Page 82 - Make Work Great

It Starts with You

Agreeing to disagree can manifest itself in many productive ways
in the workplace. Here are a few examples:

• One manager can share resources with another in support of the
greater goals of the company without agreeing over every detail of
the second manager’s project or how it will be run (agreement on
need or goal does not require agreement on strategy or tactics).
• Two ordinarily independent salespeople with different approaches
to customer interaction can agree to follow a specifi c approach
together when partnering on a large, complex client call (agree-
ment on the best approach to one specifi c client does not require
agreement on the best approach to all clients).
• Two engineers with strong, confl icting notions about the appro-
priate way to analyze a set of production-line fault data can
agree to run both analyses and look for common, actionable
conclusions rather than to argue over which approach to take
(practical agreement on the need for a quick solution does not
require philosophical agreement on how to get there).
• Two coworkers with different personal or political beliefs can
set those aside at work to produce output for the good of their
mutual employer (agreement regarding workplace output does
not require agreement of political or personal beliefs).

This sort of clarity sounds simple on paper, but it can be tricky in
the middle of a complex interaction. Our tendency is to go where the
conversation leads us, especially when another person is asking us a
question. Without having clearly defi ned our need for agreement in
advance, it’s far too easy to get derailed.
Since it’s easier on paper, do it on paper! You have your question
defi ned, and you have a plan for your approach (who, what, and
how). Now write down a clear defi nition of the exact agreement you
need from that individual. This way you can keep your focus where
it belongs, even when the momentum of a complex conversation tries
to take you somewhere else.

70