Answering when the Answer is No
No means no, but leaders and parents often fall into the same trap and use it to mean maybe. This is a place when your past track record will serve or haunt you. If you consistently say no when you mean no and say maybe when you mean maybe, then, over time, answering with a no will be easier.
However, if you consistently deliver no responses without providing a context for the no, you will be seen as an autocratic leader. Never having aspired to that particular title, I’ve always chosen to focus on the context that produced the no answer.
One of a leader’s most significant roles is that of teacher; delivering context is the best place I know to see leader-as-teacher in action. Saying no tells people what not to do, but it doesn’t teach them anything. When leaders take the time to describe the process they use to reach a decision, they are teaching. If you explain the data you reviewed, the conversations you had and with whom, and the decision-making criteria you used, others will not only understand this decision, but they’ll be able to follow your process the next time it’s their turn to make a decision.
Who knew how valuable a no could be?