Do You Have a “Yes” Culture? If So, it Could be Hurting Your Contracting Business!

July 15, 2015
Category: Be a Highly Effective Owner,Build an Accountable, Self-Sufficient Team,Business Tips

I want to make you aware of one very common word—a word you hear all the time from your management team and employees, a word that could be damaging your business and causing you and your employees more stress and frustration than you realize. What is this horrible word?

The word is “YES.”

In many companies I work with and talk to, the employees are “yessing” the owner and the business to death. Imagine this situation: you ask your operations manager to create a better system for accurately capturing the hours worked every day. It’s been on your mind for a while. He says “yes.” So far so good, right? So it seems, but a week or two later, when you check back, nothing’s been done!

The same thing may be happening with other folks in your company too—your crew leads, your office manager, and your estimator—they all say “yes” to whatever you ask, but often it never gets done! Even if you used great delegation techniques and outlined the steps that you want them to take and set a deadline, there is still no guarantee that what you want to get done will get done. Does this happen to you too? It sure does to most of my clients!

Let’s Look a Little Deeper at This “Yessing” Behavior

I want to let you in on a dirty little secret. Your employees know that saying “yes” to you is the easiest and best way to pacify you. They know that you may forget to follow up and, and even if you do follow up and they haven’t done what you asked, they can deal with the consequences later. So why say “No” and argue with you when they can say “yes” and quietly slip away?

My Little Confession

When I was doing my 25-year stint in corporate America, I was a master of the “yes” technique. My bosses were constantly delegating things to me—so many things, in fact, that there was no way I could possibly get everything done. But still I said “yes” to whatever they asked. Why? Because it helped me avoid the uncomfortable conflicts that come with saying “no.” And saying “yes” made me look like a strong team player who could handle anything that they heaped on my plate. Saying “no,” I thought, would make me look like a weak and uncooperative loser.

So I said “yes” because it seemed like the only safe answer and because I was pretty sure that I wouldn’t be held accountable for much more than a little slap on the wrist. Secretly, I had a saying: “I’ve never met a goal or task that I couldn’t ignore.” Outwardly, I was a can-do guy!

Do You Have a “Yes” Culture in Your Business?

Many businesses have created a “yes” culture where employees say “yes” because they think that’s what the owner wants to hear. Do you have a “yes” culture in your business? Answer these two questions, True or False, to find out:

• My employees say “yes” to our annual goals, but then don’t work hard to achieve them.
• My employees say “yes” to whatever I ask them to do but those things often don’t get done.

If you answered “true” to these two questions, then you probably have a “yes” culture and it’s hurting your business and causing you stress and frustration to boot!

Here’s How You Change Your “Yes” Culture

To change your “yes” culture there are four things you need to do.

1. Expose the problem

Make all of your employees aware of the problem. At a company meeting (or however you routinely communicate with your team) share your insights about the “yes” culture and how it is hurting the company.

2. Give your employees permission not to say “yes”

Tell your employees that when you assign them a goal, a project or a task that they have three options:

• They can say yes, but only if they are 100% committed to getting it done.
• They can say “No,” if they don’t agree with you or they know that there’s no way that they can reach the goal or get the task done given everything else that’s on their plate.
• They can make a counter offer, and propose an alternative that they think will meet your needs.

By giving them permission to not always say, “yes,” you will have a much greater confidence that when they do say “yes” they really means “yes.”

3. Don’t over-ask

Be sensitive to everything that your employees have on their plates and be careful not to overload them with additional tasks, unrealistic time frames or unreasonable goals that only Superman or Wonder Woman could handle.

4. Religiously hold your team accountable for the things they say “yes” to

When your employees do say “yes,” it’s critical that you follow up and hold them accountable for following through on their commitments. Keep a record of the things that they say “yes” to and the due dates and follow up on the progress and the completion dates. If you follow up religiously and hold your employees accountable for getting the things they commit to done, you’ll be thrilled at all the work your employees will complete.

Your Next Steps

If you have a “yes” culture in your business, follow the four simple steps I outlined here starting today! Eliminating your “yes” culture will help you get more done and your business will run smoother with less stress and frustration for you and your employees! That’s a big positive result for changing one simple word!

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