Staying the Course

As preparation for debates, politicians often have a trusted colleague act as a substitute for their upcoming opponent in an attempt to anticipate their arguments. You may want to have a trusted friend or colleague act as devil’s advocate, and have them try to pick apart your position. They may objectively see things you can’t and therefore allow you to predict challenges you might not otherwise have been prepared to address.

Be Open to Challenges

If you expect or even invite objections, they won’t take you by surprise. Be prepared to listen to arguments against you and, if you hear something unexpected, don’t be afraid to delve further. Ask questions. Make sure you understand the objection and examine the person’s argument to uncover what it’s based on. In some instances, the exercise of examining the contrary opinion may reveal it to be unfounded – especially if you have a deep understanding of your subject and a wealth of data to hand.

Alternatively, if a new, valid objection is raised, have the confidence to welcome it as an opportunity to widen your knowledge on the subject. Thank the person for their input and research it to find out if it is real and relevant. If so, incorporate it into your decision-making process. Even if you decide to stick by your original decision, being able to demonstrate that you investigated a contrary opinion will display diligence and respect for your colleagues. If you uncover information which addresses the person’s concerns, share it with them and any other appropriate people.

Professional, Not Personal

A criticism of your position is not a criticism of you as a person. This is an important distinction to keep in mind. It can be difficult not to take criticism personally, but doing so can undermine both your confidence and your relationship with the colleague. Try to welcome criticism as an opportunity to clarify issues, display your experience, debate options or even to expand your own knowledge. Research has shown that the more confident a person is, the more they welcome negative/critical feedback, so if you find yourself struggling with criticism, it may be a sign you need to build up your own self-confidence and personal resilience. [1]

It can be helpful to have a support network behind you. Try to bring together people who support your position, even if it’s only one or two people. Knowing that backup exists can lend psychological support, even in circumstances where none of the people are actually present.

Be Ready to Fail

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” [2]

This is probably the most difficult part of sticking to your convictions – the acceptance that you could ultimately fail. It can be useful to think about what the consequences would be if that were to happen and to consider how you could mitigate the effects. Performing a risk assessment may be advisable in order to help you clearly understand what is at stake. Risk is a necessary part of business decisions and while minimizing it is ideal, it can rarely be removed completely.

If you are concerned about failing, examine your own thoughts and feelings to try to understand why. What is the worst that could happen? What is it that you are afraid of? If your job or even your company is at stake, then obviously there is reason to tread carefully, but if losing face is the biggest risk, try to remember that the people who have achieved the greatest breakthroughs and new ideas throughout history have, more often than not, done so on the back of a string of failures.

For example, Thomas Edison, credited with inventing the lightbulb amongst many other innovations, also produced a plethora of failures, including an unwanted ‘automatic vote recorder’ and an unwieldy ‘electric pen’. [3] A role model for persistence, detective novelist Agatha Christie spent five years being rejected by every publisher she approached before finally getting a deal - she has sold over $2 billion worth of books. [4]

If at First You Don’t Succeed

Overnight successes rarely happen overnight. Though they may appear to be sudden, they are almost always the result of years of work and most likely a number of failures along the way. In short, just because something doesn’t work immediately does not mean it won’t work in the long term. Being able to see the big picture and focus on a clear long-term goal is a major part of staying true to your convictions, so don’t be distracted by short-term difficulties – unless they genuinely reveal something unexpected and problematic.