The many shades of ‘No!’
No…probably one of the most difficult words in the English language. Next time someone asks you for something I have a challenge for you: look them in the eye and calmly say no. No, I can’t help you. No, I don’t want you involved. It’s tougher than it sounds because as a species we’re conditioned to please. Whilst it may feel like you’re constantly surrounded by no, the reality is very different. No comes in subtle and nuanced forms.
Those of us working in the Innovation space are accustomed to no. It’s part of the daily work trying to get businesses to adopt new ideas, think differently, take risks and otherwise evolve. One would hope that in the business world, straight talking would prevail. Yes means yes. No means no. Over the last 13 years I’ve worked on Innovation challenges with over 50 different companies large and small. If like me you’ve spent time operating across various corporations you’ve no doubt realised that no has many sly and deceptive forms. Yes can mean no. No can mean maybe, but you’ll never really know until the end. It’s a topic that’s come up frequently with industry peers so I thought I’d save you some effort and provide a field guide to the many flavours of no you’ll experience when navigating the corporate world.
Some types of no are meant kindly. They’re people trying desperately to save you from the futility of trying to change the business. Some are deeply insidious. Tools of tedious time wasters who hope that if they run the clock down sufficiently you might just go away. Others are structural, inevitable consequences of complex corporate structures with low accountability and insufficient motivators to say yes. Below are just a few species of no. I suspect there may be hundreds more. Please feel free to add your own with stories, especially if you’ve managed to navigate no successfully.
The slow no. If you work in Innovation I guarantee you’ve been a victim of the slow no. This one looks very much like a day job. It starts with mild interest. ‘If only you had this data point’ or ‘convince that person that this is a good idea your problems will be solved’. It can take years for a slow no to unfurl fully leading to deep resentment and dissatisfaction. Victims of the slow no will often leave your company. The slow no is difficult to detect as it often comes as a soft yes. You know you’re in the midst of a slow no if you have interest but no firm commitments. Commitment is the only antidote to a slow no.
The hard no. If you must suffer no, this is the one you want. On reviewing the information and data available; after considering all the facts….no. stop working on this and move on. The hard no is the Innovation equivalent of putting a much loved elderly pet out of their misery at the vet. Painful at the time, but in hindsight it saves the long drawn out frustration of the slow no. Issuing a hard no saves your business time and money.
The parlay no. A parlay wager is one of the cheapest, longest odds, largest payout bets you can make. A small sum is placed on the outcome of multiple consecutive races or games. Win the first and the stake is transferred to the next. Win that and you move on the the next, and so on. Steve Whiteley of the UK won £1.45M from a mere £2 stake by selecting six consecutive long odds winners in horse races. So it goes with the parlay. Start with junior managers, have them say yes, then set up a meeting with their boss. Win a yes here and you move up. With each meeting the stakes rise until you reach the CEO and suffer the ultimate loss, a hard no which took you a year to get to. The upside is that the ultimate prize is also on the table. A hard yes. The parlay is common in high discipline, hierarchical cultures. Not for the faint hearted, the late stage meetings are high stakes events. Months or years of work and preparation can be undone just one hour. In many organizations a hard yes or a hard no are seen as luxury goods for the enjoyment of senior leaders alone.
The pseudo compassionate no. ‘It’s not you, it’s me’. Perhaps the worst break up gambit in history. Rich with faux compassion, I’ll tear down my own character, make you witness what a waste of time I am and then release you to enjoy the love of better partners. The equivalent in the corporate world? ‘We love your idea…really we do, but we’re just terrible at execution. Our business won’t do this incredible work justice so we’ve decided to wait for now until we’re in a better place’. Allow me to save you some time. The better place will never come. They hate your idea. They just aren’t able to tell you to your face. It’s a no.
The exponential no. Have you ever been told how lucky you are to work in a matrix structure? The interdependence leads to a more efficient use of time. Everyone is able to work to their strengths. The matrix structure is also the favourite haunt of the exponential no. I often joke that sometimes it seems there are 400 people who can say no and not one who can say yes. Matrices are creatures of compromise and concessions. Interestingly a second meaning of compromise is “to accept standards that are lower than desirable”. When everyone can say no, and no-one has the ultimate say the outcomes are usually both the product of compromise and severely compromised to boot.
The viral no. One of the most insidious of its kind. If you have a business prone to silos and tribes within tribes you may have a ‘viral no’ problem. The viral no begins small. A junior team member raising a fair objection. This quickly balloons unchecked into a cacophonous symphony of ‘this idea is full of holes’. With no-one from your camp there to act as an emissary your idea is now tainted. This virus quickly spread to neighbouring islands bringing down a great idea with nothing but hearsay. The viral no is often thrown out casually and with a qualifier along the lines of; ‘no judgement…I’m just saying”.
The curious no. There is no ‘no’ which is more a product of culture than the curious no. A curious no is a no dressed lightly in the garb of a strategic or clarifying question. This question will usually have nothing to do with the issue at hand, but surprisingly if unanswered renders the issuer incapable of proceeding. The curious no is a close relation to the slow no. It looks like work. It’s tempting to believe that once satisfied, the curious no will become a yes. The curious no sends you away to further toil with the passionate hope you will not return. It will quickly evolve into either a slow or pseudo compassionate no. Spotting this one early will save you much time.
The holy no. As a scientifically trained mind this is the most egregious of no’s. We’re taught from an early age to be objective where possible, resorting to mysteries and superstition is not advisable in business…at least on paper. The holy no manifests itself thus. Faced with a mountains of contradictory data, your colleagues refuse to shift their point of view. They believe their own world view in the face of profound evidence to the contrary. It’s science vs. religion and you will certainly lose.The worst of their kind are those who got lucky once in the past. They will trust their instincts to be blessed by the gods of all earthly religions and impervious to failure. Popular fiction has glamorised the holy no. It’s the spy cutting the red wire on the bomb against expert advice. It’s Jack Bauer being told he’ll never make it in time and trying anyway. To fight a holy no is to fight 1000 years of hero culture from Beowulf to Bond.
The lazy no. When ‘yes’ looks like work, you get the lazy no. Agreeing with you opens the floodgates for work, risk, challenge and having to explain oneself to a whole bunch of other nos deeper in the organisation. The lazy no happens when you fail to anticipate and solve the future problems caused by your idea. Of all the nos here I have the most sympathy with the lazy no. Few people are looking for extra work at the behest of their innovation team. Our job as Innovators is to solve problems, not create them. If you get the lazy no this is one of the few cases when you could go and do more work. It’s the only one where more work has a chance of leading to meaningful progress.
The timid no. A close cousin of the lazy no. The timid no is the product of your idea looking like too much risk and provoking fear. Remember that whilst a few brave souls are managing risk for the company, most people are managing their personal career risk. They’re more concerned with the consequences for their future. Bold, brave ideas carry an immense amount of exposure and personal risk. The timid no can only be mitigated by playing down risks or finding a way to take them upon yourself. After all it is your idea. If you believe in it….be bold. Another way to combat the timid no is to dial up the ‘risk of standing still’ to inspire action.
In all aspects of business we’re told no a lot, although we don’t always see it in time. In Innovation it’s more extreme and more subtle all at once. Think about the various ways people say no to you. Learn to recognise them and build strategies against them. Ultimately public commitment to new things is the only currency in Innovation. When you’re thinking about where your Innovation group sits and who they report to, try to put them in the sweet spot where they’ll have to manage the minimum quantity of no between idea and execution. Recognizing which no you’re up against will help you form tactics and strategies to bypass, mow through or mitigate the no-ness of your organisation. Find the people in your organisation who are more likely to say yes. People with a yes bias tend to have a few defining traits. They’ll have been successful in the past and they will have low levels of fear for the future of the business or their own career. Fear and no go hand in hand within a corporate environment. Alternatively they may be in a tough spot and ready to accept interesting or radical solutions. Fear can evolve into need. Am I going to share all the secrets of navigating all of the various nos?….no.
