I had a conversation with an American friend on the weekend, who shared that she is starting to lean away from her lifelong pattern of acceptance and tolerance to a strategy of direct confrontation in solving life disagreements.

This led me to question if people and societies have become less tolerant of opposing views and more combative towards ‘the other side’. The answer that came back was yes, there is a lot of evidence of increasing intolerance. Fuelled by combative global leadership that normalises name-calling, disrespect, emotional and physical hostility towards those who hold different views.

Reports indicate that an outcome of this rising intolerance is a decline in trust, weakening of democratic norms, social fragmentation and amplification of misinformation whereby people are fed a narrow view of the world within their closed groups (especially on social media).

Interestingly, a combative environment is also linked to reduced problem-solving capacity. This makes sense if you view it on a personal or team level – creativity and problem solving require an anxiety-free, open environment where differing views can be freely expressed.

As leaders, we can build thriving, healthy and innovative organisations even in these increasingly intolerant times by fostering open dialogue and engaging with others who hold different views. This creates a workplace where people can be free from the tightness of fear and embrace the openness of listening and engaging. We might not be able to solve the problems of the world, but by creating safe spaces at work, we can encourage respectful and engaging interaction between people…which is good for us, our clients and our business!

This week, let’s be extra aware of our behaviours with the people around us – especially those that look or sound different from us.