4.15.2014

How Can We Overcome Toxic Conformity at Work?

Why are many of our organizations almost allergenic in their responses to innovation? Why do we penalize those courageous individuals who challenge the status quo by swimming against the tide? What can we do at work to ensure that dissenting voices speak up and make us reflect on where we are going and what we are really trying to achieve? 

 I recently put these questions to Bill Templeman, author of the just-published book, Leadership Basics for Frontline Managers: Tips for Raising Your Level of Effectiveness and Communication. I wanted to know why this dynamic happens and what managers or anyone in a leadership position can do about it. Here is his complete response:  

All organizations with any sort of hierarchy are prone to believing in their visions and plans for the future; the stronger the culture, the greater the belief that “We are on the right path!” It is no secret that business plans become documents of faith, just like party platforms become documents of faith for politicians. The CEO of a major hi-tech firm recently said that he measured his executives’ teamwork skills by assessing their degree of commitment to the corporate business plan. But what if this plan is flawed? 

Admiral John Godfrey, the former Director of Britain’s Naval Intelligence Division, in analyzing "Operation Mincemeat," a highly successful World War II espionage operation, identified two major weaknesses of the Nazi’s command structure: "wishfulness" and "yesmanship."

Wishfulness is that tendency among individuals and organizations to believe information that supports their own view of reality while simultaneously to reject all contradictory information. Yesmanship is the tendency of those with less positional power to agree with those who have greater power, mainly out of fear. Yesmanship is an enabling behavior for wishfulness. 

What can we do to ensure that wishfulness and yesmanship do not distort our business planning and decision- making? How can we encourage people to speak their truth?

• Be the change you want to see in your people. If you want the truth, you must speak the truth and be the truth. 
• Encourage debate and dialogue. Welcome ideas that conflict with your own assumptions. 
• Hire people who are likely to disagree with you on business issues. 
• Instead of arguing with dissenters, ask for explanations of their thinking. 
• Treat everyone according to a set of worthwhile values.
• Build a culture of trust by demonstrating trust.
• Show your commitment by demonstrating everything you believe in through your own behavior.
• Cherish your dissenters and critiques. 

How far would Bill’s ideas go in your organization in terms of encouraging new thinking that goes against the current? Are there other ways you could discourage the toxicity of conformity at work?

18 comments:

Unknown said...

It goes like this dior outlet: Your company puts out an ad for a position and someone "answers" it, but also installs malicious software on a rolex masterpiece watches small business computer and uses it to log into the company online bank account. They then set up fraudulent fund transfers chanel replica, adding fake employees or payees, and finally move the money to offshore havens. government.

friv 2 said...

I definitely agree with what you are saying in this article. There are truths which one can not help sharing, this is a really nice article. Thanks

Anonymous said...

definitely agree with this. It would be good for people to understand positive conflict and negative conflict and also how to develop a culture of creative problem solving.

obat infeksi kulit tradisional said...


terima kasih pak admin telah menghadirkan informasi dan berita yg bermanfaat,semoga dengan sering di updated akan menjadikan website ini lebih bermanfaat lagi bagi pengunjung..

obat demam untuk anak said...

situsnya keren nih, banyak info menarik

obat jantung bocor pada bayi said...

situsnya keren nih, banyak info menarik

obat alami demam berdarah said...

Setiap hari baru memberi kita kesempatan untuk membuka lembaran baru kehidupan kita,kesempatan untuk memperbaiki semua yang masih kurang..begitu juga hari ini aku berharap ada info ataupun ilmu yg baru dari website ini..

obat herbal darah kental said...


siapapun yg kamu beri untuk membantu yg membutuhkan,tak akan hilang.semua pasti dicatat oleh tuhan,dan untukmu telah disiapkan balasan..tanks ka" admin untuk kerelaan-nya berbagi..

pengobatan penyakit ayan said...

terima kasih pak admin telah menghadirkan informasi dan berita yg bermanfaat,semoga dengan sering di updated akan menjadikan website ini lebih bermanfaat lagi bagi pengunjung..

obat tbc untuk ibu menyusui said...


seluruh isi beritanya sangat menarik sekali.
terimakasih banyak nih.

obat gagal ginjal kronis untuk anak said...

artikel yang di berikan sangat bagus dan bermanfaat untuk kita semua

obat gagal ginjal akut untuk anak said...

artikel yang di berikan sangat bagus dan bermanfaat untuk kita semua

obat untuk penambah berat badan anak said...

Harapan kita terus memberi inovasi yang baru, up to date dalam menyampaikan berita.

friv 4 said...

The appropriate workplace is really necessary and what we need is a comprehensive look at, the question for Bill Templeman and it can give you much help.

obat gejala tbc said...

belajarlah dan carilah ilmu dan juga kemampuan sebanyak mungkin. ilmu dan kemampuan akan mengantarkan anda menuju bariisan depan manusia-manusia terbaik..terus semangat sobat semua dan gapai semua mimpimu.

obat herbal tbc said...

thanks

Clipping Path said...

I really like your article. It’s evident that you have a lot knowledge on this topic. Your points are well made and relocatable.

Unknown said...

Groupon said the incident chanel replica had exposed "negligence" among its own staff for failing to examine merchants. It offered the men's sports watches at dior outlet 690 yuan each in a deal in October, saying the original chanel replica price was 3,500 yuan, according to its website. The deal ended with more than 200 buyers.