🚜 Farm For Dissent
Hello! Adam Thornhill here. ‘The Podcast Guy’ saving you 10 hours a week.
Enjoy the 147th Podup, with special thanks to ChatGPT Consulting - a structured 4-week program to transform your team’s productivity and creativity.
Today, we’ll dive into the best insights and ideas from The Tim Ferriss Show.
‘To disagree silently is disloyal.’ That’s how strong Reed Hastings feels about the importance of candid communication. He built a culture at Netflix where voicing disagreements is seen as a crucial component of growth. Today, we’ll learn his technique for ‘farming for dissent’.
How to facilitate feedback
It’s not normal to disagree with your boss. We’ve learned to be deferent.
Instead, your job is to help your business grow. Sometimes, to help your business grow, you have to be willing to argue with your manager.
Because it’s difficult emotionally in most companies to disagree with your manager, we do things differently at Netflix. We purposefully farm for dissent.
We have managers ask ‘What are 3 things you’d do differently if you were in my job?’
I did that every 18 months or so with my top executives at Netflix.
Reed Hastings
Why it matters
A fear of conflict leads to a culture of silence, where employees nod along to ideas and decisions they don’t believe in.
In contrast, by inviting criticism you can uncover blind spots, foster trust, and drive your teams toward better solutions.
Reed’s ‘farming for dissent’ is a great tool, however, it cannot be done in isolation.
To truly farm for dissent, you have to ask your team for their feedback at every turn.
They need to have seen their feedback change your mind at least once in the past.
Then, and only then, will Reed’s question elicit the valuable insights you’re looking for.
Next steps
Normalize two-way feedback. Don’t create specific meetings to voice alternative perspectives. Instead, make a habit of asking for criticism and for the opposing side of your ideas.
Lead by example. Encourage senior leaders to openly solicit feedback and show how they constructively handle dissent. The rest of the company will start to embody the same behaviour.
Reward courage. Acknowledge and reward those who have the courage to speak up, reinforcing that dissent is an act of loyalty and commitment to your company’s success.
Your thoughts?
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