Opponents answer a proposal with a fully worked alternative that meets the same goal at lower cost or risk, which turns a yes-or-no vote into a comparison between two plans.
An example
Under a plan from its chief operating officer, a two-thousand-person engineering firm would move all structural drafting to an offshore center, cutting about sixty drafting jobs in four offices to save three million dollars a year. The director of the structural group thought the plan underestimated rework on complex projects, but opposing it in the leadership meeting would have cast him as the person defending cost. He spent three weeks with finance and two project managers building an alternative: send standard drafting on repeat building types offshore, keep complex and fast-track work in the offices, and retrain twenty drafters as modelers. His version saved two point two million, lowered rework risk on the firm's largest projects, and kept the people who knew the clients. He presented both plans side by side, on the same cost assumptions. The leadership team chose a version close to his.
Why it works
Worked alternatives make your path look better because the deciders can see how it reaches the goal they care about, and they make the original look worse by comparison on the points where it is weaker, such as risk. They also change the question: the opponent is no longer against the goal, and is offering a better way to reach it. The move works when the alternative is real, costed on the same basis as the original, and aimed at the same goal.
The thinking behind it
Roger Fisher Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (1981), by Roger Fisher and William Ury, advises inventing options for mutual gain: generating several possible agreements before deciding, and looking for ones that meet shared interests. A worked counterproposal does that inside a company. It accepts the shared goal of lower drafting cost and puts a second option on the table, so the decision becomes a choice between plans instead of a contest between people.
Kathleen M. Eisenhardt Kathleen Eisenhardt's Making Fast Strategic Decisions in High-Velocity Environments (1989), a case study of eight microcomputer firms, found that executives who decided quickly considered several alternatives at the same time. The evidence comes from one industry and has not been tested on a larger sample, but the observation fits the move: two fully costed plans side by side let the leadership team compare and decide, where one plan invites a long yes-or-no argument.
When it fits
Choose it when you accept the goal of a proposal but doubt its design, and you have the expertise and time to build something better. You need data on the same basis as the sponsor's, allies who can check your numbers, and a forum where two plans can be compared. If your real objection is to the goal itself, this is the wrong move.
How to use it well
Accept the goal out loud. A counterproposal persuades only if it is aimed at the same target.
- Build the alternative on the sponsor's own assumptions where they are sound, and show plainly where yours differ and why.
- Cost it fully, including what it gives up.
- Have finance or a neutral expert check both plans.
- Show the sponsor before the meeting, so nobody is ambushed and they can adopt parts of it.
- Present the two side by side, on the same measures.
Be ready to merge. A hybrid that carries your main point is a good outcome.
What it costs and where it backfires
Building a real alternative takes weeks, often on top of your normal duties. If the comparison goes against you, you have spent effort and some standing. The sponsor may feel outflanked, especially if you skip the preview. Keep the numbers honest: a counterproposal with rosier assumptions than the original, or one built only to stall the decision, will be exposed by the first serious review.
When it is used on you
Welcome the comparison when an opponent brings a worked alternative, and insist that both plans use the same assumptions. Look for what is better in theirs and adopt it. If their numbers look optimistic, ask a neutral party to check both.