Thought Leaders I
Constructive Confrontation: When Conflict Enhances Collaboration
Intel CEO Andy Grove, nicknamed "the screamer," could be intensely intimidating. He created a culture at Intel that he described as "constructive confrontation." This was a high-stress environment, but very productive. It freed everyone to be as blunt and assertive as he was. The friction of this confrontation helped to drive a very successful company that dominated the intensely competitive chip-making industry.
Richard Shell, academic co-director of Wharton’s Strategic Persuasion Workshop: The Art and Science of Selling Ideas, compares interactions in organizations to collisions of molecules in a gas. "If you want to spark more ideas and get people more emotional and creative, you sometimes have to heat them up a little. It is from a collision of people with high aspirations that you get good ideas."
Some conflict, as long as it is not personal, can actually lead to better outcomes in collaboration or negotiation. "There is research on collaboration that shows that people who are more assertive about their goals are more successful," says Shell. "You have to be motivated to solve a problem, not to prevail at all costs. But people who have high aspirations and are assertive in pursuing them often find more collaborative agreements, more win-win solutions, than more amiable people."
Different Styles
While Andy Grove’s solution worked for him, it is just one approach to building collaboration and culture. In Wharton’s Strategic Persuasion Workshop, Shell and co-director Mario Moussa discuss five different persuasion styles. A self-administered Persuasion Styles Assessment test, based on work in their new book, The Art of Woo, helps participants determine the level of assertiveness and natural social intelligence they bring to persuasion.
Grove’s confrontational style is an example of the "driver" style. He shares this style with leaders such as Microsoft’s Bill Gates and genomics pioneer Craig Venter. Given Grove’s natural style, he made it work for his organization by surrounding himself with people with similar aggressiveness — or at least a high tolerance for it.
There are other less confrontational styles. The "commander" style is a slightly quieter version of the driver, as personified by banker J.P. Morgan. A "chess player" such as John D. Rockefeller is a person who takes a strategic view of the social environment. The "promoter" style, in contrast, shows a high level of engagement and social intelligence, as exemplified by Andrew Carnegie. Finally, the "advocate" strikes a balance among all the other styles, as shown in the successful leadership of Sam Walton.
Skilled leaders adjust their own natural styles to the situation. A "driver" such as Grove or Gates might become less driven in negotiations or collaboration with a "promoter." "You need to know your own style and the style of the person you are collaborating with," Shell says.
When Confrontation Helps . . . and Hurts
Blunt communication is particularly important in a crisis or when deadlines are short. During the Apollo 13 crisis, for example, when the ground crew had to work quickly to come up with a solution to bring the damaged space capsule and crew back to Earth, there was no time to mince words. "The team collaborated to solve a very difficult problem," Shell says. "You have to maintain your composure, quickly reject solutions that don’t work, and move on."
Confrontation is also constructive when it is used with other people who have confrontational styles. In fact, for someone like Andy Grove, it could be the only way to effectively make yourself heard.
Confrontation becomes most destructive when it becomes personal. "If you are an emotional cowboy, running around shouting, it becomes unpredictably destructive," Shell says. "People also will write you off." Andy Grove could get away with his tirades, in part, because he was brilliant. People accepted the whole package. "But the average person is not like Andy Grove, so people may not tolerate such a difficult style as easily," Shell says.
Negotiations and Persuasion
While many styles and channels may work, collaboration takes attention and effort. Strategic persuasion is more than just having the will or liking someone. It means understanding what it takes to get your ideas across and win over others. "It requires hard work to understand your own style, repeated efforts to gain perspectives on the styles of others, and constant investment in constructing relationships," Shell says.
Shell leads two popular programs at Wharton that address different aspects of collaboration and confrontation. Strategic Persuasion Workshop: The Art and Science of Selling Ideas focuses on winning people over to create alignment. The Executive Negotiation Workshop: Bargaining for Advantage addresses situations where at least one party sees a conflict of interest. "In the suite of executive education courses, some people get a lot of value from taking both the negotiation and strategic persuasion programs," Shell says. "Negotiation is more concentrated on the conflict part, while Strategic Persuasion focuses more broadly on organizational persuasion."
The title of Shell and Moussa’s book, The Art of Woo, echoes the famous military classic, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. As Shell points out, the best victories are those where there are no casualties and no one fires a shot. "True victory in The Art of War is when you don’t have to fight and you still win." In this case, avoiding confrontation may be the best course.
