How to Manage Differing Opinions in the Workplace

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No manager revels in leading a team that is constantly at odds, but a degree of healthy disagreement and debate is actually good for your business.

Firstly, it encourages your most stubborn team members to challenge their existing biases and think differently. Facilitating debate is a great way to introduce people to new ideas and new perspectives that they may not otherwise have been exposed to.

Secondly, there’s the fact that the pursuit of concord at all costs doesn’t serve your team’s best interests. By enforcing the mentality that everyone in your team should ultimately agree with one other, you dissuade people from speaking up. As a result, your more introverted or marginalized employees might feel unheard, which can lead to frustration, disengagement, and a lack of motivation.

Thirdly, diversity of thought provides good business outcomes. When everyone thinks in the same way, innovation is stifled and the boldest ideas or solutions go unexplored. Though it sounds counterintuitive, disagreement and collaboration come hand in hand. When you nurture a safe environment for your team to think outside the box and share their ideas, even when that means directly challenging their colleagues, you’ll find new ways to overcome hurdles and solve problems.

So how can managers best prevent their team’s disputes from spiraling out of control and harness them to drive innovation, productivity, and value?

1. Be Respectful, Patient, and Empathetic

You cannot create an environment in which everyone feels comfortable expressing their opinions without building respect and empathy between all team members.

While it’s ok to disagree, no one’s input should be scoffed at or dismissed. Remind your team that by listening to — and striving to understand — a new perspective, they haven’t automatically prescribed to that idea. Rather, they’ve shown their colleagues the courtesy they deserve.   

2. Give Everyone a Chance to Speak

Managing strong personalities is perhaps the biggest challenge when it comes to supervising a constructive debate between team members. The confident, extroverted, and more naturally confrontational amongst them will not only be the dominant voices in the room, and quick to express themselves, but they’ll also be the most likely to double down on their opinions — unafraid of, and unperturbed by, any escalating tensions.

Be prepared to rein in louder voices and elevate the quieter ones, particularly if certain team members will likely back down at the first sign of confrontation.

3. Set Boundaries

Empowering your employees to express themselves doesn’t mean your Monday morning team catch-ups should regularly descend into blazing arguments.

Make it clear that raised tones, aggression, or personal jibes have no place in a constructive discussion and will not be tolerated. If a debate between two team members does start to get heated, try to steer the conversation in a new direction, invite other employees to wade in on the discussion, or interrogate why they have such opposing views.

In some cases, you might need to give your team a cooling-off period by taking a break or returning to the contentious topic at a later date.

4. Invite Constructive Criticism

Effective communication and collaboration require honesty and transparency. Your employees will not learn to question their deep-rooted biases and opinions, or grow as professionals, if they are never called out by their colleagues and managers.

Inviting team members to provide their peers with constructive criticism will challenge them to do better. As a leader, it’s your role to ensure feedback is executed with compassion and no individual feels targeted by the group at large.

5. Never Suppress a Conflict

When a conflict feels impossible to resolve, it might be tempting to put it to one side and hope that the problem goes away by itself — but this is never advisable. An unresolved dispute quickly becomes the elephant in the room and only serves to breed deep-rooted resentment and frustration between team members.  

If you’ve struggled to resolve a conflict during a team meeting, you might need to conduct follow-up sessions with specific employees. In a more intimate setting, team members might find it easier to listen to one another and find a way to reconcile their differences.

6. Ask for Opinions in Advance

Some people might never feel comfortable speaking out against their colleagues in the middle of a team meeting, which is why forward-planning is key.

It’s good practice to send out an agenda ahead of important meetings and ask attendees to share their input in advance. That way, you can lead a balanced discussion that successfully incorporates everyone’s opinions and ideas. This also gives employees the chance to do research and think carefully about their position, rather than blurting out an ill-considered viewpoint in the heat of the moment.

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