Say Yes With Confidence: Suneel Agarwal

Yes, Sure, Definitely, 100%, Pucca are some of the polarized responses to requests for action.

People need to work in tandem. The world lives on interdependency. The best performers also rely on people other than themselves to achieve their objectives. Towards this end they find themselves reaching out to various people and ‘depend’ on them.

It is, however, surprising how people look at these requests with different prisms. At one end of the spectrum to some it’s a casual enquiry and at the other end a definitive call to action for the others.

However, for some strange reason the response is heavily crowded at the casual end rather than a mean. People just don’t take these requests seriously and have you wondered why?

The reason is simple. They don’t take themselves seriously. They don’t see a request in the light that good performers do. They don’t surf, they plough. They not only take themselves seriously but also do what others expect of them. That someone has reached out to them is the start of the responsibility chain and the first link in the chain is an appropriate answer.

Appropriate doesn’t mean diplomatic. It means weighing the request earnestly—the need, their stance, their ability, the time frame, the prioritization. After weighing these options they decide and give an appropriate answer. The answer is the starting point of their internal commitment chain.

Saying yes or nodding an approval to a task is not a vocal utterance but a verbal action. The verbal is a verb of action. They calculate and spring into action to ‘honour’ the commitment. You may also argue that they may not always succeed. That’s for sure, you don’t always win every game you play or reach every destination you set your sights. The difference however is the intent.

When people begin a task the key factor is intent. How serious you are about your task. How committed you are. And this is more a universal approach of how you look at yourself and your actions. They tend to give each task its merit and take it seriously. So when someone makes an innocuous request they give it their full seriousness because that’s how they look at their journey.

Now the majority don’t take it seriously and scoff at the few who do. They justify their response as a reflection of the general trend and they are doing what most others are doing - following the trodden path. They wonder what the fuss all about is. They are causal and don’t get upset when they get the same currency in return.

And here lies the waste. The waste of dependency. The waste of reduced productivity. Living in an environment of casualness, distrust, devoid of any intent to deliver or the seriousness that is required for it, they don’t realize the underachievement of their endeavours.

Productivity, enhanced performance breeds in an environment of trust and the fertilizer of intent and dependability. With no pillars of trust or dependability to lean on, you are always unsure and on the edge, rather than developing the cutting edge. You always hope than be assured of a superlative performance. You always aim at getting things done at a threshold level than aim to excel. You look to pass rather than pass with flying colours.

So where did we begin. Saying yes. Yes, this simple innocuous yes is the foundation of your performance pyramid. And if you understand this would you give your yes a little more seriousness.

Say yes. But with a different intent. And see the difference.

(The author is Suneel Agarwal, chief energizing officer, Parichay Brand Consultants)