In order to run any kind of organization, you need to align with certain principles and have a vision for what you’re trying to achieve. This sounds pretty simple and obvious to begin with, until you realize how much the detail matters.
Sure, sometimes these stated goals can seem like a long list of platitudes – efficiency, diversity, sustainability, etc – but they’re all important and do matter for a company to state. They help you form a vision that should push you in the direction a company is trying to go in.
That being said, that doesn’t mean a business vision is automatically going to work out. Perhaps even after some testing, it’s not bringing in the clients or customers you want, or it seems like there’s some confusion out there about what you mean. To use the gaming industry as an example (the largest entertainment industry on the planet currently), the recent “anything is an Xbox!” campaign Microsoft used to emphasize their cloud streaming service ultimately led to confusion about what their next approach to hardware would be.
This led to endless clarifications and lost consumer goodwill, which of course, is an example of a vision not working out. But what if your boss is wedded to an idea that doesn’t work, and thinks you’re simply not following instructions when the results aren’t flattering? In these circumstances, ripping off the plaster and telling them directly is important. But as ever in business life, you have to be tactful in order to do that.
In this post, we’ll help you strike such a balance:
Be Clear About Your Pitch
At a time like this, it’s vital to have your argument completely nailed down before you even knock on the office door, as walking in with a vague feeling that the strategy isn’t landing right won’t convince anyone, and definitely someone who’s emotionally invested in the idea. It’s better to treat this meeting like a sales pitch where the product you’re selling is a hard truth, so to speak. If you’re asking them to buy into the fact that a change is needed, having clear examples of where the vision is failing is necessary.
Keep in mind that if the current path is confusing customers or losing money, such facts need to be presented plainly, and it’s easier to listen to hard truths when they’re backed up by solid evidence that can’t be denied.
Talk To Your Colleagues & See If They Support You
It’s a lonely feeling being the only voice of dissent in a meeting room especially if some people are apathetic or are staking professional success on an idea. So, before taking this up the chain, it’s worth checking in with the people you work with to see if they’re seeing the same issues you are. You might find that everyone else is just as worried but too nervous to say anything, and in this case knowing that your perspective is shared by the team gives you a lot more confidence when you do speak up.
However, it’s important to keep these conversations productive and not let them turn into a complaining session. If five or six people are all hitting the same roadblocks because of this vision, then that’s a good place to start.
Rest On The Detail
Ultimately, numbers are going to do your work for you here. If the vision is causing a drop in sales or a spike in complaints, such figures need to be the exactly what you base an argument from, and not the other way around. If you’re in tech, for instance, you might look at SaaS job resources to see industry benchmarks and show how far off the mark the current strategy is compared to competitors, so you can suggest why the issue isn’t as flattering as it seemed to begin with
Client feedback is also good here, as if you have emails or recording transcripts where customers are responding with confusion or frustration, it takes the criticism away from being a personal attack on the boss’s idea and frames it as a market response.
Offer A Suggested Alternate Path
It’s unfair to tear down an existing plan without having something to put in its place, or to have the goal of this meeting as a kind of teardown in which you vent all your frustrations. If you just point out problems, you’re just another annoyance for your manager to deal with and no matter how right you are, they’re probably going to go on defense mode.
In such circumstances, it’s much more constructive to walk in with a solution or at least a sketch of a new direction, as it shows that you’ve thought about the business implications and aren’t trying to avoid work you don’t like.
Now, you might not come in with a perfectly, fully fleshed-out business plan, but perhaps pivot that addresses the issues you’ve raised in a specific note. Moreover, presenting it as an evolution of their original idea is helpful, as it’s not a total replacement and doesn’t make them think you’re dismissing them and saying you know best. It’s easier for a manager to accept a “course correction” than a complete U-turn after all.
Remove Your Credits If Needed
Sometimes, despite your best efforts and clearest arguments, the boss is going to stick to their guns. Maybe it’s even likely this will happen if enough money has been invested in the bad plan. In those cases, you’ve done your duty by speaking up, and now it’s time to practice a little self-preservation. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask that your name not be attached to a project you know is going to fail.
Then, you can continue to do the work required (and most importantly, get paid for it), but making sure it’s known that you advised against this course of action is fair, and might help you limit some of the blowback if the obvious end results mean your department falls into hot water.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to tell a boss their vision isn’t working, but with tact, care, and solutions in mind.