In our creativity workshops, we ask people to participate in a simple exercise. They are to work in partners through 3 scenarios:
- Person A invites Person B to do a favorite activity and Person B keeps responding with No, I can’t.
- Person B invites Person A to do a favorite activity and Person A keeps responding with ‘yeah-but” that will never work, we tried that already, etc etc
- Person A invites Person B to do a favorite activity and Person B keeps responding with”yeah and we could”
We then ask people in which scenario did they feel the most energy and creativity. Not surprisingly, it’s scenario 3. The really interesting thing, however, is that people find the yeah-but response more demoralizing than the straight no. There’s something about no being definitive but objective, whereas yeah-but feels more like a subjective put down of an idea.
Sometimes people really resist the idea of dropping yeah-but from their repertoire. They argue that we’re asking them to give up their logic or expert knowledge. I think yeah-but sometimes gives leaders the allusion that they are just looking after the best interests of the team and trying to save people from disappointment or hurt. But I think that masks the real issue of yeah-butting. I know mine kicks in when I am attached to my way of doing things or feeling a bit insecure or tired and just not up to trying something different or risky.
So the next time you find yourself yeah-butting, take a minute to reflect on your true motives and the impact you’re having on your team’s ability to problem solve and come up with creative ideas.
Written by Tammy and based on the 5 of diamonds from our Teamwork Explorer.
