Principlev1

Explicitly establish and enforce team norms that distinguish

Explicitly establish and enforce team norms that distinguish task conflict from relationship conflict, celebrating disagreement about ideas while immediately addressing personal attacks.

Why This Is a Principle

Derives from Cognitive Dissonance Drives Information Avoidance (cognitive dissonance), Humans have a deep, evolutionarily encoded need for (need for belonging), and Social rejection and anticipated social rejection activate (social rejection activates pain circuits). The principle prescribes norm-setting to harness the benefits of cognitive diversity while managing the threat response that relationship conflict triggers.

Source Lessons

L-1610

Conflict as a team cognitive resource

Healthy disagreement — task conflict about ideas, approaches, and interpretations — improves team decisions. The absence of conflict does not signal harmony. It signals suppression of the cognitive diversity the team needs to think well.

Connections

Derived From (3)

AxiomCognitive Dissonance Drives Information Avoidance AxiomHumans have a deep, evolutionarily encoded need for AxiomSocial rejection and anticipated social rejection activate

Back to Concepts