From building your case in advance to avoiding the trap of false politeness, use these strategies to help you engage in constructive dissent at the executive level.

Have you ever walked out of an executive meeting thinking, ‘I should have spoken up’?

In moments where critical decisions are being made – signing off on a major initiative, responding to change or weighing risks – even experienced leaders can find themselves reluctant to challenge the ideas on the table for fear of creating friction.

But silence at the highest level can come at a cost. Choosing harmony over honesty can allow flawed ideas to advance, risks to go unflagged and groupthink to take root.

According to Dora Peake FCPHR, Group Director of People and Culture at Versent and  speaker at AHRI’s upcoming National Convention and Exhibition in August, pushing back in the C-suite isn’t a matter of being oppositional or ‘difficult’ – it’s a mark of leadership maturity.

“Constructive dissent is a critical executive skill,” she says. “Earlier in my career, like many people, I thought alignment was everything and should be the ultimate goal. But I see it differently now. To be a leader, particularly at the upper end of the organisation, you have to have the courage to challenge others, to do it respectfully and to always have the bigger picture in mind.”

So how can you respectfully push back against your executive peers without losing trust, respect or cohesion? Below, Peake unpacks five strategies she recommends for engaging in constructive dissent at the highest level of an organisation.

Hear more from Dora Peake on aligning your strategy with organisational goals at AHRI’s National Convention and Exhibition in Sydney on 19-21 August. Secure your ticket today.

1. Push back on ideas, not people

A common concern that holds leaders back from healthy dissent is the idea that the person they’re speaking to might become defensive or even hurt if they are contradicted. 

To avoid this reaction, make sure your dissent is always framed around the idea being discussed, and never becomes personal or political, says Peake.

“Constructive dissent is challenging an idea – we’re not challenging a person,” she says.

“Don’t think about dissent as being disloyal or unfriendly. Think about it as trusting each other enough and knowing we’re going to get the best results as an executive team by having these discussions.”

When dissent is reframed as a shared responsibility to interrogate decisions, it shifts the tone from combative to collaborative. That shift makes it easier for your challenge to be heard and engaged with rather than met with defensiveness.

One way to reinforce this is through language, says Peake. Rather than positioning yourself in opposition to a colleague, position both of you as problem-solvers addressing the issue together.

“There’s a great analogy I heard many years ago,” she says. “Visualise yourself and other leaders on one side of a table, and the issue or the initiative you’re discussing on the other side. Rather than it being an oppositional activity, we’re all on the same side working on it together.”

2. Build your case in advance

Respectful dissent is most effective when it’s grounded in evidence and regard for the organisational context, says Peake.

“If I’m presenting something, I take the time to speak to key stakeholders ahead of the meeting, because I want to ensure we’re framing something the right way.

“I always think about the ‘so what?’, the ‘what for?’ and the ‘what comes next?’, and try to answer those questions in advance.”

For the same reason, it’s crucial to brush up on any issues or ideas you plan to challenge in advance. That means gathering data that supports your views, ensuring your questions are anchored in the organisation’s broader goals and pre-empting potential counterarguments.

Taking the time to get to know your audience as individuals will make this process much easier, adds Peake.

“Knowing your executive team means you know people’s blind spots,” she says.

It could also be useful to give people a heads up if you plan on pushing back on something specific in an upcoming meeting, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to them and potentially cause them to become defensive. This can be as simple as sending an email around ahead of the meeting and saying something like, “I have some thoughts on this that might contradict the current plan of attack. I’d like to present this perspective to the broader group for discussion tomorrow.”

“The people who care are the ones who are going to challenge [you]. If everyone’s just nodding their head, that means they’re probably not thinking about something enough.” – Dora Peake FCPHR, Group Director of People and Culture, Versent

3. Set the right tone for the discussion

When framing your dissent to a leader’s ideas, always aim for a tone of curiosity, says Peake. Asking thoughtful questions, being open to alternative perspectives and showing a willingness to collaborate rather than ‘win’ the conversation helps keep the debate productive.

This approach also supports psychological safety, which she sees as foundational to constructive dissent.

“Psychological safety isn’t just something for our frontline teams,” she says. “It is an absolutely critical ingredient in a C-suite, and [part of the role] of a CPO is to help build that and make sure the relationships we have are strong enough to handle disagreement. [We want] people to see it as a contribution, not as a threat.”

Psychological safety at the executive level doesn’t mean sugar-coating issues or avoiding tension, she adds. It means creating a high-trust environment where contrasting views are welcomed.

4. Avoid the false politeness trap

Often, it’s easy to stay quiet in an executive setting when disagreement feels impolite. But avoiding tension for the sake of politeness can have severe consequences, says Peake.

“The more you are elevated, the more costly your false politeness is going to be. I’ve personally seen projects go sideways because no one wanted to be that difficult person,” she says.

She suggests reminding yourself and others that constructive criticism is evidence of being truly invested in the issue at hand. What’s more, without it, teams become prone to blind spots and missed opportunities.

“The people who care are the ones who are going to challenge [you],” she says. “If everyone’s just nodding their head, that means they’re probably not thinking about something enough.”

5. Role-model good management of constructive dissent

Cultivating an atmosphere of healthy debate among executives is not just about framing your own perspective the right way, says Peake – it’s also about role-modelling constructive ways of managing dissent from others.

For HR leaders in particular, who tend to have high emotional intelligence and a central role in team dynamics, that responsibility is especially important, she says.

This means approaching any dissent to your own ideas with curiosity, a willingness to understand where it’s coming from and a commitment to keeping the discussion constructive, as well as noticing when conversations veer off track and helping to reset the tone.

“There are ways we can intervene, and there are also ways we can ask intelligent questions that can get people back on track,” she says.

“I can say something as simple as, ‘We need to take a pause here. This is starting to feel as though it’s becoming a little bit personal,’ or, ‘Can we focus on the idea here?’”

Done well, these interventions don’t shut the conversation down – they simply signal that disagreement is both welcome and manageable. Over time, this creates a climate where people feel comfortable speaking up even when their views go against the grain.

“Don’t lose sight of psychological safety,” says Peake. “[Think about] how we can create psychologically safe environments where we can have constructive dissent in a way that’s strategic without it becoming political.”