Just Say Yes

It is often said, “it’s so hard to say no.”  Then why are so many organizations inclined to say no at every turn?

Whether it’s “that’s not my department” or “there is no way we can do that for you,” time and time again, people immediately shut down a customer with a negative response, even when, and without much effort, they could easily accommodate the request. However, it is not the individual team member’s fault that they are being short sighted and leading with “no.” They are simply modeling their organizational culture of prioritizing rules and regulations over providing excellent customer service—saying no over saying yes.

It is important to clarify that when we talk about getting to “yes,” we are not talking about total agreement. It means hearing and understanding the request and agreeing to explore all possible solutions and work towards a reasonable outcome.

And like any organizational practice, it all starts at the top. As a leader, you must work to cultivate and nurture a culture of yes and empower your team to do the same. Here are a few tips on how to make that happen:

• You say yes. If your team members observe you leading with yes when dealing with customers, vendors, or other team members, they will follow suit.
• Tell stories of yes. When speaking to team members, stakeholders or other folks involved in the organization, tell stories of how saying yes was effective and resulted in positive feedback.
• Celebrate and reward yes. Find ways to celebrate and reward those team members who were able to satisfy customer requests, who went above and beyond to say yes to customers, or who went that extra mile.

Finally, being able to say yes to that initial customer is not its only reward. Of course, saying yes and satisfying requests feels great for you and leads to happy customers, but there are other positives to saying yes as well. It can at times force you to find new solutions, discover new opportunities or unlock new modes of creativity. You also learn to take risks which can be incredibly productive.

While you might have to work a little bit harder to get to yes, in the end there is nothing like it. There are so many times we are met with no, that we need all the yeses we can get.