If you have been to our booth at any of the conferences we attended this year (namely Data Innovation Summit (link) and Stockholm Tech Show (link), you probably noticed a pair of jars filled with Serbian sweets, a small board with a polarizing statement and an invitation to vote “agree” or “disagree” by taking a candy from either of the jars. The topics were "AI will change the world for the better", "There is no safe Data" and similar. 

That's because our sweet spots are not just AI and Data, but also debates themselves. We have them all the time - internally and externally. 

We will never know whether people liked our topics and the idea of voting, or it was just the sweets.

For instance, about our recent summer campaign (link), we had plenty of arguments. Shall we communicate at all during the vacation season? We're not selling beer, sun protection or ice cream, right? Would we just waste money? Ok, but it's not like everyone is on vacation all the time. If the message is right, if we're not aggressive, intrusive or too “salesy”... Why not?

No, we do not nurture a culture of conflict, nor do we breed an extreme form of competition among our people. On the contrary. We just think it's important to be able to respectfully disagree. We believe there's a global deficit of this ability. 

Never miss an important angle again

Also, a structured, deliberate, honest and decent debate can be a powerful tool to explore and scrutinize any topic, including business decisions. So we practice it, including purposefully taking a stance we personally do not agree with, taking some prep time and then defending it from all imaginable perspectives, with all the wit we can muster. To make sure we don't miss an angle that might prove important down the line.

We call these debates “Debatak” (in Serbian, it's a word play with “debata” and “batak”, the latter meaning “a chicken drumstick”, don't ask why) and we had several of them, with topics ranging from AI and tech issues, to whether we should celebrate the International Women's Day or it's just another smoke-screen and an institutionalized hypocrisy toward women.

 A structured, deliberate, honest and decent debate can be a powerful tool. But it has to be all of that, especially decent.

A minimal definition of Debatak is "confrontation of two opposing stances on a defined topic, in which two sides, after preparation, politely defend their stance with rules, respecting the other side, and using knowledge, arguments, and logic." So a listener can hear both sides and gain a complete picture.

We even created a "Debatak Blueprint," a document with all the relevant information necessary for organizing a Debatak - values, formats, mandatory elements, etc., providing a framework for debate as an organizational tool while allowing enough freedom for innovation in the way it can be organized.

Our Debatak event in Novi Sad, hosted at one of our office locations.

Debates are great for your organizational awesomeness 

If you don't want critical thinking and open dialogue in your organization, fine. But if you do, debates are your perfect tool. By organizing them, you send the message that it's ok when people voice their opinions and share perspectives. You encourage them to learn from each other's experiences. An environment that values diverse viewpoints is a good way to improve the decision-making processes. Which is great for your teams and your business. 

People will feel valued and respected. Debates promote engagement and empowerment. In such a company, people feel much better among colleagues and are more likely to take ownership of their work. It builds an atmosphere where even the shy, reclusive types, that usually don't take part in debates themselves, are more likely to have common goals always in sight. A crew or empowered, respected employees that share perspective and learn from each other is a winning team.

Debates enhance problem-solving skills and innovative thinking. When your people feel comfortable to challenge existing ideas and present different arguments, meaningfully and respectfully, it helps create innovative solutions and find new approaches. Which fuels organizational growth and competitiveness. It's an exciting brain exercise, and you need brains.

Debates train us to make sense of complex information. Which is your regular situation any given Monday, if you have a job and you want to do it properly.

It can get real smart, but also funny, fierce…

Probably the best example is a Debatak we had in our office in Novi Sad, last summer. The topic was: “AI will make the world better”. We chose the topic because it is hot ("let's do it while there's hype"), but more importantly - because it is now even more of a social than a technological topic. 

Here's the video:

It was funny, smart, a bit scary at times. Voting before the debate showed the overwhelming majority “Agrees” that AI will make the world better. After the debate, the same option won, but not so overwhelmingly. That's what debates do. They help people make more informed votes or decisions.