Dissent and Commit - A Lesson in Teamwork

In many business situations consensus is the ideal goal. However often times it is the idea of getting everyone to agree that stalls progress.

Through a recent discussion on teamwork a wonderful idea that I had almost forgotten from a previous company resurfaced - "dissent and commit." This embodies the idea that professionals can disagree on a course of action and at the same time they also agree to fully support and commit their energy to a course of action that the majority decides upon.

This is a wonderful approach that allows constructive dissension and acknowledgement of disagreement while maintaining positive momentum in the form of commitment to the majority-based decision. This allows for the opportunity in critical decision making instances for groups of professionals within organizations to make progress in spite of differing opinions.

Most organizations typically approach decision-making in the same manner as they always have: hierarchical top-to-bottom edicts. This approach while proven to be fine for a small population of problems has been also proven to be highly ineffective for rapid changing out-of-the-box problems.

As professionals and organizations struggle to adapt to change, their ability to recognize their shortcomings and to put aside conventional wisdom to more effectively team and collaborate on issues that impact their organizations, customers and careers will define who not only just survives but thrives in the future economy.