If you’re the leader and the room splits, it’s easy to panic.
Easy to rush into placation, fixing, and tension relief. That’s not leadership, that’s fear.
Most times the best approach is to lean into the tension, at least initially.
Hold the room.
Sit with it. Let them sit with it. Let them argue. Listen. Not for agreement but for clarity. Where are you trying to go? What change are you trying to make? What is the intended outcome? What’s the real goal?
Once you know, the job is simple. Not easy, but simple — build (enough) consensus or push ahead anyway.
Your job isn’t to please the room. It’s to move it.
Hold the room.
You might need to build consensus, but it’s the movement you came for.
