Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

It seems that the most difficult thing for a decision maker to say is “no.” Here are a few stories of efforts that were wasted because when given the opportunity, people could not bring themselves to say “no.”

There is something difficult about saying “no.” I don’t quite understand it. Perhaps my mother told me “no” so often when I was a child that I thought the word was a natural response. I guess I have worked with people whose mothers differed from  mine.

Two stories:

First, in the early 1980s the little personal computers were new. For engineers, the computers where bright and shiny. Perhaps they were toys or perhaps they were the mental multipliers we should be using. I was working in a government organization, and everyone wanted to have some of these new devices, but no one wanted to look like they were wasting money on new, bright and shiny toys.

We really could have used a few computers. We had an inventory problem, and while they were not the one-and-only solution, the computers would have helped. I worked for a year on the project to buy a few little computers. Everyone I met had a new set of questions to justify the computers. No one would say, “That is a bad idea. No, you can’t buy computers.”

After a year of work, we sat in a meeting. My boss was as frustrated as I was. The room was filled with people who kept asking questions. Missing from the room was our big boss. When he entered the room an hour into the meeting, my boss looked at him and without explaining the subject  said, “Jim, please just say ‘no.'”

The big boss, stopped, and with a puzzled expression quietly said, “No.”

Everyone closed their notebooks, applauded, and left the big boss standing alone in the room with the same puzzled look.

Second story, in the 2000s I entered a new organization that was still in the government (yes, the government has lots of problems). A few people told me to start a new project to find a second source of parts. We depended on one company for a required part. If that company were to close its doors or go in another direction, we would have no source of parts.

I really didn’t care, but the reasoning seemed sound and I began work on the project. I went before a board of decision makers with the proposal for the project. I told them that I was new and didn’t really understand all the aspects of the situation, but that people who did understand felt we needed a second source of parts. The members of the board all nodded or half-nodded a yes. But, this was too late in the fiscal year to start a new project. We would wait six months.

I really didn’t care, but just to give everyone another chance to say “no,” I went before the same board of decision makers six months later. I told them that I was still new and still didn’t really understand blah blah blah. The members of the board all half-nodded a yes. I could see that they weren’t enthusiastic about this, but they would not nod “no.” They just couldn’t bring themselves to say “no.”

Two years later, we were nearing the end of the project. We had chosen a second source for parts and had awarded them a contract to build some parts. We weren’t going to use the parts for anything, but we wanted to see if they could  deliver the parts. They did deliver the parts and they were good parts.

Members of the decision-making board saw the parts arrive and they all asked why in the world we had bought parts that we weren’t going to use. I reminded them of the meetings at which I explained everything and gave them an opportunity to say “no.” They all had forgotten and denied everything even in the face of minutes from the meetings.

Today: I now work in a different organization – this one is outside the government. Still, I meet people who cannot say “no.” Most decisions are, “Don’t spend too many resources, but keep going in that direction.” I suppose that is the equivalent of a half nod and a request for justification. The world doesn’t seem to change much.