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She had spent three nights preparing her counter-argument. Data, stakeholder feedback, a slide deck she wasn’t even sure she would get to use. By the time she sat down for the meeting she was dreading, the knot in her stomach was already there.

She was preparing to disagree with her VP. But that wasn’t the real conversation.

In this Monday Momentum episode of Communicate to Lead, Kele Belton kicks off a five-part June series on the difficult conversations women leaders walk into braced for a fight. This episode shows why the conversation you name before you walk in shapes everything that happens inside it, and how reframing disagreement as alignment changes your tone, your language, and the response you get back.

What You Will Learn

• Why high-performing women leaders often over-prepare for disagreement, and what that costs them over time.
• The difference between debating to win and aligning to make a better decision.
• A simple opening phrase and follow-up question you can use to stay grounded, surface your perspective, and keep the conversation productive.

Your Action Step

Identify one conversation this week where you’ve been preparing to disagree with someone. Before you walk in, ask yourself: what do I actually want to walk out of this room having accomplished?

If the answer is, “I want us to make the best decision,” then this is not a disagreement. It is an alignment. Walk in with that frame, use the phrase and question from this episode, and notice what changes.

AI Prompt

Use this prompt to prepare for your next alignment conversation. Paste it into your preferred AI assistant and answer the questions as they come.

I’m a [role] in [industry]. I have an upcoming conversation with my [manager, peer, stakeholder] in which I see the situation differently from them. Help me reframe this conversation from a disagreement to an alignment.

Ask me 3 questions:

1. What decision is being discussed, and where do I see it differently?
2. What outcome do I actually want to walk out of this conversation having accomplished?
3. What might my counterpart be seeing that I am not?

Then write:

• One opening phrase I can use to surface my perspective without sounding defensive.
• One follow-up question I can use to invite their thinking and find the real gap.

Constraints:

• Forward-facing tone
• No language that signals confrontation or asks permission to speak
• Must carry the same weight as “surface it” or “flag it”
• Must sound natural when spoken aloud
• Avoid softening language like “just,” “a little,” “maybe,” “I was thinking,” or “I wanted to mention”

Example output:
Opening phrase: “I’m tracking something different on this, and I want to surface it before we decide.”
Follow-up question: “Can you walk me through how you got there?”

Ready to Go Deeper?

Book a complimentary Leadership Strategy Call with Kele to talk through where you are, where you want to go, and what it will take to get there.

About Your Host

Kele Belton is a communication and leadership trainer who specializes in helping women leaders develop confidence and impact through strategic communication and practical leadership frameworks.

Connect with Kele

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kele-ruth-belton/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetailoredapproach/
• Website: https://thetailoredapproach.com