When you want someone to change a decision, start with "Would you be open to considering?" It's harder to say no to a question than a demand, and it makes refusing look stubborn. Use it to propose shifts in policy or strategy without triggering defensiveness.
Chapters
The phrase I have for you today is, would you be open to considering? So if you go to see your boss and you want to take issue with a policy that you've got or some decision that they've made, instead of saying, I think you're wrong on this, we should be doing so-and-so, in a confrontational way, you open with a very gentle phrase, would you be open to considering? And then you mention a change of policy. And it's very difficult for them to say no to that because nobody wants to be seen as being so stubborn that they won't even consider or be open to ideas. So instead of saying, this proposal that we're putting together, we've got it completely wrong. Instead of being focused on A, we should be focused on B. And it's their pet project, so they're likely to argue with you. You say, would you be open to considering a slightly different approach to this proposal? I think it would help. And they say, yeah, what is it? Well, instead of having quite so much emphasis on A, perhaps we should put a little bit more emphasis on B. How do you feel about that? So try this expression next time you want to introduce something which is a little bit critical or change that you want to see. Instead of going hard at it, say, would you be open to considering?
