In the latest Businessweek, Jack Welch writes happily about the power of pushback in the national government. By pushback Welch refers to healthy debate. He notes that a couple recent events--"incipient signs"--suggest that the Administration's "full-throttle" powering may begin to get some pushback and that the interaction may become truly bipartisan.
As Welch comments, "Everyone knows ideas get better when they're energetically inspected, batted around by skeptics, and poked and probed from all angles." I'm not really certain that "everyone knows," but we all have our own delusions about what people know. According to Welch, though, the current administration, with its control of the White House and the legislature is in desperate need of pushback. And, Welch says, pushback is as valid in govenrment as it is in business.
I'm in full agreement. Pushback is especially useful in business decision making, whether strategy, innovation, tactics or process. When I'm working with a client, whether for personal development or other business processes, I always invite pushback. I believe that if I don't get pushback from clients and others, our decisions are liable to be far less successful or applicable. There are some occasions when I don't get pushback, however, I've found that it's important to insist and make certain that ideas and processes are debated.
I believe that when I don't get pushback from clients and others there are three possible reasons:
--I'm not clear enough for the client to understand the importance of my suggestion.
--My suggestion won't be taken seriously anyway.
--I'm so profoundly wrong that the client is trying to figure out a nice way to say that's B.S..
In any instance, I can't imagine any idea or suggestion being accepted wholesale without some adjustments. None of us is that knowledgable or smart. As a result, if there is no debate, I'll backtrack to find out what's going on with the client and what he/she is really thinking.
There is a second intriguing context in which we will get pushback. Perhaps surprisingly, that's when we're trying on a new competency. All of us humans have a great need for predictability in our relationships. As a result when we engage in a behavior that is outside the norm, those on the receiving end of the new behavior will either by non-verbal, or kind response or sometimes harsh rejection, push back on our new behavior. That's normal. It also provides you with an opportunity to both give and receive feeback. Of course, if you put your tail between your legs and go back to your old habit, nothing good comes out of the pushback.
I'm a very firm--no, superlatively firm--believer in Welch's concluding statement: Pushback inevitably increases payback.