Want to Be a Better Boss Or Team Player? Watch '12 Angry Men'

 

"In the 1957 classic film "12 Angry Men," Henry Fonda, as Juror No. 8, methodically persuades the rest of the jury that the case against an 18-year-old boy accused of murdering his father isn't open and shut -- in other words, that he isn't guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The teen is spared the electric chair.

How Juror No. 8 brings 11 people around to his point of view is a master class in how one person can take a group of skeptical -- even hostile -- colleagues, and get them to work together toward a single goal, turning a low-performing team into a high-performing one. By using the right communications tactics, leaders can guide their teams to increased participation, more-thoughtful decisions and better results.

The key, as Fonda's character shows in the movie, is for leaders to model suspending judgment while exploring possibilities and assessing facts. The process of raising questions and identifying holes in colleagues' logic -- rather than dogmatically insisting on a point of view -- paves the way for collaboration and agreement.

I saw this firsthand in my role as a consultant to a large real-estate-investment company. Although better dressed and more polite, the directors at this company had been operating similarly to the jury in "12 Angry Men": They didn't listen to each other, talked over one another and took delight in pointing out what was wrong about another director's opinion.

When I had them watch the movie, they recognized their own communication style. Although they weren't yelling or making belittling, racist comments like the jury members, they came to meetings with preconceived notions to which they were determined to cling. They excelled at "gotcha," or catching others in flawed thinking or errors, which stifles discussion. By adopting the techniques that Juror No. 8 demonstrated, they learned an effective way to influence one another and to collectively get better results.

For example, in the movie, Juror No. 8 opens the door to discussion by saying, "I just want to talk. I don't know whether I believe [the boy's story] or not. Maybe I don't. Supposing we're wrong?" After watching the movie, the board members became more willing to explore possibilities instead of insisting they were right and anyone who disagreed was wrong. They asked open-ended questions such as: "What if. . .?" and "Is it possible that. . .?" and "Could we try. . .?" They also confronted their biases about who was able to contribute, recognizing that each director had unique experiences from which to draw even if he or she wasn't an expert in the subject matter being discussed.

The main takeaway for any leader, whether formal or informal, is that if you want team members to make better, more collaborative decisions, start by observing how team members interact with each other. How similar are they to the jury in "12 Angry Men"? Do they assume they're right and everyone else is wrong? Is someone dominating the discussion? Is someone being ignored? Is there a pecking order?

If the answer to these questions is "yes," try these steps to model the most-successful behaviors:

-- Stay calm. Suspend judgment and explore possibilities.

-- Ask open-ended questions ("Is it possible that. . .?; have you thought about. . .?"). Point out what's smart about people's thoughts or ideas.

-- Build on the experience and skills of the people on the team by bringing them into the discussion. For example, if someone on the team is good at predicting what can go wrong, ask them to identify holes in the logic.

-- Combine thoughts and experiences to enhance each other's ideas. Teams will come up with the best answers when no one is a winner or a loser.

Like Henry Fonda discovered, one not-so-angry person can make all the difference.

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Susan Lucia Annunzio is a leadership coach, author and president and CEO of the Center for High Performance. She also is an associate adjunct professor of management at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She can be reached at reports@wsj.com." [1]

1. The New Workplace (A Special Report): The Experts --- Want to Be a Better Boss Or Team Player? Watch '12 Angry Men'. Annunzio, Susan Lucia.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 16 Sep 2024: R.4.