In my career I have found a way that has worked for me really well, especially when I am the manager and even more especially given that I manage SMEs with far greater knowledge than I have in their area of specialty.
I have used the following to provoke thought and discussion around problems in a way that does not call anyone out:
Ill recap the decision, design or plan. Putting it on the whiteboard or in print or whatever format the succinct plan is in.
I then ask everyone on the team or in the meeting to look at it and specifically look for why it wont work or what is wrong with the plan.
Not what is wrong with WHO designed what - but tell the team why it wont work.
With the important distinction: Anyone one who brings up a reason why they think it wont work is not only heard, but if their reasoning for why it wont work is incorrect, the team explains why that risk or issue is mitigated by the plan.
For example, you have a design where one person perceives a single point of failure due to X. "well, we'd lose service if this device went down"
Then the team explains "well, actually that doesn't matter because we stay up due to [this design element over here]"
This brings everyone up to speed and educates them as to why the plan is such.
If something is brought up that is a valid miss - then its addressed and a plan on how to redesign for that condition is met.
The point is beat the design to death - not the person or team.
The team is supposed to put all their irons in the fire and forge out a solution together.
I like this idea, but I've also seen situations where it's become 1 or 2 holdouts against a chorus of yesses, and then the ensuing resentment against them. And the holdouts had some very good points. I think it can work if the leader/manager is good at this kind of approach, but it can also lead to a lot of conflict as well.
Well, I didn't type this in the original post, but I should clarify: When the question of "tell me what is wrong with this idea" - I specifically make the point of being the one to ask the question.
If you make the discussion directed toward the manager/team leader, then the conversation is much easier.
Again, the team needs to put all their irons in the fire to forge a decision. The plan/ideas of the team is the metal to be forged. The fire is the funding and backing for the project. The hammer is the effort of the executing team and the tongs are the skill of the overall project management.
I have used the following to provoke thought and discussion around problems in a way that does not call anyone out:
Ill recap the decision, design or plan. Putting it on the whiteboard or in print or whatever format the succinct plan is in.
I then ask everyone on the team or in the meeting to look at it and specifically look for why it wont work or what is wrong with the plan.
Not what is wrong with WHO designed what - but tell the team why it wont work.
With the important distinction: Anyone one who brings up a reason why they think it wont work is not only heard, but if their reasoning for why it wont work is incorrect, the team explains why that risk or issue is mitigated by the plan.
For example, you have a design where one person perceives a single point of failure due to X. "well, we'd lose service if this device went down"
Then the team explains "well, actually that doesn't matter because we stay up due to [this design element over here]"
This brings everyone up to speed and educates them as to why the plan is such.
If something is brought up that is a valid miss - then its addressed and a plan on how to redesign for that condition is met.
The point is beat the design to death - not the person or team.
The team is supposed to put all their irons in the fire and forge out a solution together.