Silent Dissent - The Cohesion Killer
Picture this - you’re in a critical leadership meeting where a decision on a major shift is proposed. Several team members speak up in support or add to the rationale of the proposal, building momentum in the room. To the side is one or maybe two team members sitting quietly, perhaps slowly nodding. There’s a slight pause as the leader mentions the team is in agreement, then everyone leaves the room assuming they’ve reached unanimous consensus; however, the reality is far different. Outside the meeting room, the silent senior leaders continue following the old path, providing conflicting direction, and the "agreed-upon" shift is ultimately undermined and impeded during execution.
The "Holding Back" Symptom
What we’ve seen is that silence during decision making is rarely a sign of alignment. Scalabl’s approach to developing tight team cohesion often identifies "holding back" as a primary symptom of a disjointed team, where members choose to silently nod or disengage rather than participate in rigorous debate. Leaders can be lured to following the “easy” path of assuming agreement, instead of fostering high team performance by actively surfacing divergent views to navigate together.
Why Artificial Harmony Hinders Your Team
When leadership teams avoid this healthy conflict and debate, the cost is felt beyond just the leadership team and reaches deep into execution through leadership members’ conflicting messaging and misaligned intentions. Confusion and frustration grows within executing teams and the competing demands add delays and waste.
Without a leadership team unified behind key decisions, the team fractures (openly or secretly) causing wider fragmentation throughout the organisation, derailing momentum and eroding confidence in the leadership team’s abilities.
More Symptoms
Members holding back is just one of the signs of a leadership team lacking cohesion and experiencing unfulfilled potential. If this is something that sounds all too familiar to you, then you could benefit from our Leadership Team Cohesion program.
