A colleague, tired of discussing an issue with me, threw in the towel. He doesn’t agree, I can go do what I like, but he and his group are not going along with it.

I understand that kind of frustration. I’ve felt it before and feel it on a regular basis. What helps is to tell myself that in a true team, agreeing to disagree is not an option. You simply can’t do it. You have to keep going back to the conversation until you can come to some point of agreement.

That doesn’t mean you are going to reach a point of zero differences, or that you will always get your way. It doesn’t make getting along easy, it makes it an option. Once you know that agreeing to disagree is not an acceptable ending point, it opens up the possibility – the necessity – to keep finding a way.

Start by agreeing not to disagree and with that foundation, see where you can go.