by Troy Page, The Unstuck Group
Many times I have sat in staff meetings where visionary ideas fly frantically across the room. In these moments, my mind instinctively starts racing to identify the holes, issues and the steps it will take to accomplish the ideas. I can get easily bogged down by the process and overwhelmed with the potential for failure. In these moments, it’s easy to play the devil’s advocate (this has been my nickname in the past) and try to shoot down the ideas before they have a chance to launch. What a downer for the top guy who is trying to accomplish great things for God!
Thinking through the details and developing a great strategy is essential to making ideas become a reality. A great staff member learns the value of being a “why not” person rather than a “why” person. Here’s the difference:
“Why” people instinctively push-back because of all the potential points of failure or the extreme amount of work something will take. For many leaders this is perceived as negativity and can become a beat down, not to mention a blockade to progress. Usually, these people possess great skills to strategize and think through details, but they can also miss the visionary moments God gives to senior leaders that may not satisfy logic.
“Why Not” people are able to positively embrace new ideas and possibilities before jumping to the details and questions. “Why not” people are not “yes men,” rather they know how to share the enthusiasm of their leader before jumping into all the questions.
“Why” people become “Why Not” people by:
- Thinking through all potential hurdles, but packaging them as a “heads up.”
- Discerning whether or not something is open for discussion or if it should simply be a “yes sir, I’ll make it happen” moment.
- Sharing the leader’s enthusiasm by adding ideas to the discussion before critiquing the idea.
- Learning to dream before speaking.
- Sometimes sleeping on decisions and praying about them before speaking up.
- Trying to shape the idea to be more effective and strategic rather than killing it.
- Asking for a follow-up meeting to present a plan. Sometimes in this process you will find the real genius or idiocy of an idea.
- Refusing to let fear of failure rival the faith factor.
- Digging in and working hard to make it happen.
- Realizing that some of the greatest ideas seem impossible.
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