Agree to disagree: A leader’s guide to supporting healthy dissent

Explicitly demand dissent (really)

“Psychological safety is needed today to enable productive conversations in new, challenging (and potentially fraught) territory.”