Are You Afraid of Disagreement?
What We're Reading
Your Executive Team Needs More Productive Conflict by Rebecca Newton, published October 7, 2026, in Harvard Business Review.
The Quick Summary
Executive teams may have a conflict problem, but not the one you think. In an effort to maintain harmony, executives often avoid challenging one another, leaving important decisions insufficiently debated. Productive disagreement requires shared purpose, interpersonal trust, and an environment where people feel safe challenging ideas.
Our Take
There certainly is no shortage of disagreement. But the inability to disagree openly is another story. When executives don't feel comfortable challenging one another, those conversations don't disappear. They move into private emails, hallway discussions, and conversations outside the room where decisions are actually being made.
But productive disagreement requires more than simply encouraging people to speak up. It requires interpersonal trust, psychological safety, and a shared understanding that challenging someone's ideas doesn't mean challenging them personally. And for many executive teams, those conditions don't currently exist.
Competition, competing priorities, unresolved tensions, and past experiences can make it difficult for executives to see one another as collaborators rather than adversaries. You can't expect people to suddenly engage in honest, difficult conversations without first addressing the relationships and organizational dynamics that have made those conversations difficult in the first place.
Building the capacity for productive conflict takes intentional work. Sometimes that means repairing relationships, bringing in a neutral facilitator, or creating structured opportunities for dissent. But it also means making honest disagreement part of how the organization operates, not just something encouraged during an occasional retreat.
Your Next Move
The real work starts by examining your own relationships with the people around the table. Who do you find yourself getting frustrated with? Whose ideas are you quick to dismiss? Are there colleagues you avoid challenging because of past experiences, unresolved tensions, or assumptions you've made about their intentions?
Before expecting others to engage in more productive disagreement, consider how you might be contributing to the dynamics that make those conversations difficult. What judgments are you holding about others? Where might you be making assumptions instead of asking questions? And what role have you played in building or eroding trust?
Then take responsibility for improving those relationships. Initiate a conversation you've been avoiding. Get curious about someone's perspective rather than assuming you understand their motivations. Look for opportunities to rebuild trust, even when the other person isn't taking the first step.
If we want to create an environment where people can challenge one another openly, we have to be willing to examine and change how we show up in those relationships ourselves.
Ready to Create Change Without Playing Politics?
Recognizing the dynamics that make change difficult is one thing. Knowing how to navigate them is another.
In our upcoming live training, Creating Change Without Playing Politics, we'll help you better understand the human dynamics at play, build your influence, and mobilize people around difficult challenges without getting caught up in organizational politics.
Join us October 14 at 1 PM CT for this LIVE course. Can't join live? Don't worry, you'll be able to access the recording and all the resources after the session.
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