Over on BNET’s sister site, Moneywatch, there’s a great post on using “herd” behaviour to get people to follow your lead (as demonstrated by the “crazy guy dancing” — a sight less remarkable to UK festival veterans, perhaps.)
As Robert Pagliarini’s observes: “There’s a fine line between crazy and leader. Often all it takes is getting a few people to follow for a revolution to start. It’s not necessarily the idea, the vision, or the goal that moves people — sometimes it’s as simple as reaching critical mass (which can be just a handful of people).”
That’s probably true. But herd behaviour has its downsides — and by its nature makes it difficult to be the one who stands apart from the crowd.
The downside has to be its tendency to discourage originality and to mute dissent. Solomon Asch’s famous conformity experiment plays out the “Emperor’s New Clothes” in real life, showing how a control group’s deliberately wrong answers influence an individual to go against his better judgement. It demonstrates what most people already know — how easy it is for peer pressure to influence behaviour.
In a work situation, this can lead to groupthink of the worst kind. It may feel uncomfortable to be the one person in the meeting who goes against the group — and you could argue that the dissenting voices are often alone for a reason (they are wrong).
But dissent’s widely considered an important component of sound decision making — it might have eased the severity of the financial meltdown had more people spoken up.
It’s obvious that diverse opinions will likely yield more ideas — but that’s both good and bad. In unpredictable markets, you want predictable outcomes — managers and leaders can be struck by decision paralysis and may feel more comfortable with safe, consensus-driven decisions than with risky, maverick ones.
But that’s a tension that fuels a dynamic organisation, isn’t it? The tricky thing is using it to your business’s advantage.
Author and turnaround expert Anthony Holmes argues that the current recession demands even more disruptive thinking and counter-intuitive action — using the turbulence to shake things up even more.
Another tip comes from author Geoff Colvin (soon to feature on BNET UK talking about “The Upside of the Downturn“): in “Talent is Overrated”, he notes that exceptional performers may practise obsessively, but when it comes to performing, they never revert to ‘autopilot’, no matter how familiar the task.
No question, it’s a fine line between dissension and naysaying, but when it comes to business, it’s better to speak out and look foolish than stay mute when you feel strongly about an issue. In the words of maverick CEO John Timpson, “Question everything”.
