How to Tell the Boss He is Wrong

 It was a nice and quiet evening - just a winter evening that John always enjoyed after a working day. He was sipping red wine and listening to music. Suddenly he recognized a well-known melody of the song “Why Does my Heart Feel so Bad?” The words were simple and repeated several times: “Why does my heart feel so bad? Why does my soul feel so bad? These open doors …” John repeated: “These open doors, these open doors,” and added “these close doors….” He was thinking about his working day as if he were watching a movie about it – one episode after the other: Earlier that day at 10h00 in Ron’s office: John was in a meeting with Ron and Helen. Ron was playing the role of a hero informing his colleagues about the news - a lot of employees’ suggestions and proposals would be postponed or rejected by the management. He looked at John: “I hope you understand that employee initiatives and self-management ideas will be put on ice. We will have to freeze new initiatives next year and I don’t want to skate on thin ice now.” It was a real shock for John and Helen who had been working on a self-management proposal. John tried to keep his emotions under control and said nothing waiting for some additional information. Ron smiled looking at John again: “Glad you understand our company concerns – we should save money – and hope your team can keep motivated during this tough time. Anyway, it’s your task to deliver the bad news to your team.” Helen tried to protest reminding Ron that he had given the green light to some proposals and that rejection could backfire on the company as employees feel rejected. Unfortunately, her efforts were in vain. “Ron, we have enough money to invest in our employees helping them fulfill their real potential and talent…,” John started but was sharply interrupted by Ron who pointed out that the decision had been already made. It was a clear sign - the meeting was over. John was not happy with the outcome. He accepted times were tough, but that wasn’t a time to de-motivate employees by ignoring innovative ideas, some of which might save the company money. It simply didn’t make sense … 11h45 in Helen’s office: John and Helen were discussing the news. He had already let off steam: “Well, Helen, you are right when you say I should be positive… It’s a good piece of advice but I can’t accept the fact that my boss is wrong and he hasn’t given us the opportunity to discuss the issue in a constructive way. Do we expect too much from him?” Helen nodded – she was also very disappointed: “Hmm… John, do you think we should have told him he was wrong?” It was interesting question … 14h30 in John’s team office: “Ha, I always say you should expect nothing and you will never be disappointed,” Sam said after John had informed his team members about Ron’s decision. “Maybe our napping suggestion is too complex* … But the self-management proposal is really great and we should ‘fight’ for its implementation,” Ruth suggested. The team members were obviously not ready to accept the bad news. Sam, Peter, Mike, Ruth, and Emily started discussing some ideas that could help them deal with the situation suggesting all the possible, and impossible, solutions. After half an hour Peter asked John: “What should we do now?” It was the second tough question John had been asked that day… Back in his lounge, “these open doors,” John thought approaching the window with his glass of red wine still in his hand. The beauty of Christmas lights captured his attention for a moment. Well, John thought he had done his best - he had tried to convince Ron to invest in the employees’ ideas and found Helen and his team supporting him. At least, he thought so. But he had failed to tell this boss, Ron, that he was wrong and there were alternative approaches to solve the problem. But he had kept his mouth shut – was it out of fear or the belief that he’d be wasting his time? A wry smile appeared on John’s face…… What should John have done differently? What would you have done if you were John? *Read more in the prior articles “How Napping Can Increase Productivity and Creativity” Part I and Part II.