You’re working on a new project. It’s delicate infant of an idea, and requires gentle care to grow it.
It needs a ton of work, and ideas to feed and grow it. So here you are, caretaker of this child, and then some asshole on your team beats it endlessly with his “no’s.”
Should we try this? “No, this won’t work,” he says.
What if we do this?
“No.”
What about… “No!”
Then you look at his tangible contribution, and you realize it’s tiny, at best. So what do you do?!?
The ‘yes and’ rule is great, but not in the real world.
Instead, here’s the idea:
Create a “No” debt-jar. People are allowed to say no, but every time they do, a no chip gets thrown into their jar. For every No chip accumulated, they have to create one ACTIONABLE, tangible contribution. If they don’t repay their debt, they’re off the team.
It’s up to you if you want a real jar, or a digital tool. What the actual repayment will look like is up to you.