The Challenge Culture: [..] successful orgs run on Pushback

 

Nigel Travis’s book is a primer on corp civil discourse. I am a major believer in the law of two feet; that people with a desire to have impact will step forward. Unfortunately, these same people are often myopic in their vision, looking to achieve one goal only and have learned that the squeeky wheel gets the grease.

Having worked with a number of companies over the years who have applied a blow torch to open conversation regarding policy, team feedback is always about lack of visibility toward results. The closed door/black box following of process, leaves anyone who was impacted by policy (all of us) left wondering who was actually listening and if anything would change.

I have also worked at an org that had a fearless leader who tried hard to apply an open policy of communication, but did so inconsistently and controlled conflict with a heavy fist. This heavy fist was also present whenever people came to the table with less passion than he had. Instead of creating openness, it raised a backdrop of tension and anxiety.

I was super impressed with the language used in The Challenge Culture. It lays out a structure to pave success and openness while juxtaposing against the poor (but required) examples of those who have failed before.

Key take aways were strongly focused on the rules of civil discourse and ensuring that all conversation is driven by the issues and a shared purpose. It is too easy for someone to drill down instead on personal gripes or agendas that are not politically sound for the entire org.

From the text

The purpose of [challenging/] questioning must always be understood as a shared search for the truth. The practice of civil discourse should always have the rules explicit, written down, and visible to all.

Challenge ideas, not people
model and enforce the rules when there is an infraction.

[…]

It is when a disagreement is developing that tensions will run high, but that disagreement need not devolve to hand to hand combat. If the participants know how to question purposefully, carry on a civil discourse, and share a great goal (the good of the enterprise).