Playing the Devil's Advocate

Have you ever heard of the saying “ to play devil’s advocate”?

This definition below is and extract from Wikipedia.

 

“In common parlance, a devil's advocate is someone who, given a certain argument, takes a position he or she does not necessarily agree with, just for the sake of argument. In taking such position, the individual taking on the devil's advocate role seeks to engage others in an argumentative discussion process.”

 

 

Now let’s side step and look at our daily lives. I have seen many people ruining possible social relationship’s, future employment, current employment and prospective customers by not understanding the sometimes unconscious use of “playing the devil’s advocate”.

Example- an employer “says” he is going to bring about some change in working hours, management structure, targets, attire and the employees go ballistic. They show this in body language, verbal responses and physical responses. Yet, if they had only played their cards right, they would have seen that the employer is open to feedback and consultation.

 

How many times have we come up with some brilliant idea or concept and had a family member “shooting” down the idea? The family member gave you alternative scenarios and options that you should look at or consider if you went through with your idea. They are just being realistic. But what are your feelings? You have no support and lose faith in that person. They were only playing the devil’s advocate.

 

I have seen this too many times with sales people-oh yeah I am from the sales background- where the customer gives the sales person a few “what if” scenarios. The sales person ruins the relationship and the sale by assuming that the customer does not want the product or would not sign on the dotted line.

The sales person thus changes his attitude; changes his pace of the presentation; gets distracted; is now no longer polite and this is all because of his misconception of the customer showing interest or wanting to negotiate.

 

So remember that next time someone says something, he may not believe in his proposition, but is advancing it for the sake of negotiations, alternatives, easy way out or for the sake of efficiency.

 

Live with Intention and not by accident.