Dissent or Disloyalty?
By Dr. Brian Simmons
Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash
Dissent, in the context of organizational leadership, is the expression or holding of opinions at variance with those held by other organizational leaders and especially the ones at the top of the organization. Effective leaders mine out, like precious gold in the organization’s veins, dissenting opinions of others with the fierce determination to ground decision-making on the bedrock of ideation. These leaders refuse the mistaken and proud notion that they always know what is best for the organizations they lead.
Disloyalty, on the other hand, defines a traitor and his/her treacherous, dangerous or deceptive acts in opposition to the mission, belief statements and core values of the organizations they help lead.
Organizational leaders should work together to define what about the organization must never change. They should work together to remain mission true and preserve belief statements and core values at all costs. Then, all else should be open to change! One can hold deserting views yet be among the most supportive and loyal leaders in the entire organization!
To state the obvious, there IS a difference between dissent and disloyalty!
According to Sonnefeld (2022), CEOs who do not WELCOME dissent try to “pack the court” and we have learned from scandals from the past (Enron, Arthur Anderson, Tyco etc.) that boards would be well advised to recognize this difference. The best, most effective leaders invite dissent! According to Finkelstein, 2004, habit #1 of unsuccessful CEOs is that they ruthlessly eliminate anyone who isn’t completely behind them! He continues to explain that by eliminating all dissenting and contrasting viewpoints, destructive CEOs cut themselves off from their best chance of seeing and correcting problems as they arise.
Ineffective leaders arrogantly believe they hold all of the answers to the problems the organizations they lead face. Effective leaders do not think they have all of the right answers. In fact, they don’t even believe they have all of the right questions!
Finkelstein’s habit #3 of spectacularly unsuccessful executives states that these leaders think they have all of the right answers! What hubris! Leaders who think they have all of the right answers shut out other points of view, ie dissent, and treat those who express views differing from their own as disloyal.
The humility and vulnerability of admitting one doesn’t have all of the right answers can be the strength that galvanizes people with the problem to find a breakthrough solution to the problem. In other words, “not having the answer is the answer after all” according to Cathy Trower in her book The Practitioner’s Guide to Governance as Leadership.
What we need today are organizational leaders who act as steward leaders putting service to God and others over self-interest. These effective steward leaders will listen to dissenting viewpoints, refuse to mistakenly label dissenters as being disloyal, keep these leaders around instead of marginalizing or eliminating them entirely, replace pride with humility and establish a culture where the best ideas prevail!
Iron sharpens iron! Faithful (loyal) are the wounds of a friend!
