I’m often brought in to assess how leadership teams are doing. I look at a variety of signals. One of the best indicators a team isn’t doing so great?

False harmony.

Here’s one way to know this unhelpful state has set in.

There’s loads of back chatter during meetings. Slack DMs are blowing up. Meanwhile, on camera, everyone is nodding along or remaining quiet. Everything looks good on the surface but underneath confusion, uncertainty, and turmoil lurk. We’re “nice” with each other but we aren’t having the robust and sometimes hard conversations needed to ensure we’re heading in the right direction — together.

False harmony creates the illusion that we’re all in agreement. At the same time it squelches diverse opinions, new ideas and erodes trust. When people don’t speak up we miss valuable information leading to poor decision making. These teams are less prepared for challenges that arise and tend to underperform.

False harmony will quietly decimate your leadership team and then your org.

So how do we get here?

And how do we shift it?

How False Harmony Sets In

Here are five common reasons.

Believing that harmony is good and discord is bad — We think disagreement or debate is unhealthy and will get in the way of reaching goals. When we have a different perspective, instead of voicing it we remain quiet. Instead we complain to others. New ideas go undiscovered. Eventually, our product and methods of delivery become stale and fail to perform. Revenue slows and attrition increases.

Unaddressed toxic behavior — Few things fuel false agreement like negative behavior. We don’t know if we should speak up, we think we’re the only ones affected. As this behavior operates in the background, the environment becomes unsafe. When left for too long, team members get quiet and then leave. When finally addressed, trust is so broken it takes time and loads of effort to restore.

Lack of rules for engagement — Teams with false harmony have implicit norms. Lacking explicit norms about how the group operates and boundaries for behavior leaves us uncertain. We’re left trying to steady a boat that feels like it’s constantly in rocky waters. Feeling unsure, we defer to being quiet so we don’t rock the boat. This is exhausting so we check out mentally or leave the org.

Strong personalities suck up all the oxygen — A dominating personality (or two) set the tone and the agenda for the team. We find ourselves in a bind — fighting to get a word in edgewise or remaining silent to keep the peace and to keep moving forward. Quiet folks recede from the conversation, their perspectives and ideas fail to surface. Resentment and distrust builds.

We’re a group of functions, not a first team — We’re a group of functional leaders who haven’t shifted to being organizational leaders. Rather than seeing ourselves as a cohesive unit, we focus on ensuring our function operates well and gets the resources it needs. We’re quiet unless it directly impacts our area. Decision making rarely considers the entire system. The team starts to doubt us.

Reducing False Harmony

Shift the team’s perspective about disagreement — Friction and the resulting conversation can bring to light assumptions, and bring forth a variety of perspectives to a challenge the system faces. Embracing healthy disagreement brings better ideas and ensures everyone feels able to weigh in on org-wide initiatives.

Intentionally create the work norms — Talk about things like how the team makes decisions, communicates, and collaborates. When norms are created as a group, everyone feels a part of the process, we understand the norms and psychological safety increases.

Don’t let negative behavior fester — Having clear work norms outlining expected behavior helps make negative behavior obvious. When it pops up, address it immediately and directly. If behavior doesn’t shift, adjust their role or help them leave the org.

Never let one voice dominate — Work with the loudest voices to help them temper their propensity to always share their opinions. Help them see other perspectives. Intentionally make space for quieter voices by asking for their input. Most importantly, make it clear that all leadership styles are valuable.

Build connective tissue on the team — Help leaders shift from being functional to org leaders by creating a cohesive unit. An exec team offsite is a great way to start. When you get back, find opportunities for collaboration. A team that sees itself as a primary unit is more likely to have rich conversations that lead to organizational results. Once they trust each other they’ll turn towards each other rather than away when challenges arise.

One last thing

We often misunderstand leadership.

Leadership isn’t individual — it’s communal.

Leadership isn’t about what we (or our team) can accomplish — it’s about making the entire system successful. Organizational leadership requires us to work as a cohesive unit. A collection of functions will never perform as well as a well-oiled system. Well-working systems require constant communication between the various parts. Without it, the system doesn’t have the necessary information to perform well and eventually breaks.

Ignore false harmony at your peril.

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I can help you create a more cohesive team. Want to learn how?

Book a free strategy session on my calendar.