The YES Man

As a leader, one of the most critical things you need to do is put the right team of people in place to support your agenda. Selecting these people correctly will be key to your success. One of the most common mistakes that leaders make is to surround themselves with “Yes Men”. Worse yet, as leaders become more powerful, sometimes they use their authority to create Yes Men by ensuring that it doesn’t pay to speak your mind on issues.

A Yes Man is someone that won’t challenge your position and in fact they will always tell you what you want to hear and then scurry about to execute your plan. Generally, Yes Men can be easily found in a crowd because they are the up and coming risers, trying to advance their careers as quickly as they can. Early on they seem to have a lot of success with their strategy of pleasing the leader at all costs.

It may seem like a good idea to surround yourself with Yes Men for two main reasons: 1) they will execute as directed and 2) they will never challenge your authority. However, here are some of the potential drawbacks of surrounding yourself with these types of people. For example, to gain credibility you have to implement successful projects. Just because your Yes Man executes as directed doesn’t mean the project will be successful. Often, front line knowledge is required to make a project successful. If you surround yourself with people that don’t challenge your plan, you may miss out on critical information that would otherwise make your project successful.

Yes Men tend to become resentful over time. It can be a slippery slope that starts when they don’t feel recognized or appreciated for their loyalty. Or they may feel that you abuse your power over them. Because they want to succeed, they are not likely to rebel openly but it is common for this type of individual to go underground and subversively undermine you. They may succeed in their efforts if they are your only source of information. People who are forced to become Yes Men under your watch, are the most dangerous of all because they are taking a step backward and they may feel that their confidence is under attack.

Your vulnerability in this scenario can be mitigated if you make it your business to “know your business” by listening carefully to credible people that dare to speak their mind.

A smart leader will encourage honest dialogue because it fosters mutual respect between them and their employees. It’s important to listen to differing points of view and then make your decision. Obviously, people will come at an issue based on their own background and experiences as well as with their own agenda. But it’s incumbent on you to give due attention to their arguments.

Leadership by consensus is weak leadership and that’s not what we are advocating here. But what we do recommend is that you pay attention to your decision making protocol to ensure that it is sustainable over time. That means you will need to rely on your team over and over again so take care to avoid creating an environment where they can’t highlight risks and potential opportunities in your plan.

A good protocol to use involves breaking the project up into clearly delineated phases. In the first phase allow your team time to contribute freely to your planning/strategizing including encouraging debate, pointing out risks and entertaining alternative solutions. Follow that with phase two, a period for your decision making and then bring the team together for a clearly defined third phase of implementation where you clearly articulate your expectations. Other phases include circling back for continuous improvement. This methodology will leave everyone feeling that their input was considered and will reduce the possibility of creating Yes Men under your regime.