Unity in Diversity
THE CLASH OF TEMPERAments. Heated debates. Spirited discourses. They all surface strong convictions. They heighten the passion to stand one's ground for his take on issues that impact the pursuit for realized goals. The tall orders of leadership lie on how one can manage warring opinions and arrive at a concerted game plan to communicate to the troops and eventually execute with aplomb.
While well meaning leaders would encourage harmonious working relationships to ease the strain of team interfaces, differences in viewpoints are bound to surface and one can never control folksy small talk. Take it from the seasoned veterans. 'Small talk' is here to stay. It may come in the form of petty bickering at the canteen, the comfort room, the office pantry or your nicotine zone. One official meeting gives birth to other unofficial meetings. This time around, it's no longer documented with minutes. How can one aptly capture the sounds of the forest?
Worst even is the ' meeting within a meeting' syndrome where non-verbal cues speak louder than the verbal. The radars connect, intersect and dissect and before we know it, our energies get sapped as we try to manage the aftermath of what was taken up. Former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Luther Powell once said, "When we are debating an issue, loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I'll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once a decision has been made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own."
It will be good to differentiate cliques from factions. Cliques do less harm. It could merely be an acknowledgment of common ground between people. Say, we studied in the same school, we grew up on the same block, our parents know each other, we belong to the same province or we embrace the same cause in the community. In groups, teams and congregations, cliques are certain to exist. Factions on the other hand can be divisive. What brings people together in this case is a common sentiment against a directive or the people championing it. Seeds of discord get planted with constant whining and counter-productive mongering.
When invisible walls get built, two disturbing questions haunt us: Who and what are we walling in? Who and what are we walling out? Even in government, the all time low is rag politicking happens when we focus on personalities, instead of real issues. A clear indicator of maturity in teams would not just be the threshold to withstand the omnipresence of diverse beliefs, but the skill to manage the differences and weave them into a kaleidoscopic whole that will cause us to thrive with the wealth of learning from each other.
Perish the notion that unity means uniformity. It cannot also mean unanimity. Our ideas are certain to collide but the infusion can mean enrichment of our own stocks of wisdom. The mix of temperaments doesn't just add color to work life. They form a tapestry where our viewpoints get challenged and our assumptions get tested. So let's not get frustrated if the day never comes when we will all think and move alike. Yes, the standards for topnotch performance are nonnegotiable. But the ways of getting to our envisioned state vary and the dynamism could just offer us the best crash course on maturity in organizations.