EVEN WHEN YOUR ANSWER IS "NO", BE UNDERSTOOD STILL, IT'S PROGRESSIVE COMMUNICATION

WHEN YOUR ANSWER IS NO! - BE UNDERSTOOD STILL, IT'S PROGRESSIVE COMMUNICATION


This life is a continuous series of choices and decisions we make as individuals and collectively. We come to moments of agreeing or disagreeing and agreeing to disagree with others. We aslo come to simple yet often difficult situations for us especially as individuals where we have to give our answer as a definite  YES or NO.

In leadership the ability to unequivocally give one's position and answer in the form of YES or NO when it is required is very important. One ought to be decisive like that, those working with and under such a leader are bolstered and convinced by the single mindedness which executes with power, focus and direction.

It is much better, meaningful and productive to follow a leader who is able to make decisions even tough unpopular ones for the overall good in the long run looking at the bigger picture than following a vacillating unsure leader who hardly makes calls when the need arises, such a leader shrinks and quakes at the prospect of making a tough call in the process getting everybody agitated and confused.

No should be No full stop. However it needs not be blunt and misunderstood, as followers we would want to believe with conviction that it is well meant with positive results along the way which we may not readily understand given the inevitable gap and access to information regulated by hierarchy.

A misunderstood NO or turning down by a leader or boss can result in many undesirable outcomes especially when it gets taken personally by the individual to whom such a decision is given. The person get lost in terms of the existing relationship and feel rejected as a result their work suffers and yields poorly.

However when the NO is given and understood to a point of being swallowed even if it's a bitter pill the results will speak for themselves and all parties realise the positive outcome emanating from a previously given apparently negative answer. Such decisive and objective decision making results in followers and subordinates cementing their trust in the leader's judgement.
We therefore ought to ensure there is understanding among parties where negative responses or disagreeing answers are given for the preservation of goodwill and healthy work relations of mutual trust.

As much as it is usually the bosses who make decisions in the organisational set up, employees and juniors also make their fair share of "NO" decisions which because of poor communication and misunderstanding are often interpreted as insubordination by the superiors when they instruct and direct only to be turned down like that.

 In the same vein therefore it is important to ensure you are understood by your boss should you have any objections to carrying out what are usually lawfully given orders. It is never about showing power in a healthy work space or fixing one another but Yes and No should be there as and when necessary, nobody needs "yes people" all the time if they are serious about building and growing a progressive and robust organisation.

Leaders being busy people get inundated with information and they decipher some of it later than those below who have less information to process. For a example when a new statutory regulation is made without pomp and making headlines they may miss it depending on its nature and delivery. If it favours the employees for one reason or another the employees are likely to pick it up first and want to run with it.

The leader unaware of the new regulation may come to an employee with instructions which fly in the face of that regulation, instead of explaining to the boss grounds for saying NO, the junior just rubs it in his/her face
just because they are suddenly able to say No. This kind of behaviour is unprogressive and hinders coherence, understanding among parties is of paramount importance for progress to take place even where people agree to disagree.

So it is important be explicit and let a No be a No and a Yes a Yes whenever we are called upon by situations to make decisions, equally important is ensuring that the response goes home and gets interpreted jus as it was intended to.

THE GOLDEN WORD FOUNTAIN - (TGWF)