The invisible obstacles that undermine team performance often go unnoticed until they explode. In All the Difference (HBR Press, July 14), authors Susan MacKenty Brady, CEO of the Simmons University Institute for Inclusive Leadership, US Army Lieutenant General (Ret.) Leslie C. Smith, and business negotiation expert Stuart D. Kliman, identify four hidden landmines that prevent organizations from leveraging differences to optimize their potential. The first and most damaging is certainty—the belief that your views are unequivocally right.
Steve thought his team was on board with the new governance structure. He had already listened to team members’ concerns, and he felt confident his plan was right. When Lilly approached him with an additional question about his rationale that occurred to her in thinking about it later and suggested a slightly different point of view and a few changes, Steve had no patience. In perhaps a stronger tone than he had intended, he declared, “This is how it will go,” effectively shutting down the conversation and leaving Lilly feeling not just unheard and undervalued but also angry.
In order for you and your organization to fully leverage the strengths of your team’s differences and create exponential value, you must first understand the roadblocks that quietly get in the way. We call these roadblocks “landmines.” Les, through his service in the US Army where he presided over the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Command, understands landmines in the most literal sense. Once you know where a landmine is, you can deploy what is needed to defuse it. Steve was likely annoyed with Lilly, weary of revisiting his plan, and confident in his rationale from past experience. But did he consider the impact his reaction would have on Lilly’s engagement? Likely not. Steve just stepped on that hidden landmine of certainty.
