A reader was in the midst of a very challenging and upsetting situation and asked for an effective way to handle it:
“Dear Bob, the organization I belong to used to send plants and flowers to those members who were ill. Although the money is there to continue doing this, they have decided to stop. I have been invited to the next board meeting to tell them why we should keep this very important practice going. I don’t think we should do away with it at all. I am at a loss of the proper words to say to the board members next month as to why we should continue. Can you help me?”
Thank you for your question. While I certainly don’t have any “magic bullet” that I can offer you in terms of what to say, my suggestions would be to:
#1 Understand why they feel this way? What are their reasons; individually and as a group? Unless you know their reasons, then anything you say during your meeting is based on premise which you won’t have any way of knowing is correct or incorrect. You can determine this simply by asking them. Contact them individually and let them know that while you hope to be able to answer their concerns about this matter, you can’t do that without knowing exactly what their concerns are.
#2 Prepare your presentation in such a way that you honor them, their egos, and their intent. The chances are excellent that their reason is for what they believe is the good of the organization. So, when you begin by acknowledging that, it is a beginning that puts you all on the same side as opposed to positioning this as though you are adversaries.
I hope this helps, and I wish you the very best of success.
Meanwhile, my friends…any thoughts, ideas or suggestions I might have left out?
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How about presenting them with several options *after* knowing the reasons. We know that people like options/scenarios and here comes your creativity to find “many ways of presenting” the win-win situation. I totally appreciate what you said, Bob, about acknowledging their intention with honoring them, their egos and intent; puts defenses down and open the way to a more open conversation.
Presenting additional options is often a terrific idea, Mazen. Thank you for sharing!
That sounds like it will be a fun presentation. What an opportunity to present something you truly believe in.
I think you covered it. First figure out their reasoning, without it you can’t present a solution correctly.
I can only really suggest another idea for a solution that keeps the program alive at least.
Can the program be scaled back instead of totally destroyed?
If you can show why the program is so important, and maybe it can be kept running on a smaller scale.
That way whatever the reasoning for getting rid of it is, they can lessen the burden a bit.
I would ask some of the people who received the plants and flowers how it made them feel to get them and perhaps use those testimonials in the presentation.
Jerry, another excellent idea. Thank you for sharing!
Bob,
Another great blog post.
The idea of honoring people who might not agree with you is extremely powerful. Presenting options (as suggested in a comment by Mazen) is also very effective.
Thank you again.
Carl Ingalls
Hi Jeff, thank you. I appreciate your feedback and ideas!
Carl, thank you. Always appreciate your sharing your wisdom with us!