The Impassioned Workforce

Bob Sutton has received a lot of acclaim recently for his aptly titled book ‘The No Assholes rule’. As well as being an accomplished author, Bob is also a professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University and maintains a personal website (Work Matters) as well as hosting a Harvard Online blog called The Working Life. This new blog is worth a look, with Bob sharing details of his new ‘creating infectious action’ class at the Stanford d. school and showing the mythical ‘mission on a napkin’ that the co-founders to the school came up with (great pic!). I especially liked the perspectives on organisational life. I may not agree with everything that Bob writes, but you’ve got to admit he has some good points, and that’s the point of today’s post.

When I think about the best and most inspiring workplaces, they are not entirely conflict free zones. In fact, constructive disagreement and collaborative debate can be the source of great inspiration in the workplace. A catalyst, to inspire people to dig deeper and come up with something more. Many of us do our best work when we are under some pressure to deliver. Conflicts in the workplace are not to be subdued, avoided or ignored. In fact, to use the words on the napkin, ‘Radical Collaboration’ can occur when people are allowed to disagree and evolve a shared perspective through constructive means. A counter argument can force you to re-evaluate your thinking and can lead to greater depth. The important difference between constructive disagreement and the assholes described in Bob’s book are a level and tone of mutual respect, appreciation of diverse interests and beliefs and a willingness to operate as if your answer is not the only way to skin this cat. Essential skills for any leader aspiring to be inspiring rather than ‘book fodder’ .