Silent Disco.

Silent Disco.

‘Dissonance, if you are interested, leads to discovery.’ — William Carlos Williams

Managers encounter dissonance daily.

Differing perspectives within the team. Conflicting priorities between departments. Friction around change or new ideas. The gap between the neatness of plans and the messiness of their execution. The distance between what people say and what they do.

These encounters with dissonance can indeed be valuable. All it takes is overcoming the inevitable frustrations they bring and paying attention. Being interested. They signal a potential divergence that — when explored rather than avoided or suppressed — can uncover better approaches, hidden risks, or overlooked opportunities.

Dissonance is the doorway. Curiosity is the key. Discovery is the reward.

But the qualifier ‘if you are interested’ is crucial.

Not only because curiosity and openness turn dissonance into discovery, while a disengaged or defensive manager might shut down dissent. Often intentionally. But also because dissonance, just like chaos, is subjective. An illusion. There is no such thing.

People dance to every tune and their taste for order is completely idiosyncratic. Unique to every individual. As Thoreau said, ‘If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.’ And Nietzsche added, ‘Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.’

Imagine a ‘silent disco’, where people dance together to different tunes through their headphones, looking mildly deranged to passersby.

One signal that cannot be ignored, though, is what psychologists call ‘cognitive dissonance.’ It refers to the discomfort we feel when we hold two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. And, even more acutely, when our actions contradict our stated or intrinsic beliefs.

We feel uneasy or stressed in a situation or with a specific work demand, but we’re not sure why. It just doesn’t feel right. Our conscience sends us a signal that is loud and clear. The default reaction is often one of avoiding thinking about it and — if this does not do the trick — rationalizing that which feels ‘off.’

And we have a whole stock of sedatives for this purpose: ‘Everyone does it’, ‘It’s just how business works’, ‘You have to do what you have to do.’ All it takes is a simple act of not thinking too much or too hard.

But dissonance with our own values is different. Being interested in that signal is not optional; it is essential. And the discovery that ensues is that you have options.

Always.