Why your nay-saying coworker may be the key to successful teamwork
Why would a company want nay-saying coworkers, people who are challengers, devil’s advocates? They are often difficult to work with and slow down decision making.
And yet without them, the decisions that do get made are not as successful.
A new study, cited by Michelle Buck in her recent presentation to the Executives’ Club of Chicago LEAD Program, helps to explain why oppositional employees can move a business forward. In the study, a group of leaders from different companies were divided into teams and given a business challenge to solve in a specified time-period. Unbeknownst to them, in half of the teams there was a confederate — someone working for the researchers. The confederates’ job was to challenge the thinking and direction of the team. At the end of the exercise, each team turned in their solution to a panel of judges, who did not know which teams included the devil’s advocates.
The panel consistently gave higher ratings to the solutions from the teams with the devil’s advocates. That may not come as a big surprise — after all, being forced to second-guess our thinking often leads us to better solutions. But here’s the kicker: Before announcing the results, the experimenters gave each team the option to expel one team member. And just about every time, the teams chose to expel the devil’s advocate.
They chose to eliminate the member who had given them a competitive advantage. The same thing happens in business settings all the time — in an effort to move forward, people silence thoughtful challenges. In fact, there is evidence that in businesses which place a high emphasis on teamwork, individuals are less likely to challenge the team’s direction or share bad news. They are afraid that by raising questions, they won’t be seen as team players.
It’s great to focus on teamwork as a tool to drive results. Just be sure that you leave room for the contrarian who is willing to challenge the prevailing view. He or she may be the key to your success.
