MikeThe Advantage and Death by Meeting. As he explains, strategic decisions are inherently complex, which guarantees that those involved in making the decision will have different perspectives. To make the best decision, those perspectives need to be heard and considered. But rather than getting them on the table, people often remain silent because they don’t fully trust their teammates or are afraid of conflict. Does this describe your team at those times when you’re facing a major fork in the road? If so, I think you need to take the pledge. Let’s consider the implications of the pledge from two perspectives:
- If you’re the leader (the person with final authority in the meeting), don’t accept silence. You may be tempted to think that a lack of disagreement is confirmation of a decision or a sign that everyone is on board, but that’s often not the case. As Lencioni says, you need to “mine for conflict.” Encourage people to offer differing ideas. Invite comments from those who are most likely to disagree.
- If you are a participant, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your opinion doesn’t matter or that you don’t have anything to contribute to the discussion. Be willing to take some risks by respectfully offering a contrarian perspective in order to get to a better decision.
