Four Steps to Defuse Opposition

Sometimes at work, you strive to do the right thing but still find opposition coming from others. Usually there is opportunity for improvement or enhancement on all sides…including yours.

Such conflict is inevitable if you work for any organization that employs people. For those who are the exception to this rule, that’s a whole other blog entry...

As someone who has navigated my way through a share of corporate quandaries across the past two decades, I’ve learned there are some helpful, ongoing principles to apply. Here’s my four cents worth:

Assess the facts, as well as your feelings. Your emotions are probably super-charged while in the midst of experiencing the pressure or pushback. Take a deep breath, step back and try your hardest to objectively analyze the situation: What exactly has taken place? Who said what and when? What are the potential things left unsaid? What body language have you observed?

Assess others’ potential motives. Why would a person say or do such-and-such (or fail to do or say it). What business or political factors are at play here? What benefit of the doubt can you give this person?

Assess your own actions and motives. What piece of this challenge do you own? What factors did you fail to consider; or considered, but moved forward anyway? What potential outcome are you seeking? How have you reached out to glean others’ perspectives, or offered to help?

To what extent is what you want best for the business/organization, or simply best for you?

Then, initiate new actions! Seek to be a bridge-builder, and talk things out with the involved parties. There’s no guarantee that certain others might still oppose you no matter what you do…but err on the side of integrity coupled with executive savvy, and more often than not you will land on your feet. I have.