{"id":6722,"date":"2017-04-19T13:29:48","date_gmt":"2017-04-19T17:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.katherinespinney.com\/sunday-night-blues-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-11-05T20:32:03","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T20:32:03","slug":"shifting-from-yeah-but-to-yes-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/shifting-from-yeah-but-to-yes-please\/","title":{"rendered":"Shifting from &#8220;Yeah, but&#8230;&#8221; to &#8220;Yes, please!&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you\u2019ve been in the working world for any length of time, chances are, you\u2019ve been in that meeting or brainstorming session where every idea that is brought up is initially met with a, \u201cyeah, but\u2026\u201d or a \u201cthe problem is\u2026\u201d Perhaps you were the person presenting the idea or the person pointing out what was wrong with it. Or maybe you were a participant who either noticed (or didn\u2019t) this dynamic and its likely deleterious effect. Unfortunately, this &#8220;yeah, but&#8230;&#8221; knee-jerk reaction is natural for many and common in workplaces from sea to shining sea. Why do we react this way and what can we do to change it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>WHY WE DEFAULT TO \u201cYEAH, BUT\u2026\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is a complex question and depending on the person and the situation, there could be any number of reasons. Here are a few:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>It\u2019s genetic<\/u>&#8211; Researchers have found a gene variant (ADRA2b) believed to be present in roughly half of the population, that affects the way people interpret the world<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>. In a sea of happy faces, those with this variant will focus immediately on the handful of unhappy faces. Research is limited but findings suggest that some people are simply built this way (though that does not mean they cannot change it).<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>It\u2019s biological<\/u>&#8211; Negativity bias is the term for our brains\u2019 increased sensitivity to negative news. As social psychology professor Baumeister noted, \u201cYou are more upset about losing $50 than you are happy about gaining $50.\u201d<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a> While there are benefits to this- particularly our natural reaction to assessing and protecting ourselves from dangerous situations- it is not benefiting us in the boardroom.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>It\u2019s environmental<\/u>&#8211; Surrounding ourselves with \u201cyeah, but\u2026\u201d thinkers can begin to transform us into \u201cyeah, but\u2026\u201d thinkers ourselves. For example, a 2014 study of college students found that roommates\u2019 thinking and way of perceiving the world influenced one another and that seeing the world through a negative lens can be, in a sense, contagious<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a>. One of many examples of the importance in choosing wisely who we surround ourselves wit<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">It\u2019s ego<\/span>&#8211; Sometimes, people have trouble recognizing someone else\u2019s good work because their egos get in the way. There are feelings of jealousy or feelings of being threatened. Sometimes when we don\u2019t like a person, we dismiss their ideas as a way to dismiss the person. We are complicated and flawed beings and this shows up at work every single day that we do.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>THE PROS AND CONS OF \u201cYEAH, BUT&#8230;\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">PROS-\u00a0It is vital when working with others to provide constructive feedback and to work together to come up with the best possible solution, system or idea. This requires honesty and an ability to problem solve creatively and openly until the problem is solved. Team members need to feel comfortable both giving and receiving feedback in order to reap the benefits of the many skills and gifts of the other team members.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">CONS-\u00a0In some cases, \u201cyeah, but\u2026\u201d people eventually come around to the positive parts of an idea, but often they do not. This will not bother some people but it will discourage too many of them from bringing up new ideas in the future. In order to encourage the contributions of all the different members and styles of the team, it is important to recognize and respect everyone\u2019s contributions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Secondly, it is easy to get stuck on what is wrong with something in a way that never gets us closer to landing on what is right. When we build on the positive it forces us to improve the idea. On the other hand, when we focus on the negative without offering alternatives, it does not help us reach our goal as many people who pick at ideas do so without offering alternatives. Like the person who doesn\u2019t want to go to that Mexican restaurant, but doesn\u2019t suggest somewhere else.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>WHY IT\u2019S IMPORTANT TO SHIFT TO \u201cYES, PLEASE!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There is great value and importance in starting with what is right about an idea rather than what is wrong with it, and none of it has anything to do with us being a generation of snowflakes or the result of a weakening nation.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>It encourages people to speak up. <\/u>You may be perfectly fine when people immediately point out the weaknesses of your ideas and\/or you may think that everyone else should be perfectly fine with it too. The truth is, not everyone will be. For many people, if they know their ideas are going to be attacked, they won\u2019t bother sharing them. And if you have an environment on your team where not everyone is comfortable contributing, nobody wins.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>Momentum matters. <\/u>When a discussion is centered around what is not possible and what is wrong with an idea, that is where the conversation will linger. It requires an extra effort to switch the momentum to what is possible and what is right, and unfortunately, not everyone is willing to make that extra effort. As a result, we often find ourselves stuck in meetings where we list all of the restaurants we don\u2019t want to eat at and never choose the one that we actually do.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>Ideas build off of each other. <\/u>Even if there is a lot wrong with an idea (and there often is), there is almost always something right about it. When we begin our focus there, we start to build on the idea to create an even better one. What was wrong with the idea will naturally be whittled away as more and more positive pieces are added.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><u>The team grows stronger. <\/u>When there is an environment of positive collaboration and support, energy and enthusiasm build. This inspires people to contribute their gifts and to feel part of the solution. This, in turn, increases buy-in which increases productivity and decreases turnover. People want to contribute and they want to feel successful. Positive problem-solving and decision-making allows for this.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When someone presents an idea, comment on the positive aspects of it first. If you are leading the meeting, make sure others do too. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When brainstorming, enforce the no judgment time and allow people to think and contribute freely. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Recognize the work and contributions of others in the group. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When critiquing an idea, always focus on the idea and not the person offering it. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank people for contributing. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Celebrate the resolution and frame it as the team effort it was.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Employing a &#8220;yeah, but&#8230;&#8221; mentality and looking at the world through a negative lens may be contagious but so is looking at it through a positive one. It may require some extra energy and intentionality, but doesn&#8217;t everything that is worthwhile?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Todd, R. M., M\u00fcller, D. J., Palombo, D. J., Robertson, A., Eaton, T., Freeman, N., &#8230; &amp; Anderson, A. K. (2013).Deletion variant in the ADRA2B gene increases coupling between.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Baumeister, R. F., Bratslavsky, E., Finkenauer, C., &amp; Vohs, K. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good.\u00a0<em>Review of general psychology<\/em>,\u00a0<em>5<\/em>(4), 323.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Haeffel, G. J., &amp; Hames, J. L. (2014). Cognitive vulnerability to depression can be contagious.\u00a0<em>Clinical Psychological Science<\/em>,\u00a0<em>2<\/em>(1), 75-85.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve been in the working world for any length of time, chances are, you\u2019ve been in that meeting or brainstorming session where every idea that is brought up is initially met with a, \u201cyeah, but\u2026\u201d or a \u201cthe problem is\u2026\u201d Perhaps you were the person presenting the idea or the person pointing out what [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12665,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6722\/revisions\/12665"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.logoworks.com\/ksc2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}