The Devil’s Advocate: Is it Good for Innovation?

Innovation is often lauded as the key to success in business. After all, staying ahead of the competition is hard if you're not constantly coming up with new ideas and ways to improve your products or services. But is every idea you come up with a good thing? Is there such a thing as being too innovative?

To keep yourself honest, you may consider appointing a devil's advocate.

The Devil's Advocate is a popular movie from the 1990s that tells the story of a lawyer hired to argue against a candidate for a high-ranking position in the Vatican. The lawyer's job is to poke holes in the candidate's qualifications and to find any dirt that might disqualify him. While the movie is fictional, the idea of a Devil's Advocate is accurate, and it's something that companies sometimes use when considering new ideas. The aim is to have someone whose job is to argue against the proposed idea, to improve the idea by making sure that all potential problems with it are discussed and addressed.

Definition of a Devil's Advocate

The term “Devil's Advocate” comes from the Catholic Church. In canonization, the process of declaring someone a saint, there is a Devil's Advocate (advocatus diaboli) whose job is to argue against the candidate's sainthood. If the Devil's Advocate can't find anything wrong with the candidate, they probably deserve sainthood.

Why Companies Use Devil's Advocates

There are a few reasons companies might use Devil's Advocates.

First, it can help to prevent groupthink. When people work on a project together, they quickly get caught up in thinking that their idea is great and should be implemented immediately. Devil's Advocates can help to forestall this by giving other people a chance to voice their objections and to point out any potential problems with an idea.

Second, it can help to ensure that all the stakeholders are on board with a decision. When considering a new idea, getting input from all affected is essential. The Devil's Advocate can help ensure everyone's concerns are considered before deciding.

Third, it can help to ensure that a decision is well-reasoned and thought out. When you're considering a new idea, it's easy to get caught up in the excitement of it and start thinking about all of the ways it could be successful. But it's also important to consider all of the ways that it could fail. The Devil's Advocate can help to ensure that you're thinking about both the potential positives and negatives of a decision before making it.

The Drawbacks

There are a few potential drawbacks to using Devil's Advocates.

First, it can lead to decision paralysis. If you're considering a new idea and you have someone whose job is to shoot it down, it's easy to get caught up in all the potential problems and never actually decide to go forward or kill it.

Second, it can frustrate the people who are working on the project. If you're constantly being shot down by someone whose job is to find fault with your ideas, it can start feeling like your work is never good enough.

Third, it can lead to a negative work environment. If people feel they can't share their ideas without being shot down, they may stop sharing them altogether. This can lead to a work environment where people are afraid to take risks, and new ideas never get a chance to be heard.

Overall, there are positive and negative aspects to using Devil's Advocates. It's essential to weigh the pros and cons before deciding whether to use them on a project.