The creative power of disagreement

In the film World War Z, the world falls victim to a plague of zombies.  Suspiciously, Israel seems to be ahead of the curve and have locked their borders to repel this invasion… how did they know?  10 days prior to the plague they received an email mentioning zombies, their cabinet debated its authenticity and the need for action and they all agreed that it was ridiculous.  However, it was their policy that if faced with unanimous agreement like this it was the job of the tenth man to play Devils Advocate and thus avoid the possibility of potential threats being ignored.  There seems to be some evidence that this may have a basis in truth.  However, whether or not this is Hollywood hokum or fact, I know from experience that there is both power in asking “Why not?” and danger in group-think.  It is often my job as facilitator to ask the dumb questions and challenge the sacred cows.

If you can’t afford a facilitator or don’t have anyone trained in the role, then before signing off on important decisions, have someone play Devils Advocate, as the Catholic church used to do when proposing someone for canonisation.  We are programmed and rewarded for being right, so we all hate to be proved ‘wrong’.  Setting aside the value judgements implicit in both these phrases, isn’t it better to be proved wrong at the board table than in the harsh world of business.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 21st, 2013 at 09:53 and is filed under Business Change, Hints, Tips & Techniques, Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.