Often for the first few years of our professional life, we are handed down decisions. You may be a part of the decision-making process, or you may be just told what the decision was, and you are required to follow it. Either way, you are now responsible for ensuring that the plan is carried out.
Naturally, your first instinct may be to vent about it to your colleagues or you may even be tempted to tell your immediate boss that you do not agree to the decision. But are these the right things to do?
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So, what do you do when you are asked to follow a decision you disagree with?
Do you trust your boss?
After all, you have to do your job. If you continue judging the decision, you need to start asking yourself whether you trust your boss and your team. As a fresher or novice in your professional field, there might be other compounding factors that you may be unaware of. These may have affected the decision. It is difficult to assume that you are in the exact know of things. If possible, you can try speaking to your seniors to understand the situation.
Can you offer alternative plans?
Sometimes, in an open work culture or small organisations, new ideas are welcomed warmly. So, if you are fully convinced of your idea and can put it across with conviction, you can speak to your boss about it. But you have to prepared that they may still decide to go with the initial decision.
Daphne Nair, a marketing expert, suggests that one should never follow instructions of decisions blindly. “Depending on the magnitude of the decision and its impact, if it is a small matter one can follow it. But in my field, where customer relations matter a lot, if I knew that the decision could be wrong, I would definitely try to fight it and at least present my choice as an option to consider. Even at senior levels, it shows little calibre to follow decisions blindly.
Concentrate on the job at hand
Whether you are convinced of the decision or not, you have to complete the task assigned to you. If you cannot wrap your head around it, it is better to concentrate on piecemeal tasks, one at a time, and forget the larger issue at hand. Your role is to get the job done, and you have to focus on that.
These work approaches will help you work better as a team member to implement a decision, even if you do not agree with it.
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