Risk-Taking Requires Room for Disagreement

We say we want our teams to take risks.

We want people to bring new ideas, speak up when something isn’t working, question old ways of doing things, and try something different.

But that comes with something else.

Disagreement.

When people start speaking up, they won’t always agree with us—or with each other. One person may see an opportunity where someone else sees a problem. A new idea may challenge a long-standing practice. Two people may care about the same outcome and have very different ideas about how to get there.

That doesn’t necessarily mean something has gone wrong. It may mean people are engaged enough to have a point of view.

The Other Side of Risk-Taking

Over the past few weeks, we’ve talked about making room for ideas that aren’t ours, resisting the urge to take the work back, and allowing failure to be part of learning.

There’s another piece of that work:

We have to make room for the discomfort that comes when people think differently.

It’s easy to support risk-taking when we like the idea. It’s harder when we disagree with it.

It’s easy to say we want staff to speak honestly. It’s harder when what they say challenges our thinking.

And it’s easy to encourage people to contribute. It’s harder when their contributions create tension in the room.

Yet if people learn that disagreement makes us uncomfortable—or that speaking up creates consequences—they may eventually stop taking the risk.

Disagreement Isn’t the Problem

Sometimes we treat disagreement as an early warning sign that a team isn’t working well. But a team without disagreement isn’t necessarily a healthy team.

People may be holding back. They may have learned which ideas are welcome and which ones aren’t. Or they may simply decide that staying quiet is easier than risking tension.

Highly effective teams aren’t teams where everyone agrees. They are teams that learn how to stay connected while they disagree.

That means we don’t have to eliminate tension the moment it appears. We can get curious about it.

What are we seeing differently?

What matters to each of us here?

What might we learn if we stay with the conversation a little longer instead of rushing to resolve it?

A Leadership Pause

The next time someone disagrees—with you or with someone else on the team—notice your first instinct.

Do you explain?

Defend?

Step in to settle it?

Change the subject?

Or can you create enough space for the disagreement to be explored?

Because if we want people to take risks, bring ideas, and think alongside us, we also have to make room for what happens when those ideas collide.

The goal isn’t a team that never disagrees. The goal is a team that can disagree without losing trust, respect, or sight of what they’re trying to accomplish together.

Coming Up in October

Disagreement is only the beginning of the conversation.

Throughout October, we’ll take a closer look at conflict—why it’s a normal part of working together, why not all conflict is the same, and what leaders can do when conflict begins to affect the team and its work.

Stay with me this month as we explore how highly effective teams move through conflict—not around it.