What ‘no’ really means

In big organisations we hit road blocks all the time. Be it systems restrictions, logistical complications or a difference in opinion, it can often feel like ‘no’ is all we ever hear.

This can be disheartening, particularly for those of us in creative fields, when all we ever want to do is set our ideas live into the world. Going back to the drawing board time and time again can be debilitating.

However, there’s a trick we can use in a work environment to tackle the ‘no’ problem. It applies in both a practical sense, in that it gives us work to get on with, and an emotional sense, by building our resilience.

And that is, flipping the definition of ‘no’ from ‘no, this is the end’ to ‘no, I need more information'.

Changing the way we think about ‘no’ gives ideas a second chance. It simply means need to assume the way we presented our work the first time didn’t quite hit the mark for the target audience. Either we didn’t give enough context, we’d undersold the benefits or we hadn’t seen it from the person we were talking to’s point of view.

Therefore, if it’s an idea we really believe in we shouldn’t give up so soon. Instead we need to come at it having considered what may have caused the original no, rework our sell and try again.

It’s easy to let ‘no’ feel final. But if we do, we will end up in a state of total demotivation.

While sometimes ‘no’ will literally mean ‘ok stop now’, that is not something we should accept at round one.

By seeing ‘no’ as a request for more information and context, we’ve got reason to hold onto our excitement and energy for our ideas. We have something to work with to keep momentum.

Resilience is an important trait in big organisations, and this tiny shift in thinking does a lot for making it a default state.

“No, you say? Ok, brb.”