Because I facilitate team sessions for a living, I\u2019ve seen lots of team interactions. All kinds of drama, some shouting and tears, but also lots of laughter, joy and bold action. Much about teamwork has been researched, dissected and discussed. Yet lately, I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about an unexplored topic: how to get team members to disagree.<\/p>\n
What do you do as a team member, if, after hours of discussion and debate about a new direction, plan or policy, you still disagree? What I see happen on most teams is acquiescence \u2014 giving in or just going along. It\u2019s hard to know the line between sticking to your views and aligning with the team. Are you a bad team player if you don\u2019t agree?<\/p>\n
For a long time, I have facilitated team problem-solving sessions like this:<\/p>\n
\u2014 First explore the issue from all sides, uncovering a comprehensive view of the current state and root causes
\n\u2014 Brainstorm options and agree on a broad path forward
\n\u2014 Develop recommendations and specific action plans<\/p>\n
During the first two steps, team members share their views, voice concerns, ask probing questions, debate and discuss. I ensure people know it\u2019s a safe environment in which to dissent and challenge. And then, at a certain point, when we have brainstormed and kicked around options, we agree on a future state. Then we move into action planning. Once plans and next steps are identified, well, I deem the team session a home run. We have moved from chaos into order, from theory into action. It always feels like a triumph of team process and alignment.<\/p>\n
Until it suddenly didn\u2019t. At a recent team session, I didn\u2019t like the feeling in the room at the end of Step 3. Everyone had dutifully done their breakout work, devising strong, meaty action plans. Yet, the energy was all off. Team members seemed deflated instead of enthused. So I decided to do a check in.<\/p>\n
I asked everyone to show, using hand signals from fist to five, how they felt about bringing this plan forward to the organization. Here\u2019 the fist to five criteria I used:<\/p>\n
Fist = over my dead body<\/p>\n
1 or 2 = serious concerns and not really on board<\/p>\n
3 = I can live with it but \u2026<\/p>\n
4 = feeling pretty darn good<\/p>\n
5 = can\u2019t wait to get started<\/p>\n
Based on the quality of the work they had done to develop strong plans and recommendations, I expected all 4s and 5s. What I saw around the room astounded me. Responses ranged from 2.5 to 5. I couldn\u2019t believe there were still three team members with serious “stop the presses” concerns. As we started talking about it, here\u2019s some of what I heard:<\/p>\n
\u201cI still don\u2019t believe this project should take precedence over our other priorities. And I don\u2019t think we can get those and this done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel we have proven the ROI. I\u2019m not convinced it will really impact our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was panicked. All eyes were looking at me with a \u201cNow what?\u201d stare, especially the team leader. Instead of trying to fix things, I decided to ask some questions. I asked:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did you do the action planning if you still didn\u2019t agree with the solution?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat made you feel that you couldn\u2019t say this earlier in the day? What held you back?\u201d<\/p>\n