How to Play Devil's Advocate in a Productive Way

Every high-performance team needs someone to keep things in check and balance the discussion.

One of the key roles that teams often get wrong is that of the devil's advocate. This is the person on the team who takes an opposing point of view and brings up contrary evidence and perspective. It's a key role to help make sure the team isn't missing a critical piece of information or failing to consider other options.

In 1587, the Catholic Church established the role of advocatus diaboli as part of the process of declaring someone a saint. The purpose of the role was to present counter-evidence of sainthood and to find holes in the events presented as miracles. One of the most famous examples was when the atheist author Christopher Hitchens was asked to testify against Mother Teresa.

What the Church has long realized, and what good teams come to learn, is that without someone to present contrary evidence and an alternative opinion, you risk missing other opportunities and making big mistakes. It's a risk that you can't afford to take and one that's easy to avoid.

However, many teams get the role wrong. Instead of inhabiting a key role necessary to improve decisions and results, a bad devil's advocate will just be argumentative and create friction on the team. Here are the right ways to make sure your team is taking everything into consideration.

Where are you not considering other points of view? Where are you taking risks without realizing it?

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https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/how-to-play-devils-advocate-in-a-productive-way.html