One of the best films of all time is Twelve Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda and a strong support cast. This classic move tells the story of a group of twelve jurors meeting to decide the fate of a boy who allegedly killed his father. On the surface, the boy appears to be guilty. However, when the jury team takes a vote, eleven jurors vote guilty while one (played by Henry Fonda) abstains. When pressed why he didn’t vote guilty, Fonda simply replies that he doesn’t really know if the boy is guilty or innocent.
The movie chronicles the interaction between the jurors who are crammed into a small, hot room and who get frustrated with the lone holdout. As the movie progresses, the team talks things over and gets the perspectives of all jurors. One by one, they became more convinced that the boy is innocent. Prominent author Margaret Wheatley believes that there are important teamwork lessons to be learned from the movie. Wheatley highlights six concepts taken from the movie that are relevant to effective teamwork and collaboration”
- Taking time to talk
- Open inquiry
- Accepting responsibility for making a decision
- Equality of team members as participants in the process
- Value of conflict in uncovering ideas and new information
- The essential role of diversity in making effective decisions
Wheatley produced a video that takes six lessons from the movie and relates them to high performing teams.
- Teams should take the time to just talk – We tend to be so busy in our working lives that we focus on the task at hand and rarely take an opportunity for team members to talk and get to know each other. Team members tend to rush to conclusions and pursue their own agendas, without taking the time to get everyone’s’ perspectives and to suspend judgment and actively listen to varying points of view. This is done at great risk to the quality of decisions being made.
- Team leaders need to encourage all team members to participate on an equal basis – The leader must “use open inquiry to weigh the facts and clarify ambiguities”. The leader must resist the opportunity to dominate the conversation and must make room for others.
- All team members must take responsibility to make decisions – Work teams must stay together and work through their differences. Most team members try to avoid ambiguity and conflict over ideas and so look for a quick fix solution and an easy way out. Leaders must ensure that the team takes the necessary time to make a quality decision and hold team members accountable.
- All team members are equal – It is essential that the team leader creates an environment where everyone feels comfortable to speak out, especially when voicing a dissenting opinion. Team members should feel comfortable voicing opinions, asking questions and challenging the status quo. No one should be allowed to dominate the conversation and intimidate others (as is vividly shown in the movie).
- Task-oriented conflict is desirable – While interpersonal conflict must be avoided on a team, task-related conflict that encourages the expression of different points of view is important. The leader must ensure:
- The team has a common goal
- Team members hold each other accountable
- Time is spent building trust among team members
- Task conflict is considered to be important as a means of generating new ideas and breakthroughs
6. The leader should tap into the diversity of experience that exists on the team – Wheatley makes the point that “While the term “diversity” is often limited to differences of color, nationality or gender, the true value of diversity is the wealth of experience and perceptions brought by each individual to the team”. Indeed, “teams learn that information or “facts” are seen differently by different people because of their unique life experiences”.
It is highly recommended to see the classic Twelve Angry Men, share with team members and discussion the lessons of the film related to effective teamwork.