How can you facilitate productive disagreement among your team members?
The Challenge
Draw an X/Y axis on a sheet of paper. Label the vertical axis "Support" and the horizontal axis "Challenge". Rate your team on how well they support each other and how effectively they challenge each other. For example, if your team is strong at both, you would make an entry somewhere in the upper right quadrant. Think about where you would like to see your team improve on these factors and make an entry (in a different color) on the axis that identifies that goal.
Why do this?
A skilled leader encourages creative tension and differences of opinion among his/her team members. Deep discussion allows for full exploration of differences. An effective leader manages and resolves conflicts and disagreements in a constructive manner.
A strong team reflects a diversity of personalities and experiences that come together to collaborate to achieve a common goal. A strong team both supports and challenges one another to accomplish the shared mission. Developing a strong challenge network within your team can support fresh ideas and clarify blind spots and weaknesses. A challenge culture is one which supports curiosity about new perspectives, encourages everyone to listen carefully to each other's perspective, and pays close attention to areas of common ground.
What’s next?
Use the balance of support and challenge that you scored in this Daily Challenge to identify two steps you could take over the next 30 days to move your team toward your identified goal.
