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Day 21 in MIT Sloan Fellows Class 2023, Leadership learning from cohorts - 5

MBA MIT SFMBA leadership communication

 

Conflict

One day we were talking about the definition of a niche market. I stated that one requirement was to not grow, to stay small. My opinion was not valued and was rejected unfortunately. I had a firm confidence in myself. The problems at that moment are my delivery of my opinions and my consistency. My team was a relatively active group that proactively listen to others` opinions, but they denied me on this point.

 

In the next class I recognized I spotted the conditions of niche market contain size and growth. 

Learning

This experience taught me two quite important principles.

Saying the right thing and delivering an effective message are totally different but both important skillsets. 

Secondly, our team was transformed through this experience. We were quite decisive. However, after this experience, we proactively listen to minority opinions and try to validate majority opinions. Quick failure is a key in organizational change. 

 

Another Experince

Another day, one of my classmates put in a tremendous amount of effort and came up with an elaborate analysis and logical construction. However, her opinions were excluded under the dynamics of productivity and efficiency to produce deliverables.

What I have learned from this is to predict in advance which opinions are likely to reach consensus and which are not. And if it is not likely to be, then thoroughly prepare yourself with opposing theory. If this is not possible, the only way is to increase the number of allies behind the scenes and to obtain a consensus in advance. In a democratic society, where decisions are often made by the group and not by the individual, whether or not this consensus can be reached is likely to be a major factor in separating actions.

 

Difficulties of getting consensus in multiple cultures

Getting consensus in advance is another hard challenge because it means totally different approach in each culture. At this point, many should predict typical response and prepare them. That's the best strategy.