My team disagrees with me

I believe the BEST team members are the ones who communicate what they think. There is no penalty for disagreement. And, for the record, people on my team frequently disagree with me. I'm frequently wrong.

But, I don't take that personal.

And, neither do they.

I believe in (and thrive in) a culture that promotes honesty with each other about everything.

Not honesty in the context of negativity, irrelevant advice or directionless opinions ... but honesty in an environment that allows people to express what they see; even if that means they see something different than me.

No, make that especially when they see something different than me.

Because, when my team members feel free to be honest about what they see, it allows me to see the entire picture--the sum of opinions--to make decisions about what needs to be done.

And, at the end of the day, we all agree on what needs to be done. Because, we all care more about the success of the team than our own part or opinion. And, we're in this as a team. One for all, all for one.

But, I don't believe we could or would be as united without the room to disagree. This type of culture allows us all to wrestle with an idea, to see all sides and land on our feet to move forward better, faster and stronger* together than we ever could alone.

You know who else likes a team that's not afraid to disagree with him? Ed Catmull, Co-Founder and President of Pixar Animation Studios. And, he seems to have a pretty productive gig. Wouldn't you agree? It's ok, if you don't. I won't take it personal.

He talks about this concept and more in this Harvard Business Review article about creative collaboration.

* Shout out to Proverbs 27:17! Just like iron sharpens iron; friends sharpen the minds of each other.

Comments

[Rick Suttles]

This is a great post! I'm going to share it with my Student Council peeps. We've been working on team building and diversity with our groups, so this will be great.
Thanks Kem!

[Jeremy Scheller]

How do you handle it when you're team disagrees and you still feel like you need to go in the direction you decided on?

I'm in a pinch of "not feeling listened to" right now. And not sure if I should stop, drop and roll on or come up with a new game plan of persuasion.

[Don]

this post says so much about what I believe about team... when you said "we all care more about the success of the team than our own part or opinion" I wanted to stand up and shout! But then I realized I was alone in my office... Too many people haven't grown to the point that they trust the team enough they can disagree. That's an outstanding team. Keep up the good work, Kem. You and your team rock!