Political pundits have focused much attention lately on the divergent opinions of the Obama Afghanistan policy-setting team. In analyzing the Administration’s performance, commentators have raised many questions. Is there a coherent Afghanistan strategy? Is the team on the same page? Does Obama want different points of view? Can the U.S. secure the support of our NATO allies, the Karzai government, Afghani tribal heads, et al?  Will other team members be fired?

For business leaders, this debate highlights a management challenge. While there are factual differences between this foreign policy situation and those that corporate executives confront, the fundamental question remains the same: how to harness divergent points of view to create a coherent, executable strategy. To paraphrase Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, the neighborhood is new, not the issues. 

History, both world and economic, can teach us about how to, and not to, use differing points of view to hone an implementable action plan for a team.  Debating divergent opinions strengthens each theory by “stress-testing” it. Maximizing the effectiveness of this approach requires several conditions:

Subject Matter Expertise
In a healthy, spirited policy debate, participants need to share a solid understanding of the situation. In the 1930s, the Chamberlain government followed a policy of Appeasement in dealing with Hitler’s Germany. However, Chamberlain and his advisers did not have an understanding of history or Hitler’s stated intent (read Appeasement:  A Study in Political Decline, 1933-39 by A.L Rowse). 

The business world too is full of examples of deals done based on inaccurate information. Did Time Warner’s management grasp how fast broadband would overtake internet dial up?  Did the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois understand its credit-default swaps position? Doubtful: for both.

Broad Thinkers
Team members need to be able to think broadly about challenges and opportunities. They have to consider the implications of their recommended strategy and action plan. Turf wars cannot exist. 

For instance, to merge the cash and management books for a major financial institution required enlisting the assistance of legal, tax, operations, finance, and treasury personnel.  Without these experts’ advice, the project might have been incurred unnecessary expenses and/or regulatory penalties.

Communication Skills
In today’s fast paced world with its short attention spans, team members need to succinctly articulate and defend their viewpoint.  Their communications must be laser-focused.  Be too verbose, people will stop listening. Use too few words and listeners will miss the underlying nuances.

Octavia Nasr, CNN’s Middle East editor, learned this lesson after her recent “tweet” about the death of a Hezbollah leader. In it, she said that she “respected him a lot.”  She explained later that her attitude was based on his stand on women’s rights. However, it was too late. Reaction was overwhelmingly negative.  Four days later, CNN fired this 20-year veteran.

Common Language
Having a common language facilitates discussion. If three people all ascribe a different meaning to a word, then time is spent clarifying language rather than on addressing the situation. For instance, depending on the context, IR stands for International Relations, Investor Relations, Industrial Relations, Ingersoll Rand, etc. If the listener does not know the reference, confusion will surely ensue.    

Respectful Listening
For people to express their viewpoint openly, they must be certain that they will not be personally attacked.  On one board, the president addressed one strong-minded member as unintelligent because of her weight. She countered by pointing to her three Ivy League degrees and academic honors before resigning.  The results: a hostile tone to the meetings and one important constituency lost its representation.

I was once criticized as too negative for noting that you needed to convert values in multiple currencies to one common currency before taking a weighted average of associated valuation rates. While I was mathematically correct, some felt that I was being insubordinate by raising this point. While I did not get fired for cause, it chilled the air for future discussions. 

Consistent Messaging 
Although a group may air divergent points of view, in the end they must accept one policy and its implementation. Otherwise, participants will not know who to follow.  They will be reluctant to commit time and energy to the endeavor. The goal will be difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. 

Even though Presidents dating back to Nixon in the 1960’s have been calling for the United States to become more energy independent, Congress has not passed legislation supporting this goal. However, no White House has invested any political capital in getting favorable legislation passed. As a result, Americans have not reduced their energy usage.  The U.S. is more dependent on foreign oil than in the 1960’s.

Leaders’ Role
Once these conditions are in place, leaders need to create a culture that promotes working across silos and cross-organizational cooperation. A future blog will address this aspect of harnessing diverse opinions.

Charlotte Nad consults with leaders and senior managers on business and organizational effectiveness.