Scott Deming- Great Leaders Encourage Healthy Debate
Difficult conversations are one of the most, well, difficult things many leaders have to do. Scott Deming shares how you can become a leader who encourages healthy debate.
"Effective leaders encourage differing points of view."
A 2012 Forbes magazine column titled, “10 Reasons Your Top Talent Will Leave You,” found the following:
- More than 30 percent believe they’ll be working someplace else inside of 12 months.
- More than 40 percent don’t respect the person they report to.
- More than 50 percent say they have different values than their employer.
- More than 60 percent don’t feel their career goals are aligned with the plans their employers have for them.
- More than 70 percent don’t feel appreciated or valued by their employer.
These figures are significant — and relevant to what I’m writing about in this article: Effective leaders encourage differing points of view. Let’s look further.
Several years ago, I was interviewing employees of a manufacturing company for whom I was speaking, training and consulting. We were charged with helping this company to become more customer-centric and less process driven. Bear in mind, I’m a huge fan of the process, but only when it supports culture and customer experience.
Before we began our exploration, I met with the executive vice president in charge of sales and operations. I told him that he will need to check his ego at the door and be open to honest, heartfelt criticism from anonymous employees regarding his leadership style, skills, and effectiveness. He agreed and said his mission was not only to improve customer service but to also improve the morale and culture of the organization. So off we went.
When the employee interview got to the topic of leadership, the responses were almost identical across the board. “He’s brilliant and a great businessman, but he thinks his way is the only way. He never listens to my input. When he does listen, he just gives lip service and goes off and does it his way.”
I brought this information to their leader and told him that the employees do not feel valued or appreciated. They clearly felt he didn’t value their opinions, nor would he ever seriously take into consideration the possibility of implementing one of their ideas. This was damaging morale, culture and ultimately customer service and customer relationships. Fortunately, he understood and accepted the problem and worked hard to make the necessary changes.
Unfortunately, not all leaders are willing to accept the fact that they do not have all the answers. Not all leaders are willing to accept that their ideas and even their values could use adjusting or improving. Successful leaders understand how critically important it is to hire and cultivate employees who do not feel intimidated but instead feel empowered to speak up on behalf of a better path forward.
Part of great leadership includes creating a culture in your organization in which vigorous debate is welcomed, people’s ideas are valued and genuinely considered, and no one feels insecure about speaking their mind.
It takes a pretty confident person to create this sort of culture and organization. The more confident you are about what you believe—and this is not the same as having an enormous ego—the easier it is to surround yourself with people who will challenge you to do your best work. You, in turn, will do the same for them.
That said, you’ve got to be comfortable with the fact that you don’t always have to be the smartest person in the room. In fact, it’s better if you surround yourself with people who are better than you are in significant ways. Someone who is comfortable in their own skin is going to be comfortable around people who outshine them in various ways.
But what happens if you are the sort of leader whose ego gets in the way? First, it’s likely you won’t hire people who challenge that ego, because you don't want the competition. And you won’t surround yourself with people who are smart and sophisticated enough to see the gaps in your thinking, or they’ll be too cowed to say anything. In the end, your culture and company will suffer.
A still-relevant 2002 FORTUNE Magazine cover story, “Why Companies Fail,” focused on the top ten reasons why businesses go under. These included prolonged periods of success that led to complacency and a “fearing the boss more than the competition” attitude among employees. Supporting that conclusion, Daniel Goldman’s Primal Leadership contains the results of studies that show how a subordinate’s fear of a boss can stifle the sorts of interactions that are essential for good decision-making.
The FORTUNE article also found fault with, “listening to Wall Street more than to employees.” (And, I’d add, listening to Wall Street more than customers!) No one knows a business like its employees. Ignoring your employees' and customers' ideas and opinions and putting profits and quarterly earnings above people and purpose will have dire consequences.
Perhaps the two most profound observations in that FORTUNE article are that companies fail because their leaders are not self-reflective enough, and that failure itself is not merely a matter of going belly-up. The story’s subtitle spells it out: “CEOs offer every excuse but the right one: their own errors.”
It all begins and ends with leadership.
Leadership sets the tone for the organization’s culture. That culture, in turn, delivers the customer experience. The customer experience creates the brand’s perception and power, which in the end determines the company’s success.
So, rely on your employees. Encourage them to contribute beyond their job description and title. Let them know that their role is greater than their title. Their role is to do whatever it takes to make yours the greatest company and brand in the industry. And they can only do that if they feel empowered to challenge leadership with critical thinking and innovative solutions.
To book Scott Deming for your next event, visit his profile: https://premierespeakers.com/scott_deming
Scott’s most recent book title is Powered by Purpose: Identify Your Values, Discover Your Purpose, and Build Success for Life!. To order copies in bulk for your event, please visit BulkBooks.com.
Scott Deming is an international speaker and trainer on the topics of leadership, innovation, customer experience, emotional branding, and disruption.
