Compromise Like a Leader

What does it take to engage and retain top talent in the 2021 workplace? “The pandemic has upended the very way we live and work,” says business strategist Tim Minahan. “People want to work for companies where they can pursue their passions and explore, create, and innovate alongside individuals with different perspectives to deliver meaningful outcomes.” But bringing different perspectives together—without knowing how to compromise effectively —is a recipe for disaster. It begs the question: in a society that increasingly views compromise as a dirty word, how do we create the workspace today’s employees are seeking?     

History often views the achievements of our early government through a lens of homogeny, as if our Founding Fathers were a composite group made up of like-minded individuals with similar backgrounds. Nothing could be further from the truth. The framers of our Constitution were made up of farmers, cobblers’ and blacksmiths’ sons, lawyers, ministers, merchants, physicians, soldiers, clothiers (among other trades), and both old money and self-made men. Add into this mix widely opposed beliefs about how strong our country’s central government should be and the differing (and often competing!) needs of Northern, Southern, large and small states, and you can imagine the minefield our Founding Fathers navigated.

Delegates had to work hard to create the Constitution—often called a “Bundle of Compromises”—to be acceptable to each of the 13 states. While each compromise was important, two, in particular, offer valuable lessons for today’s leaders:

1. Connecticut Compromise – Under the Articles of Confederation, which was the first written document establishing the function of our national government, each state operated as an independent entity with its own governmental system. While the delegates agreed this arrangement would not work during times of conflict, they could not agree on how each state should be represented in a centralized government. Delegates from larger states argued each state’s representation should be proportionate to population, while delegates from smaller states demanded representation be equal. The disagreement nearly derailed our Constitution. The compromise established two national legislatures in a bicameral Congress—one which allocated representatives according to each state’s population, and one which allocated representatives equally. 
2. Commerce Compromise – At the time of the Constitutional Convention, the Northern states had become highly industrialized, while the Southern states maintained an agricultural economy, importing the bulk of their finished goods from Britain. Delegates from Northern states wanted the government to impose import tariffs on finished goods and export tariffs on raw goods to discourage foreign trade. The Southern states, however, argued that export tariffs on their raw goods would damage the overseas trade they so heavily relied upon. The compromise provided that tariffs would be allowed on imports, but not U.S. exports, and that all future commerce legislation had to be passed by a two-thirds majority in the Senate (bypassing the House, which disproportionally favored the higher populated Northern states). 

The lesson offered by these examples is important and powerful: for compromise to work, it must adopt the strengths of each position, and address the needs of each group. As our Founding Fathers so aptly understood, this not only means working with the existing thoughts “on the table,” but also coming up with new solutions to ensure each side wins.

Are you wondering how to lead a diverse team effectively? Are you looking for ways to help them feel confident, informed, and work together? Let us share more leadership lessons from empowering leaders in an online workshop. You bring the team members, and we’ll create an immersive learning program, linking real-life examples with your individual workplace issues.

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