Stop making "no" the first
thing out of your mouth
A few years ago a local bank launched an advertising campaign for its loan
services. In the hilarious commercials, a loan officer is asked over and over
again, "Will you make the loan?" And he says "no" every
time, despite his best efforts to push "yes" past his lips.
The commercials poked fun at the stereotypical loan officer who's tightfisted
with the bank's money. But loan officers aren't the only people in the world who
are nay-saying negative Nellies and Neds. Have you listened to your manager (or
yourself) lately? It's time to reprogram your brains and your mouths, and stop
using "no" as your default answer.
Think before you answer
I attended a meeting once in which an employee asked a manager a question,
and the first words out of the manager's mouth were, "Well, offhand, I'd
have to say no."
It was obvious to everyone in the room that this good question deserved
discussion and consideration before a decision could be made. But the manager
shot the suggestion down the nanosecond the employee finished the sentence. He
just couldn't wait to say "no!"
What's wrong with that behavior? Are all managers power-tripping egomaniacs who
say "no" because they enjoy flaunting their authority? No. In this
case, it was just a knee-jerk reaction, and once the issue was discussed, the
answer turned out to be "Yes, great idea." The manager probably
felt—or should have felt—embarrassed for having jumped to a hasty negative
conclusion.
No one can immediately understand and analyze all of the issues related to any
given question. Every question from an employee deserves serious attention, not
a half-baked, impulsive "no" response. Listen to yourself in meetings
and on the phone. Are you someone who chronically says "No, I can't"
or "No, we can't" every time something new is suggested? Get over it.
Get out of the "no" habit.
Never say no
Managers aren't the only people who say "no" too quickly and too
often. IT directors, programmers, application designers, support professionals,
and consultants are also big offenders. A user or client says, "Can we add
this bell or whistle to our program?" "Can I do this on the
computer?" And the computer person says, "Well, no..."
I've made a lot of consulting money because my motto is, "Never say no to a
customer request." I use "maybe" a lot, but I never say
"no." It aggravates me when somebody shoots down my ideas, so I try to
avoid shooting down someone else's suggestions with an automatic "no."
Over the years I've catered to clients who've been turned off by a consultant
who just said "no." For example, I was hired to do some Lotus 1-2-3
training for a company a few years ago. During the course of the day, I noticed
that the end users were addressing mailing labels by hand.
I asked, "Hey, why don't you guys print those labels on your handy-dandy
dot matrix printer over there?"
"Oh, we can't. Our old computer person told us we couldn't do it. Said it
couldn't be done."
So-and-so said "no." I said "yes." I won. I put together a
little worksheet, wrote a couple of macros, showed the users how to load the
labels and how to avoid getting labels jammed, and they never addressed another
label by hand again. I was the hero because I said "yes!"
Alternatives to saying no
So, if you're smart enough to realize that you're one of those people who's
always saying "no," what can you do about it? Change your behavior.
Get out of the habit of saying "no," and you'll be pleasantly
surprised at the results. People will like you better. You and your employees or
customers will be more productive. Trust me. Here are some alternative answers
for you to practice saying:
