Responding to diverse viewpoints in a respectful way is an essential workplace skill. Consider, for example, a cross-functional team working on a project together. To be most successful, team members need to be willing to accept that someone else’s idea may be better than theirs, and that they may not always get their “own way.”
Here are some helpful tips to handle conversations in which you and a colleague may not agree on the best course of action:
DO
|
DON’T
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· Be sure that you’ve
thought through your own ideas fully.
· Be open to new and
different points of view.
· Listen attentively.
· Respond thoughtfully
to the other person’s explanation of how he or she sees the situation.
· Courteously state your
own viewpoint.
· Show a willingness to
engage in active discussion.
· Explore shared
beliefs, as well as where they differ.
|
· Don’t disagree for the
sake of disagreeing; be sure to offer an alternative approach.
· Don’t interrupt.
· Don’t think about your
reply until the other person has finished explaining his or her point of
view.
· Don’t dismiss or
criticize the other person’s beliefs because they are different from your
own.
· Don’t assume that your
viewpoint is right, and that the other person’s is wrong.
· Don’t jump to
conclusions.
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Most importantly, be sure to fully support the chosen option. Put as much effort into carrying out someone else’s suggestion as your own. Do your best to avoid feeling resentful toward your co-workers, or wishing that the project will fail, even if you believe the team made a bad decision. Commit yourself to the goal of making it work. Negative attitudes and behaviors will not only adversely affect the team’s effectiveness, but also the opinions that other people, including your supervisor, have of you.
Lively debate, if it is done respectfully, can be very valuable to an employer. It helps produce new ideas that can result in greater success for the organization. You, as an individual, also benefit from the chance to see things from a new perspective. This is only possible, however, if you open your mind to the idea that there is more than one way to view a situation.
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