20 years of storytelling for business by international trainers and storytellers Speakers' Corner
International trainers and storytellers

How to disagree in a helpful way.

Years ago we were asked to work with a creative team – a writer and art director – highly respected by their agency but renowned for being combative with the clients.

It became clear to us that there were two things going on – they had little respect for the clients and refused to listen to their viewpoints.

So how can you disagree in a helpful way?

Here are a few tips.

  1. Respect each other and look at issues from the other’s viewpoint.
  2. Before selling an idea, conduct an honest evaluation – should you re-work your idea? If you can understand a potential client issue, what could you say or do to pre-empt their worries?
  3. What is really important? What is ‘idea’ and what is ‘execution’? What can you be flexible over?

Our capacity to disagree on the whole helps us to reason better. It helps us to rationalise our strongest case. Without disagreement there can be no expression of your ideas.

So what makes disagreement more fruitful? Better evaluations with more compassion.

When you trust each other enough, you can reason and share.

sallyclare

Posted by Sally Clare on Tuesday, April 9th, 2019 in FeaturesNews
Tags: , , ,