It’s okay to disagree. In fact, I encourage it!

How many team meetings have you participated in, where the leader shares a perspective, and everyone else is either silent or piles on in agreement?

We see this happen even in meetings where the leader’s point-of-view clearly needs to be challenged.

We’d often rather keep the peace than stick our necks out with a contrarian opinion.

Team effectiveness experts, however, have identified this type of behavior as detrimental to team success.

In their book, Ignition, Gordon Curphy, Dianne Nilsen, and Robert Hogan assert that “Effective leaders know that too little conflict with problems swept under the rug leads to artificial harmony and groupthink”.

Patrick Lencioni identifies “Fear of Conflict” as one of his Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

One of my managers once told me that if the two of us always agreed on everything, one of us was redundant, and it wasn’t him. Message received.

As team members it’s important for each of us to develop our own perspective on key issues and express it as artfully as possible. We should tactfully ask questions and seek to understand others’ perspectives as well. We shouldn’t seek destructive conflict, but we also shouldn’t avoid conflict. Productive discussion and collaboration are what we’re after.

As a team leader, creating a safe space for sharing dissenting opinions will ultimately improve results. Getting different ideas on the table and testing and debating them will yield better solutions. Leading by example, coaching, and mentoring team members to have productive conflict is part of the job.