FEATURE 12 / Canadian Government Executive // WINTER 2025 what we should do about it differs from person to person. Our histories, moods, stress, fatigue, rules of thumb and cognitive biases and differences in skill all significantly affect what we perceive and how we react. What you see I might miss and vice versa. Our ability to explore productive doubt also depends upon whether we are allowed to speak up, to disagree and/or raise a different perspective. Whether we trust that we will be respected if we split from the accepted wisdom. It can be daunting to surface doubts in the workplace when others have decided upon a different way of proceeding. Our job as managers and leaders is to make it safe to raise such questions. Here, our history can help us or hurt us. In the public service we honor the concept of speaking truth to power. Too often, past experiences have taught us that speaking up can be unwelcome – and at times career limiting. Realistically, if that is the pattern of how we work together that has developed as the result of our past interactions, we cannot expect colleagues to be enthusiastic about surfacing productive doubts! Exploration of productive doubt can be a challenge. Uncertainty can be threatening and especially so in the workplace. Conflict is also difficult and as we are conscious of our need to work together in the future, we often seek to avoid it. We may prematurely shut down our inquiries into what is going on. Or we might grasp on to an early consensus rather than, as Chris Mowles, senior scholar in the field of managing in complexity, often counsels, sitting in the ‘fires of uncertainty’ just a little longer to give ourselves the chance to explore what is happening. Ralph Stacey was known to observe that often the best leaders were those that had learned how to manage their anxieties in the face of inevitable uncertainty. One of the key differences between traditional management theories and prescriptions was perhaps most eloquently expressed by Doug Griffin, one of the original scholars in this field. He believed the key question in any organization is ‘Who are we becoming? Our interactions, the health of our relationships and ‘how’ we work together today are likely to affect how we will work together in the future. Especially in challenging, uncertain times, we must be conscious of the legacy of today’s interactions on the type of organization we are becoming. While we will never be able to deliver on the ‘no surprises’ request, we may be able to become more effective in reducing them through welcoming different perspectives to our exploration of productive doubt. Dr. Sara Filbee is the author of Managing in Complexity: How Our Fears of Uncertainty Can Hurt Us and What To Do About It. She recently retired from the Federal Government following a lengthy career that spanned public and private sector as well as civil society, including over 12 years at the Assistant Deputy Minister level. See sarafilbee.com for more information about her book. One of the key differences between traditional management theories and prescriptions was perhaps most eloquently expressed by Doug Griffin, one of the original scholars in this field. He believed the key question in any organization is ‘Who are we becoming? Our interactions, the health of our relationships and ‘how’ we work together today are likely to affect how we will work together in the future.
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