The Devil’s Advocate
Encouraging team members to challenge each other’s ideas is essential for fostering a culture of innovation and critical thinking. This week, Head Tutor, Anne McCarthy, in the leadership program I am in right now at the University of Oxford Saïd Business School, gave us this prompt for reflection: “Reflecting on your own team is there enough challenge to be high performing?” In this context, challenge is referring to working together, challenging each other, and holding each other accountable. We all know that high-performing teams must have trust, cohesion, and psychological safety. Our teams must be a place where we can offer our divergent opinions and discuss those opinions openly.
To model this I love to offer Byron’s “wild and crazy ideas that may be stupid.” I am very comfortable offering these and being told they are crazy and stupid ideas. The reason I am comfortable is that the discussion usually ends up with parts of the idea being used, or someone smarter than me making the idea better. Establishing a culture where team members feel safe to express their opinions without fear of judgment is crucial for high performing teams to exist. Encouraging open dialogue and making it clear that constructive criticism is valued is paramount.
We must promote a mindset of curiosity by encouraging team members to ask questions about each other’s ideas. This can lead to deeper discussions and better solutions. Also, encouraging team projects where collaboration is key. When working closely together, team members are more likely to engage with and challenge each other’s ideas organically.
As a leader or facilitator, I demonstrate and model how to challenge ideas constructively or be challenged. Showing appreciation for differing viewpoints and responding positively to challenges is important for team effectiveness. As I stated earlier, I like having my ideas challenged because they always end up better.
To model this further, I like to implement techniques like brainstorming sessions, devil’s advocate exercises, or the “What if?” scenario planning. I have found these structured methods can help team members feel more comfortable critiquing ideas.
We must welcome our ideas being thoughtfully challenged. And we must create the ecosystem that allows for challenge in our teams. Better outcomes and higher performing teams await us if we do.
Byron's Babbles 
[…] and critical thinking. I always say I can come up with 100 crazy ideas a day and wrote about it in The Devil’s Advocate. Here’s why the asking our community to tell us why our idea is stupid […]
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[…] and critical thinking. I always say I can come up with 100 crazy ideas a day and wrote about it in The Devil’s Advocate. Here’s why the asking our community to tell us why our idea is stupid […]
LikeLike