Agreeing to Disagree or
Avoiding the Subject
A few weeks
ago, a number of executives were holding their regular update
meeting and quite often the phrase, “Well, I guess
we can just agree to disagree.” was used. This phrase – “agreeing
to disagree” ended all conversation regarding issues of great
importance to the organization. When the phrase was used,
all discussion regarding the disagreement stopped and the executives
went on to the next subject. Inevitably, there was quite
a bit of debate on the next issue only to have the same result. When
the executives had trouble deciding upon the resolution of the
problem, they agreed to disagree on that topic as well. Besides
agreeing to disagree, nothing was accomplished at this meeting. What
a waste of time, energy and a lot of money.
In the spirit
of trying to cooperate, many organizations are moving to a more
comfortable work environment. The thought process
here is by developing more harmonious relationships with co-workers,
the entire organization will be more productive. On the other
hand, if real issues are discussed without coming to a solution,
then the conversation is worthless and moving forward is impossible.
Harmonious
relationships with co-workers are VERY important, but so is
the resolution of complex issues. These are not mutually
exclusive terms. Complex business issues can be resolved
without a fight. The issues discussed at the meeting
noted above affected the entire business. What happened
was that the executives discussing them were more concerned
about their own turf than they were about what was best for
the business. One
of the issues was a matter of conflicting goals between the
marketing and operations executives. Another involved the difficulty
in finding new employees. A third involved a substantial
investment in a new product line. None of the issues
were resolved. Instead,
the issues were tabled and everyone went away disappointed,
but the harmonious relationships were maintained. Or
were they?
The marketing
executive left with a smile on the outside but frustrated at
the lack of progress. The operations executive went back
to his work area and complained to his senior staff member about
never getting anything accomplished at the regular meetings. The
human resources executive went to his office and shut his door
to steam for a while. The CFO stayed in the meeting room
by herself to ponder her future with the company.
Agreeing
to disagree is just another term for avoiding the issue. What
this company’s executives did in the example above was agree
to do nothing. This is a very disagreeable solution. Make
sure your organization has a culture of solving problems before
they get out of hand. |
