Balancing an inclusive debate

I'm going to throw out a problem today: How do we create inclusive environments that still encourage debate? Let me know what you think below. #AnOpenConversationWithJim

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Transcript:

Hey, everyone. So, I'm going to throw out a problem today that, honestly, I don't have a great solution for but I think all leaders need to be thinking about it. And that is how we have a true inclusive environment where the most people want to work, want to come, want to give their best selves, are willing to contribute; at the same time, be capable of having the straightforward conversations that we need to have to get the best answers.

And in times this can feel a bit in conflict, because when somebody throws an idea out and saying, wow, that's a really bad idea, or I really don't like that idea, to many people might not sound super inclusive. I think that's something we all have to work through and actually have open discussions about with our teams and in our organizations.

You know, at Red Hat we used to say, hey, if nobody responds to your idea, that's the worst. That means they didn't think it was worth responding to. So, withering criticism, you know, you should take as a compliment, that people say, hey, that idea was worth actually having a debate around.

So, I do think it's a muscle that we have to think about and build. I think it all starts with setting a platform and making sure that you kind of have people on board with assume positive intent. Let's assume we're all in it together, we all want each other to win. And by questioning ideas what we're really trying to do is make a person with the idea more successful or to improve their idea.

But that takes a lot of work and a lot of practice, and I think it's something worth actually having conversations with your teams about. And some teams may come out in different places in terms of how pointed they want the debate versus how they think that impacts people's willingness to throw out ideas.

I remember we used to talk about, in some open source communities, hey, we don't want just the best ideas from people who are willing to withstand withering criticism. We want the best ideas. And that means that we have to make sure the debate we have happens in a respectful way. And you know, you are not your idea, so somebody attacking your idea isn't attacking you.

But again, those are things that we have to really work on and continue to hone and learn, and it's just a muscle that we all need to build in our teams if we want to make sure that we bring in the best and brightest and diverse opinions and points of view; and at the same time, have the debates that we think we need to have to fuse the great ideas together that typically come from multiple people working together and building off of each other's ideas. Thanks. Talk to you again soon.