The Shared Dialectic: Lessons in Leadership from Socratic Dialogue

For those that have read Plato's The Republic, the word "dialectic" is likely familiar to you. If you're not familiar, Mark Lamarre provides a good synopsis of Plato's Dialectical Method, in which he writes:

Dialectic is a term used in the central books of the Republic of Plato and in other dialogues to designate a scientific method of studying the metaphysical reality of forms and the good.

More broadly (and less abstract), the dialectic seeks truth and exposes error across multiple dimensions (e.g. the geometrical, mythical, and pedagogical). Perhaps the loose translation from 380 BC to 2016 AD is as follows:

The dialectic drives us to both be honest with ourselves and one another, yet challenge each other at the same time to grow. 

I read The Republic back in college, and a few years ago something was nagging at me to pick it up again. At the time, I was thinking a lot about the unseen energy across people and teams when they were interacting in meetings (and how that contributed to overall team culture) and wanted to drive some inner clarity.

The dialectic helped shape a practical implementation of an environment where we could both challenge one another, be open and transparent (in a non-punitive way) and at the same time drive progress. It was at that time I began to think more about how the dialectic applied to leadership and team-building, hence the shared dialectic. The shared dialectic in it's simplest form is the shared space across people (and outside of oneself); the place where people on a team interact, exchange ideas, challenge one another, plan, etc. A simple and practical example of the shared dialectic would be shared dialogue in a team meeting where people are contributing in an unselfish way (e.g. not continually focusing on their own achievements as the center of the dialogue).

For a leader, paying attention to the shared dialectic is critical because it provides a measurement for how your team may be coming together, and it can give you a glimpse into the 'unseen'--e.g. the opinions and narratives that are forming outside of your purview, traces of which bleed into face-to-face meetings and the broader energy of the team. When the shared dialectic within a room has a flourishing and unselfish energy, it's incredible--arguably the optimal environment for evolving as a team and driving open discussions, challenging discussions, and brainstorming. When the shared dialectic is low energy, non-participatory and self-directed, then it requires attention.

You can imagine that the shared dialectic has a life; it is not something that is point in time and then disappears (or at least it shouldn't be). Like Socrates' dialogues, the goal is to go beyond the self, drive to think 'next-level,' and ultimately for you as the leader it's to evolve and bring the team together on the journey. So, the shared dialectic should persist and grow over time.

Okay, so we how do we create it?

At a minimum, there are three factors that contribute to a positive shared dialectic: 1) trust, 2) willingness, and 3) capability. The unfortunate part is that these are not easy properties to drive in a team and not all leaders know how to enable them. They all take some time to engender; they take an open and supportive approach from a leadership perspective; they require some measure of individual and team activity; they require some degree of coaching and learning (whether from the individual, manager or both); and they require people to step outside of themselves which can be uncomfortable.

It's important to note that the chemistry of trust, willingness, and capability is complemented in a very big way by environment, and leaders do have influence here. That is, you can have your people's back; you can invest more money in their technical learning and career advancement; you can design culture to not be political; and you can drive an open, transparent and challenger-mindset team. As you could imagine, building out an environment where people are able to do their best work and passions run high results in a positive shared dialectic. This requires discussion and coaching at multiple levels; that is, from the individual contributor to your leads and managers who report into you to the leaders to whom you report.

To help make this a bit more real, some practices I have found useful:

• Design the cultural boundaries and make sure you "define in" things like fun, passion, transparency, challenger, being apolitical, etc. Don't deviate off of the cultural definition; build from it.
• Evolve the "me" mentality into the "we" mentality. (And be sure to reward the team/collaborative activities.)
• Tough conversations help improve the shared dialectic; avoiding them hurts it. (This applies at both the individual and team level.)
• As the team or organizational lead, block and tackle all political issues to form a protective bubble around the team culture--and the team's productivity.
• Manage the communication in team meetings so people don't talk over one another, one person doesn't dominate and the team contributes respectfully To quote Stephen Covey “most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply,” so be sure to manage this in a meeting.
• Be inclusive (so long as they're not a distraction or unwanted) in leadership activities such as planning, feedback and strategy discussions.
• Have a simple and strong vision of where the team should evolve and be successful--and use your cultural designs to get there.
• Have a soft measurement for the shared dialectic; use it as a way to evolve and grow the team.

These are just a start; there are other activities and coaching you can do, but if this is a new concept to you, and you are a new manager, these should get you on your way.

In closing, you might look at the shared dialectic as an abstract concept that in some way is intertwined with the notion of team. In doing so, you might find other analogies that fit your style, e.g. team mojo, the pulse of the team, spirit of the room, etc. I like the shared dialectic because of its philosophical roots (they translate well for me), but whatever analogy you use to drive growth and evolution in your team, getting outside of ourselves to challenge and grow in an unselfish way is good.