REPRINT H02Y81

PUBLISHED ON HBR.ORG
JUNE 14, 2016

ARTICLE
CONFLICT
6 Ways to Disagree
with Senior
Management
by Priscilla Claman

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Payal Mehra Prof. Nandita Roy AND Prof. Shubhda Arora's PGPI/TI/CFM/10 at Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow from Jun 2020 to
Dec 2020.
 CONFLICT

6 Ways to Disagree with

Senior Management
by Priscilla Claman
JUNE 14, 2016

A senior vice president I know was working on a

merger and had come up against a roadblock.

He pulled the merger implementation team into a

room and said: “We’ve analyzed it over and over, but
it really isn’t possible to complete this merger in the
time frame Walter wants. Now, what do we do?”

Walter was the CEO. He had a reputation for not

listening to anyone who disagreed with him. But,
missing the merger deadline would be an
embarrassing and very public failure. Walter had
made a big deal of completing the merger in three
months. Someone had to convince him that the
merger wasn’t going to happen then, but no one
wanted to volunteer. Everyone knew that Walter was
a shoot-the-messenger kind of guy.

The team tried several things to get Walter to

understand. First, they prepared a data-rich
PowerPoint presentation. Walter just waved it away.
Then, they hired a respected consultant, who
confirmed the fact that it couldn’t be done in the time allotted. Walter just thought she was the
team’s patsy. All the while, the clock was ticking, getting closer and closer to failure.

COPYRIGHT © 2016 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 2

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Payal Mehra Prof. Nandita Roy AND Prof. Shubhda Arora's PGPI/TI/CFM/10 at Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow from Jun 2020 to
Dec 2020.
 Finally, the SVP came up with something that worked. He knew one of Walter’s buddies who was
within months of retirement. Walter wouldn’t fire him. Using all the data the team had prepared, the
SVP convinced Walter’s buddy to get the message through to Walter, and disaster was averted.

This true story contains a lot of ideas for how to disagree successfully with a person who is senior to
you. Fortunately, there aren’t that many senior managers as unapproachable as Walter out there.
Still, disagreeing with someone senior isn’t something you want to do every day. Save it for
important issues, even in organizations that say they encourage people to express their own
opinions. If you disagree too often, you will get a reputation for negativity.

There are ways to disagree successfully with a senior person without having your head handed to
you. Here are some ideas:

• Don’t just blurt out your point of view; be strategic about it. Think it through. Why do you
disagree? Could your disagreement be perceived as “political?” Or do you have the good of the
organization at heart? You are more likely to be believed if you don’t have anything to gain from
your point of view.
• Make sure you’re right. Senior people usually have access to more information than the people
below them. Is there something you might be missing?
• Do what the SVP did, and bounce your point of view off of a few trusted peers. If you can’t convince
them, you’re probably not going to convince the senior person. Ask for their feedback on how to be
persuasive. But don’t ask your direct reports — they may not want to disagree with a senior person!
• Prepare a presentation – no loaded words or hypotheticals; use data and charts instead. Keep it
businesslike. PowerPoint can help keep your presentation brief and to the point.
• Find a respected, credible expert to go over your conclusions. She doesn’t have to be an outside
consultant, but she should be recognized for her expertise by your senior person.
• The SVP’s buddy strategy is also a good approach. People trust people they are friends with,
particularly if they are at the same level in an organization. Find someone you know who is the
same rank as the more senior person you are trying to convince. Persuade him using the data you
have put together. Then, ask him to share that information with his buddy.

It takes courage to disagree with someone senior to you. But it is a professional skill you need to
learn. Sooner or later, like the senior vice president in the story, you will face a situation where you
have to disagree. Besides, if you just agree all the time, senior people will think of you as a doormat
with nothing to contribute. To gain the respect of senior people, you need to learn when it’s
important to disagree, and then, how to do it in a strategic way.

For more, read HBR’s Best Practice on How to Disagree With Someone More Powerful Than You.

Priscilla Claman is president of Career Strategies, Inc., a Boston-area firm offering career coaching to individuals and
career management services to organizations. She is also a contributor to the HBR Guide to Getting the Right Job.

COPYRIGHT © 2016 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 3

This document is authorized for use only in Prof. Payal Mehra Prof. Nandita Roy AND Prof. Shubhda Arora's PGPI/TI/CFM/10 at Indian Institute of Management - Lucknow from Jun 2020 to
Dec 2020.