Recently I was watching an episode of the show “Silicon Valley” in which, the CEO of Pied Piper made a decision to create an appliance instead of a platform. The engineering lead and his team thought the decision a bad one, but the sales people liked it. So the CEO and the board decided it was worth producing. But later, the board changed direction to go with the platform concept when Hooli decided to buy Pied Piper’s main competitor who was creating a similar platform. By buying their competitor, Hooli gave a dollar value to the platform. So the board fired the CEO and went with the platform instead of the appliance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlHMJaovr3g

If you are in management, you’ve probably had the experience of not agreeing with your manager or your manager’s manager with regard to big decisions like this. Some people are really good at finessing the situation. I’ve been learning from them. I’m very direct, very blunt. Sometimes, being direct is appropriate and sometimes it really isn’t. What I work on is understanding when the direct approach isn’t going to work. Yes, I’ve blown this in a major way at times. Calling out the CEO in front of all his management staff? Not a good idea.

When I determine a less direct approach is needed, I begin by asking for more information. How was this decision made? Is it ok if I talk to the people that helped you make this decision? My goal is to turn the questions into a conversation. This is a struggle at times, especially when what I really want to do is just explain why it’s a bad decision.

Sometimes, a decision can be changed. Other times, I have to get behind the decision even if I disagree with it. The bottom line is, either you decide to get behind the decision or you leave the company. Why leave the company if you can’t get behind the decision?  Remember, you are part of a management team. If you can’t support that team, you need to get out. Otherwise,you might end up being a negative influence and that can reflect badly on you and the company.

What do you do when you don’t agree with a decision made by management?