The Currency of Saying Yes on Teams

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The currency and impact of looking for ways to say yes to things when we can is so important. This applies to roles and relationships of all kinds, including customers and customer service, as a leader, as a colleague, as an employee.

Say yes to everything? No.

I often get push back with this conversation around the fact that “You can’t say yes to everything.”

I understand that.

This is not about saying yes to everything in the universe, or the idea that it’s healthy to be fake-positive or pretend to love ideas that are terrible.

“When you look for ways to say yes to someone, you show to them through your actions that you care about their experience.”

The reality is this: When you look for ways to say yes to someone, you show to them through your actions that you care about their experience.

You show to the other person that you prioritize them, and when you try to achieve whatever outcome that they're seeking, you're proving to them that what they want is important to you and that you’re in service of them.

The impact of that intention and behavior on your part is massive to that person and their relationship with you.

For example, in customer service:

Looking for any way possible to say yes to customers and clients is a must. It doesn’t mean that you will always be able to ultimately say yes to them, but if a customer is asking for something that is out of the ordinary, or even for something that you cannot provide it goes a long way to look for any way possible to say yes to them versus “No, you can't do that, it's against our policy.”

Be willing to challenge what you can or can’t provide to customers. Maybe what they’re asking for is something you can just say yes to even though you haven’t before. You can completely change someone’s experience with a yes versus a no.

And if you do have to deliver a no, look for ways to frame it up that still feel like a yes, for example, “Unfortunately we’re not able to do that exact thing, but here’s what we can do…” Remain focused on what they are trying to accomplish.

Is there any other way to get to that objective, is there any way to accomplish that same outcome for them in a different manner?

“This can be the difference between someone having a poor experience with you and never coming back, or becoming a loyal customer for life.”

Be extremely conscious and aware of how you are saying no to someone, and how you're saying yes. Make it a priority to always look for a yes, and find ways to make things possible and give them what they want. This can be the difference between someone having a poor experience with you and never coming back, or becoming a loyal customer for life.

An earmark of excellent customer experience is being told yes along the way instead of no.

This goes for employees too.

Just like with trying to provide an excellent customer experience, the same goes for internal interactions in companies. For leaders, coworkers, and anyone inside a team or organization, we have an opportunity to make someone’s experience in their job much better by looking for and taking every opportunity possible to say yes.

When an employee comes looking for time off, look for ways to say yes. Or maybe you have an employee who is an early riser and wants to start a couple hours early so they’re finished work by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Make your default reaction be to look for a way to say yes.

“We spend a lot of time in business being innovative and trying to find creative solutions to business problems and issues, especially when it comes to making more revenue. Let’s apply that same amount of effort and creativity in looking for ways to say yes to employees.”

Maybe there are barriers to being able to say yes. Here’s what I have to say about that: We spend a lot of time in business being innovative and trying to find creative solutions to business problems and issues, especially when it comes to making more revenue. Let’s apply that same amount of effort and creativity in looking for ways to say yes to employees.

When us humans truly want something to happen, we find ways around barriers. And when we don’t want something to happen, we let any and every barrier be the excuse that we just “can’t” do something. Want to say yes to employees, and find a way.

The result for organizations that do that is also higher revenue.

When employees feel valued and listened to and cared about by their leaders and their company, they work harder. They are more productive, they will stay in their jobs longer, and they do higher quality work. You earn people’s trust and good will and loyalty when you treat them well, and a cornerstone to people feeling like they’re being treated well is when their experience is prioritized.

But if you say yes, won’t people start to ask for everything?

No, they won't.

Most people are reasonable and accountable and won’t take advantage or exploit the fact that you and your company looks for ways to say yes as a general rule. What they will actually do is appreciate it and be better, harder working employees as a result.

Adopting the intention of looking for ways to say yes doesn’t mean that you never say no or that you don’t have any boundaries with people. If you have an employee who you feel is taking advantage of you looking for ways to say yes, go have a conversation with that employee about what that looks like and address how they need to be more accountable.

It’s such a simple concept, adopt it.

Ultimately, it's not about the outcome of any individual situation, it's about the relationship, it's about that impact. It's just a simple mindset and intention to prove to other people that you care about their experience by looking for ways to say yes. It costs nothing at all, and the currency it will create on your team is priceless.

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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop 

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