A quick stop for your early morning break, or a quick pick-me-up before you start your hard day at work!
Monday, July 21, 2008
When you need to disagree with the boss
This really applies to disagreeing for specific valid reasons in almost all situations. It requires that the person you are disagreeing with be willing to engage you in discussion on the topic, and assumes they are not completely closed minded. Check back in the future for tips on dealing with a boss who just won't listen.
1. Start out by having at least one specific, valid & provable reason why you know this idea won't work.
2. Provide a suggestion or alternative idea and why.
3. Begin asking the person questions to help you understand their views on the idea you disagree with. eg: "for this plan, you are suggesting x?"
4. When they answer, follow up with another question which leads in the direction of your reason for disagreeing. eg: "x requires y, how will we make y happen?"
5. When you get to the point where you believe failure will occur, ask a final question eg: "y is square, but x requires round - how do we get around this?" Don't demand an answer - let the person think about it.
However, you must always keep in mind that you could be wrong; expect a dialogue with your boss and make sure you listen as well as you hope they do.
Hope you can check back every work day for a little pick-me-up before your 9-5 grind starts. These posts are funny, irreverent, irrelevant and weird ... but they should all be relatively safe for work. Good, (mostly) clean, innocent fun. Enjoy!
