Asking a senior skeptic for advice on a draft proposal draws them into thinking from the sponsor's side, and the adviser tends to back a plan that carries their counsel.
An example
Small claims at a commercial property insurer all went through a desk review, and the claims director wanted adjusters to settle them on their own. That needed the chief actuary's support, and he had opposed a similar idea three years earlier. She sent him the draft with a short note saying that before she took it further, she wanted his advice on where it would go wrong. He replied with two pages. The settlement threshold was too high for two regions with known fraud patterns, and the plan had no way to tell, after six months, whether leakage was rising. She lowered the threshold in those regions and built his suggested sampling audit into the design. At the executive committee, the chief actuary said he had reviewed the plan and that the audit would show within two quarters whether it was working. The committee approved a pilot in three regions.
Why it works
Advice moves the adviser to the sponsor's side of the table. To give useful advice, they have to imagine the plan succeeding and work out what it needs, which is a different exercise from looking for reasons to reject it. The advice also improves the plan where the adviser knows most. With their counsel in it, backing the plan is easier for them, and decision-makers who respect them see the plan as stronger. So the move makes the plan look better and easier to support, provided the request is sincere, the advice is taken, and the adviser's expertise bears on the plan.
The thinking behind it
Adam M. Grant Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success (2013) treats asking for advice as a form of influence for people without authority: the adviser takes the asker's perspective and becomes committed to the outcome. Grant notes that such tentative, question-asking communication works when competence is signaled elsewhere. A chief actuary asked where a claims plan would fail has to think from its side, and once the audit he proposed is in the design, he has a stake in it.
Jeffrey Pfeffer Power: Why Some People Have It and Others Don't (2010), written for a general business audience, counts asking powerful people for help and advice among the ways to stand out and build a personal power base. The point for this tactic is that a request for advice is itself a move toward the senior person, one that gives them a role in the proposal instead of a verdict on it.
When it fits
Try it when a senior colleague whose support you need is skeptical or uninvolved and has expertise that bears on the proposal. Bring a draft that can still change, the humility to take criticism from someone you may disagree with, and enough time to act on what they say before the decision.
How to use it well
Ask early, while the draft is still a draft, and ask a specific question: where would this fail, what would you change, what am I missing about your area.
- Send the material ahead so the adviser can think, and meet in person to hear the answer.
- Take the advice you can, and tell them which parts you used and why you set the rest aside.
- Ask permission before mentioning their review to others, and describe it accurately.
Ask only when you mean it. Advisers can tell a request for advice from a request for approval dressed up as one, and they resent the second.
What it costs and where it backfires
Advice comes with expectations. Having been asked, the adviser will expect to see their counsel used, and ignoring it costs more than never asking. They may also give advice that would weaken the plan, and turning it down takes care. Ask too often, or only of the people you need for votes, and the asking starts to look like a tactic. A genuine request is fine; claiming an adviser's endorsement for a plan they only commented on misrepresents their position.
When it is used on you
Asked for advice on a proposal you doubt, give it honestly, including the parts they will not like. Your advice being taken does not commit you to supporting the result. Before your name is used, say what you think of the final version, and if your review is cited as an endorsement, correct that with the decision-makers.