.png)
Read time: 3.5 mins
It can feel really good when everyone agrees with you.
You share a new idea for your business, and the team thinks it’s great!
They want to jump into action right away and make it happen.
But here’s the thing:
You're not a great leader if your team always nods in agreement.
And you’re stunting your business growth in the process.
In today’s issue, we’re sharing why you need disagreement to be a great leader, and how you can use it to build a profitable business.
Let’s get into it:
We’ve seen both sides of this.
In the boardroom, we’ve seen an executive reluctant to challenge the "great ideas" of the CEO due to fear of losing their job or bonus.
It ended up costing the company over $100 million in investments that had to be written off.
On the other hand, Steve had a team member stand up in an open forum to raise an issue that Steve had originally dismissed as trivial.
It was actually a significant problem affecting thousands of people.
By speaking up, and Steve setting aside his ego, he was able to get the problem addressed.
It saved the company millions, and Steve promoted him soon after.
Disagreement is crucial in a healthy business.
It allows diverse perspectives and innovative solutions to be considered, enabling your business's overall growth and success.
So how do you foster disagreement to build a great business?
Here are our 3 top tips:
3 WAYS TO FOSTER DISAGREEMENT TO BUILD A MORE PROFITABLE BUSINESS
1. See the Value of Disagreement
Early in our careers, we both struggled with this.
Valuing disagreement involves having your ideas questioned and, at times, being proven wrong in front of others.
However, with time, and new skills, we've both changed our views.
Encouraging team members to share their opinions led to fresh ideas and better solutions.
As we got more comfortable with encouraging open discussion, we saw positive changes in a huge range of areas, from sales and customer satisfaction to operational efficiency, profits, and team cohesion.
Valuing disagreement has since become a staple of our leadership styles, and a clear path to achieving our business goals.
2. Set Clear ‘Disagreement’ Standards
Let’s be clear, the purpose is not to get shit on and lose the respect of your team. There are some things you don’t allow.
If you’re going to encourage more disagreement within your team, first set some clear boundaries and expectations so everyone knows what’s okay and what’s not.
For example, you might choose some of these standards:
- We actively try to disagree because it allows us to look at alternative solutions before making big decisions
- Any disagreement needs to be backed up by facts, not just opinions
- No personal attacks or inappropriate language/tone
Then, make sure you uphold these standards any time a line is crossed.
3. Implement Day-to-Day Tactics
Here are a few things you can do on a regular basis that will help embed a culture of healthy disagreement:
A) Focus on the Right Team:
It always starts with people.
Proper selection, training, and sometimes personnel changes are necessary to create a high-performance team unafraid of sharing their views.
B) Speak Last:
If a leader expresses strong opinions at the beginning of a meeting or interaction, it significantly reduces the likelihood that others will share opposing views or opinions.
Try having the most senior person speak last in your meetings and you'll likely notice more innovative and contrarian views coming to the table from the rest of the group.
C) Reiterate in 1:1s:
A less threatening way to encourage disagreements is often in individual meetings, rather than large group settings.
In your one-to-ones, try proactively asking your team members to find something they disagree with or think the business could be doing better.
Encourage them to voice their opinion constructively, and listen to what they have to say.
Then, reinforce all those positive behaviours by telling them afterward how valuable it is to consider diverse opinions.
We strongly believe that your team is the main ingredient of your business's success.
Failing to maximise your team's input, both positive and negative, leaves money on the table.
Hope this helps and speak soon!
Lynne and Steve
TLDR:
- Disagreements and contrarian views lead to better business outcomes.
- To foster a culture of disagreement:
- Work on your mindset (value disagreement)
- Set standards for healthy disagreement
- Employ tactics to embed the right culture
When you're ready, here's how we can support you further:
▶ Join the Unlock Your Network course
Our free 7-day course will help you learn the strategy, tools, and tactics to build a network that creates opportunities for you.
▶ Work with us
We offer coaching & mentoring to help professionals build impactful careers and businesses. Enquire here .