Thursday, November 7, 2013

Why Dissension is Good...

I wanted to write on " Minds and Hearts of Customers" but came across this topic in Bloomberg weekly that caught my attention that lead me to pen my thoughts (yea yea..key my thoughts) in on this topic. Nevertheless its a good one..try it..honestly

Dissension, every one hates it. That awkward situation, a CXO or even a common man would try to avert when another person doesn't agree with what you say. Well, there is a perfect or valid reason to do so but having one doesn't bring you any good. We all are smart in our own ways ( and dumb too !!) but the quotient of acting smart or feeling smart increases exponentially where as being smart is left in the same place where we left it when we started to feel smart or smarter (than x,y,z and sometimes every one). When this smartness blinds our logical or good old sense carrying high on the "me smart" tide, dissension is probably the best way to stop us from meeting the obvious disaster. I am not going into the meanings and types as dictionaries do a pretty good job on that. My primary focus in this blog would be of dissension in your big meeting when you came up with the "Big Idea" of making it big (too many bigs..hmmm). You would ask " Some one in the meeting raises his/her hand or even without doing so says the idea is impractical or is not viable at this situation or is not smart enough and I should think it is good and I should love it? "..Bingo, you are right on the money! Let me help you understand how good it is when you know how to handle it.

Here are the reasons for you to reason on..

Reason 1 - If there is no dissension for any idea that you come up with, it shows that you are super smart and an expert who can predict and make moves that will not fail - Not possible. Coming back to reality, it shows that either your employees are not interested in the company or they are just "yes men/women" to impress you - not a good group to hang out with unless you are not serious about the business.

Reason 2 - Strong dissension (may be not too strong, that you end up punching each other) may indicate that the organisation has problems that needs to be addressed, can be relative to the point for which there is a dissension.

Reason 3 - Sometimes people just try to show their dissent to grab attention or just to throw something at you as you are stealing all the limelight (may be they are envious..aha !!)

Whatever the reason is, it is always better to deal with it rather than avoid it and dealing with it has the following benefits.

Checkpoint - Dissension serves as the first checkpoint to see if the thing suggested by you is valid or feasible or practical etc. Instead of just dismissing the counter points, discussing or at least mere listening (listening like real listening) will give a whole lot of different perspective and even may open ways for improvisation.

Test of the Mettle - Dissension can really give you a good chance to test your mettle as a leader. You may think that you are the best leader and why every one cannot be like you, well here is your chance to prove it..the question is are you up for it or just break away like every one else.

Trust Builder - A well handled dissension definitely builds more trust for the leader which can increase the productivity of the employees as they are not condemned for free thinking. The bottom line is that employees are not afraid to reach either to help or for help.

Big Saver - The impetus to make it "big" can cost you big both in time and money if it is not duly discussed and what else is a good way other than a descent dissent from your think tank. Apart from the tangible damage, it can also serve big time as an embarrassment saver.

Those are the huge benefits that can be leveraged when a dissent is handled properly. Well there are some not so gorgeous moments like the raise of voice, ego hurting, playing the blame game, shoulder shrugging..etc etc..but still isn't Dissent a good thing? ( you can show your dissent in the comments)







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