Don't Get Mad

What if one of your employees or followers comes to you and says no to one of your new projects or tasks? I have been looking at an article by Ernie Humphreys on “SayingNo to Your Boss”. He gives five approaches someone can take when saying no to your boss. What I have been doing is looking at the approaches and looking at what the boss should do when confronted with the creative no approach.

The third approach is “directly state your opinion supported with facts as to the relevance of a request”. This approach is the employee coming in and actually saying no but supporting that no with facts as to why they shouldn’t take on this new task. If they have done their homework and formulated a convincing case you may not be able to get upset with them for saying no.

Here is what you should do as a leader when you are confronted with this approach. First of all do not get mad because the person isn’t jumping for joy over the task or project.

• Embrace the fact that they did their research.
• Congratulate them on a good job crafting their argument. The congratulations may see them having a change of heart and wanting to be part of it.
• Ask them if they still want to be part of the project using some of their ideas or changes and they can be the driver of the project.
• Process what they have presented to you and com back with a modified version of the project. They will see that you care about their ideas and hopefully embrace the idea.

As a leader don’t get mad but embrace the energy and ideas that the person brings to the table. Let them know that you want them to be part of the project and you value their contribution. If you do this you will counter the no that is coming from the employee.