Conflict has developed something of a bad reputation in business.
We often associate it with dysfunction, politics or fractured relationships. The assumption is that if everyone around the boardroom table gets on well and reaches decisions quickly, then the leadership team must be operating effectively.
I’m not convinced.
In fact, I’d argue that the most dangerous boardroom isn’t the one where people challenge each other. It’s the one where nobody speaks up. The one where nothing new is brought to the table. The one where people are afraid to speak up.
“Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas.” – Donatella Versace.
For one of my Unicorns and Dark Horses podcasts, I sat down with Greg Reed, CEO of Places for People, to discuss diversity of thought at board level. As our conversation progressed, there were many things that Greg said that you may not expect a successful CEO to say.
You can watch the podcast here
The best boards don’t strive for agreement. They strive for better decision making. And those two things are not always the same.
This is becoming increasingly important as organisations navigate AI adoption, business transformation, changing customer expectations and economic uncertainty. The decisions made around the boardroom table have never carried greater weight, with often sink or swim outcomes, yet it’s unbelievable how often strategy is discussed and agreed without questioning whether the board itself is challenging its own thinking.
When everyone approaches a challenge from the same perspective, asks the same questions and reaches the same conclusions, boards can become incredibly efficient. Meetings are shorter. Decisions are made faster. There is very little friction.
It looks and feels productive, but sometimes that efficiency comes at a cost. Progress rarely comes from everyone seeing the world through the same lens.
Highly engaged workforces are those where people are empowered to make decisions and to contribute ideas. Highly engaged workforces perform better and produce better business outcomes. It’s been proven time and time again.
I’ve had the privilege of working with many CEOs and executive leaders responsible for leading growth, transformation and large-scale organisational change. The strongest among them have one thing in common. They don’t surround themselves with people who simply reinforce their thinking. They actively seek people who will challenge it.
The leaders I’ve admired most have deliberately built leadership teams with different experiences, different expertise and, perhaps most importantly, the confidence to say, “I see this differently. Have you thought about this?”.
They have approached recruitment from the perspective of ‘how can this person supplement the leadership team’, not who is the best ‘fit’.
That isn’t conflict for the sake of it. It’s true leadership. It’s diving into the unknown.
The strongest leaders understand that challenge isn’t a threat to their authority. It’s one of the greatest ways to mitigate poor decision-making and ensure the future-proofing of a business.
As Greg highlighted, diversity of thought isn’t simply about bringing different people into the room. It’s about creating an environment where different perspectives are genuinely welcomed, even when they make conversations more uncomfortable, because uncomfortable conversations often lead to better decisions. And better decisions build stronger more resilient organisations.
Organisations can spend millions developing strategy, investing in technology and redesigning operating models. Yet the quality of the outcomes will always depend on the quality of the discussions taking place around the boardroom table, and the messaging cascaded to the rest of the business. If challenge disappears, so too does the opportunity to spot risks, uncover better ideas and make stronger strategic decisions.
So perhaps it’s time boards should stop asking themselves, “Do we all agree?”.
There are questions that could be far more valuable:
“Have we challenged this enough?”, or “what would out most valuable customer say?”, or “What would our people say?”.
There is a world of difference between a board that agrees because it has explored every angle, and one that agrees because nobody wanted to be the person who disagreed.
One is alignment.
The other is groupthink.
They look very similar in the boardroom, and over time, they produce very different cultures, and very different businesses.
In my experience, the most successful organisations are those where there is a culture where people are not afraid to come up with and share ideas. And this sort of behaviour begins in the board room.
Hannah Cox is the founder and Managing Director at Gallop Executive, and is a well known and trusted senior headhunter in the business transformation space, operating at a senior leadership level across operations, digital and marketing, with a unique focus on customer experience.
If access to Hannah’s extensive network of top performing senior transformation leaders, across digital, operations and marketing, could be of support to your business right now, you can reach out to Hannah directly on Hannah.Cox@GallopExecutive.com
