“The biggest challenge facing our organizations is helping people bring up difficult topics. It’s a serious issue and it’s a leader’s job to find a way to make that possible.”
This is from the TED Talk, Dare to Disagree, by Margaret Hellernan and was sent to us by a client and friend, after reading our latest newsletter article, Conflict + Curiosity= Creativity.
I was an immediate fan since this is the heart of our business. Our goal is helping leaders, and their teams, have these important conversations. I so resonated with her talk that I had to share her message with you!!
Here is another quote: “In surveys of European and American executives, fully 85 percent of them acknowledged that they had issues or concerns at work that they were afraid to raise. Afraid of the conflict that that would provoke, afraid to get embroiled in arguments that they did not know how to manage, and felt that they were bound to lose.
”Margaret’s message in Dare to Disagree is like music to my ears. I am not quite sure why her message has not reached the masses like Brene Brown, but it is a subject matter just as important and transformative.
“Eighty-five percent is a really big number. It means that organizations mostly can’t do what George and Alice so triumphantly did. They can’t think together. And it means that people, like many of us, who have run organizations, and gone out of our way to try to find the very best people we can, mostly fail to get the best out of them.”
So I imagine you just can’t wait to get introduced to George and Alice. Well, for that you will have to watch the Ted Talk!
Her talk, and our work, is about the importance of conflict and how our organizations and our own fear of conflict – stops thinking. If you as a leader face this challenge, or know it is a problem in your organization, dare to do it differently!
If you want help, call us. There are skills and tools that you as a leader can use to more easily create a culture that invites healthy conflict, which results in better thinking and great business results!
Susan Clarke and CrisMarie Campbell are Coaches, Consultants, and Speakers at thrive! inc. (www.thriveinc.com) They help business leaders and their teams use the energy of conflict, rather than – avoid or defuse it – to get to creative, innovative, profitable business results. You can see their TEDx Talk: Conflict – Use It, Don’t Defuse It! On YouTube. They would be happy to coach you, consult with your team, or to speak at your next event. Contact them at thrive@thriveinc.com