Achieved Strategies

Perhaps one of the most difficult acts of leadership for employees (non-managers) is to respectfully challenge the direction a decision may be headed.

The fear of a CLM (career limiting move) dangles in front of many employees as they seriously consider inquiring into seemingly stupid decisions. There are, however, respectful ways to show your contrarian viewpoint or to share a perspective or information that may not have been considered and could alter a pending decision.

I’ll take this one step further, if you have information or insight that could benefit the company and was not considered you must share it. How?

Seek to understand the context first. Managers have information not always shared with employees. Or there isn’t time enough to share the details. Before launching into why management may be making a mistake, seek to understand the context in which the decision was made.

It could sound something like this:  “Boss, you were sharing with us the decision senior management made about Project X. I was surprised to hear the decision, but realize I don’t have the full picture. Would you mind spending 10 minutes with me so that I can better understand what happened?”

If you still feel the need to share your thoughts, do so after you better understand the context. Keep in mind your manager may not have the information you seek or can’t share the information.  In which case, simply position your thoughts like this: “I care about this project and have some thoughts I’d like to share with you. Can we take 10 more minutes so that I can share them with you?”

Ask direct, hard-hitting questions privately. A big misstep in most corporate cultures is when employees question management’s decisions publicly. I made this mistake early in my career. It was a painful lesson, but one that helped me learn how to share my concern so that top management hears it as that, and not one that questions their authority or role.

Again, here’s what it can sound like and said privately: “I’d like to talk further with you about our conversation about Project X. I have some questions, but it’s best outside a group setting. Should I set up a 15 minute meeting with your assistant? It’s important to me and I think you may be interested in hearing them.”

Ask what were the assumptions leading to the decision. This is a bit of a tricky question. You need to feel comfortable in your relationship with your manager. You also need to feel confident that your viewpoint has merit.

Again, invite dialogue by asking a question: “Boss, I’ve been thinking about our conversation about Project X. It seems as though I’m missing something. To help me understand and support the decision about the project, can you shed some light on the assumptions leading to the decision?”

Employees using these tactics may not get the additional information they hope to have or need to reconcile a decision made by management. Also, I would be very careful using “stupid decision” in your efforts to shed some additional light on a topic. It’s a judgmental term and may shut down the conversation.

Photo courtesy by *stupid dancer