Newton Holt, senior editor of Associations Now, shares advice from association professionals on the effective way to dissent or disagree. All of this is from the article "The Duty of Dissent," which appeared in the 2008 The Volunteer Leadership Issue.
- Glenn Tecker said "for dissent to be effective, for it to be something besides an alarm bell or a cry of disapproval, the dissenter needs to make his or her case gracefully."
- Glenn said there's a vast difference between disagreement and disagreeable. If you disagree, do it in a way that initiates dialogue.
- Jamie Notter encourages the dissenter to show respect to opposing views. "You can probably make your point through a bunch of questions rather than by saying 'this is what we should do.'"
- Unless it's ethical or financial issues, David Zepponi cautions to pick your battles to avoid losing your "political capital."
- Nancy Axelrod also advises dissent selectivity, because if you're a chronic dissenter you induce "an automatic response" whereby "people roll their eyes and say, 'Oh, there he or she goes again.'"
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