When I first heard the phrase “I don’t want to make it sound like I’m playing Devil’s Advocate,” I didn’t really know what this meant. As I found out what it meant, it’s safe to say I hated it when people in my college classes would play that role. Sherrie Human, a member of the Department of Management Entrepreneurship at Xavier University (Cincinnati, Ohio) describes devil’s advocate as: “a role that is typically played by an individual who provides alternative perspectives and solutions to the problems, frequently challenging group assumptions.”
The majority of my classes in my major include group projects, and the role of devil’s advocate will come up once or twice when making a group decision (followed by responses of “Seriously?!?” or “Come on–let’s just agree to it so we can be done with this meeting!” or possibly “Why do you have to do this every time?!?”).
While playing the role of devil’s advocate adds time to the group meeting or deciding what to do for a client, it has its perks. Group success happens when more than one idea is brought to the table. If everyone in the group agrees to the same idea without some form of discussion, is it really a group? Bringing more ideas to the table during group work lets the group properly analyze every decision.
There are flaws to every idea or strategy. However, having a devil’s advocate pointing them out helps identify possible solutions to fix them, and it will ultimately help your team defend your chosen idea and better articulate why you rejected others.
So, next time if you’re grumbling when someone plays the role of devil’s advocate, give it a chance. We all naturally do it. It might reshape your entire view on a subject or bring about that one unthought of idea that is the key to your project’s success!
Blog Post By: Dylan Buboltz
Sources:
http://www.steveseager.com/devils-advocate-in-strategic-decision-making/
http://www.xavier.edu/faculty_development/october.htm
