Those moments are so uncomfortable. You know the ones. You’re trapped in a stuffy conference room, the pressure’s building because the team needs to commit to a plan, but you just can’t come to consensus.
Baby seems we never ever agree
You like the movies
And I like T.V.
Whether you’re all in wildly different places or there’s just one stubborn member who won’t get on board, it’s just so darn painful. One guy I used to work with always said he’d rather stab his own eyes out with an ice pick than participate in these types of conversations at work. If you know me at all, you know that I *might* have been the person who was disagreeing. [insert sheepish shrug here]
I take thing serious
And you take ’em light
I go to bed early
And I party all night
But it turns out that those awful conversations, the ones where we really begin to question the sanity of our colleagues, are some of the healthiest, most productive sessions taking place in or workplaces.
Our friends are sayin’
We ain’t gonna last
Cuz I move slowly
And baby I’m fast
Because innovative solutions to the world’s toughest problems don’t come to us when we leave our critical thinking at the door. When we shut up, fall in line, nod in agreement, and flash a fake smile, we crush the very debate that allows us to uncover better, more effective ways of doing things.
I like it quiet
And I love to shout
But when we get together
It just all works out
Pity, then, that more and more, we’re avoiding the tough conversations. We might even be pressured to do so by our managers. Sometimes the company values and handbook are used to silence the very discussions that are so critical to the success of our products and services.
I take 2 steps forward
I take 2 steps back
We come together
Cuz opposites attract
And you know
It ain’t fiction
Just a natural fact
We come together
Cuz opposites attract
It’s the diversity of thought, that comes from a wide range of previous experiences that brings new, novel, wild even ideas to the table. And if we’re quieting that line of thought, or worse yet, not even inviting people with a wide range of experiences into the room, then we’re absolutely shooting our organizations in the foot.
Who’d a thought we could be lovers
She makes the bed
And he steals the covers
It’s actually quite remarkable what we can accomplish together when we unleash our pent up brains on the toughest problems. Working together, with an eye toward welcoming and respecting the weirdness inside us all, there’s nothing we can’t do.
She likes it neat
And he makes a mess
I take it easy
Baby I get obsessed
How do you find the balance between innovative, diverse lines of thought, and just getting to resolution in your organization? Do you celebrate the opposites in your midst? Or do you silence or otherwise force the diverse thoughts out of the building?
She’s got the money
And he’s always broke
I don’t like cigarettes
And I like to smoke
What could you do to further elevate the art of healthy conflict? To encourage intellectual debate? To reward the shocking innovations that are born out of these moments?
Things in common
There just ain’t a one
But when we get together
We have nothin’ but fun
And what will you do the next time you see someone intentionally silencing themselves or someone quieting a diverse thought?
Baby ain’t it somethin’
How we lasted this long
You and me
Provin’ everyone wrong
Don’t think we’ll ever
Get our differences patched
Don’t really matter
Cuz we’re perfectly matched
Let’s work together to normalize discussion about hard topics, to encourage respectful discourse about contentious subject. Because you know just as well as I do that its here, in the messy middle, that the fun, exciting, and remarkable answers appear. I know I’m here for it. What about you?
A little inspiration: https://youtu.be/xweiQukBM_k?si=4N5-JVEMHQImhD2j
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