A lot of people don’t know how to communicate dissent at work. I’ve seen leaders from partners and customers rejecting great ideas brought up by their colleges with a BIG NO or a stupid counter-argument.
When you are leading a team — you get suggestions and ideas from your colleagues. It could be an idea for a new feature, a new marketing idea or something else. Ideas are great — you want your team to have a lot of ideas. However, you can’t pursue every idea the team brings on because you have limited resources. You have to say no to a lot of those ideas.
How can you handle this?
Instead of rejecting the suggestion with a counter-argument or a big NO, try packaging your dissent with a solution. The solution can be a way to test the suggestion and validating it without investing a lot of money or resources. Have the person who suggested the idea personally invested in validating it. If it works — great if it doesn’t — we will try the next idea.
People don’t like dissent — it is human nature. If dissent is not communicated correctly — it can demotivate the person who brought up the idea. It can ultimately lead to toxic work culture.
Treat Ideas with respect. To succeed — all It takes just one good idea.
