Leveraging Senior-Level Conflict to Drive Growth and Innovation

“When we avoid difficult conversations, we trade short-term discomfort for long-term dysfunction.” 

— Peter Bromberg, organizational development consultant

Dysfunction in the executive suite can doom an organization. Many senior leaders, fearful of conflict among those closest to them, strive for artificial harmony — inadvertently squelching debate on issues critical to the company’s strategic growth and its capacity for innovation. 

Experts in workplace dynamics advise leaders to reframe conflict — not as a negative to be avoided, but as an opportunity to stimulate innovation.

“Conflict is productive,” says Patrick Lencioni, author of “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.”

Research links higher workplace engagement to the ability to speak one’s mind at work. In their study, “The State of Miscommunication,” sponsored by Fierce Conversations and Quantum Workplace, the authors found that, in surveying 1,300 people, those who said they always or almost always speak their minds report being more engaged at work than those who said they never or almost never did so.

Building skills

So, let’s say a leader knows that he/she should be embracing conflict and leveraging it productively. But the leader may lack the skills and the necessary emotional control. 

Gerry Pierce, VP of innovation at Smart Recipe Consulting LLC in Rochester and former senior VP of human resources at Wegmans Food Markets Inc., emphasizes the value of facilitation skills for leaders whose role requires them to productively manage conflict and unlock the door to innovation.

Executive coaching and well-chosen training programs, Pierce says, can strengthen a leader’s facilitation skills. At the highest levels of an organization, he notes, where the stakes are high and the egos are large, respectful listening is particularly crucial.

He describes a scenario where conflict erupts in a meeting: An energized team member dominates the discussion with strong opinions, threatening to derail the meeting. To redirect the outspoken person’s energy, Pierce advises his clients to adapt the skill of mirroring, popularized by Stephen R. Covey and others. He suggests respectfully interrupting the dominant person and reflecting his words back to him: “If I understand you correctly, you believe we’re wasting time by pursuing X.” He may then ask others in the room to comment on the outspoken person’s points. 

Once the outspoken person is heard, Pierce says, both he and the group tend to relax. By deftly managing the dominant speaker, the facilitator not only brings the conversation back onto a constructive track, but he/she also creates an opening for the quieter people around the table to offer opinions.

In workplace cultures where consensus is valued, the meeting leader may hear out everyone at the table and announce a decision on the spot, explaining her rationale and insisting that the decision be supported wholeheartedly. Such approaches can work well in organizations where trust, respect and patience are valued. 

But not all leaders aim for a consensus model.

Alternatives to consensus building

“Consensus is good, but it’s too slow,” says Christophe Weber, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical, “and sometimes you end up with the lowest common denominator.” Weber is quoted in a Harvard Business Review article titled, “What Sets Successful CEOs Apart,” summarizing research on CEO effectiveness. 

“When tackling contentious issues, leaders who are good at engagement give everyone a voice but not a vote,” report researchers Elena Lytkina Botelho, Kim Rosenkotter Powell, Stephen Kincaid, and Dina Wang. 

They contend that “engaging for impact” — anticipating conflict and harnessing its transformative value — is crucial to CEO success.

The researchers cite other models of CEO success, such as Madeline Bell, CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“With any big decision,” they quote Bell as saying, “I create a stakeholder map of the key people who need to be on board. I identify the detractors and their concerns, and then I think about how I can take the energy they might put into resistance and channel it into something positive.” 

While Bell says she assures stakeholders that their input is important to the process, “(the leader has) to be clear that you’re making the call and you expect them on board.”

Beware ulterior motives

A note of caution: Not all conflict is a rich resource just waiting to be tapped. Particularly in cultures where trust is low, certain conflict can be dangerous.

Patrick Lencioni writes: “(In some teams,) arguments are often destructive because they are laced with politics, pride and competition, rather than humble pursuit of truth. When people who don’t trust one another engage in passionate debate, they aren’t usually listening to the other person’s ideas and then reconsidering their point of view; they’re figuring out how to manipulate the conversation to get what they want.”

Apple founder Steve Jobs, too, understood the value of rooting out ulterior motives and potential sabotage. “It’s OK to spend a lot of time arguing about which route to take to San Francisco when everyone wants to end up there. But a lot of time gets wasted in such arguments if one person wants to go to San Francisco and another secretly wants to go to San Diego,” he said.

Building a ‘voice-empowered culture’

In reporting on the Fierce/Quantum research on workplace engagement, Dana Wilkie of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) provides leaders with some guidance for creating a “voice-empowered culture”:

• Build a foundation of trust where leaders communicate transparently, remain accessible, and exercise consistency in dealing with employees and other leaders.

• Create an environment of safety that requires leaders monitor the ways they react to feedback and ideas, guarding against retaliation or shutting down.

• Welcome and support ideas, particularly those that are not yet well developed. 

• Show vulnerability by inviting others to critique the leader’s early ideas, and admitting to being unsure or wrong. 

• Explain how the team’s input is being used.

Conclusion

The best leaders are good listeners, according to Pierce, and know how to manage conflict with a process that builds trust and respect. It is important for everyone on the team to have an opportunity to be heard he says, because healthy conflict stimulates innovation.             

Candace Walters is president of HR Works, Inc., a human-resource management outsourcing and consulting firm with offices in Rochester and Syracuse, serving clients throughout the U.S.