Listen carefully during the next meeting you sit through at your company. Are you working in a Yes BUT or a Yes AND culture?
When someone suggests an idea, if you hear them say, yes BUT – it means that they aren’t genuinely listening and believe that it is better to challenge a suggestion instead of building upon it. Yes, butters aren’t collaborating and want to assert what they believe is a better idea.
If someone suggests an idea, and you hear yes AND – it means they heard you and they want to build upon your approach. My most fruitful discussions with clients, colleagues, and friends are always yes AND conversations. We rely on each other’s thinking and end up with a better idea.
AND cultures
Truly collaborative cultures, build upon their colleagues’ ideas. If your workplace is built on AND thinking, teams are more productive and effective as they benefit from working together. In an AND culture, no one leaves a meeting feeling ignored.
AND comes from Improv that encourages excepting ideas and building upon them to improve upon them. Tina Fey says, “the first rule of improv is to agree and accept the contributions of others.”
Interesting that within the word improv is in the word improve.
Do you work at an AND or a BUT workplace?
You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com Call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com The conversation is free, and we can explore working together.
Photo by Mark Wieder on Unsplash
