When does a leader have to say No?

2015-08-26T10:56:40-04:00

We hear it all the time, to be a good leader is to know when to make the right call. Over the past few months, I've had the honor of taking a course here in Pittsburgh that was designed to help Veterans take their existing leadership skills and develop them to better serve the area by learning more about the Greater Pittsburgh area. During this class, we were broken down into small groups and teamed up with different agencies to help pull together a program that would benefit that agency. One of the groups was teamed up with a City Council member and her office and their idea was to pull together this home fair.

Sadly, because of the short time frame we had, they had to shift their focus from trying to do this fair because they reached a point where they had to either try to squeeze something out that would not be at the high level of quality they wanted or to cancel it. As leaders, they decided to cancel it and change their scope into putting together a packet, a how-to basically, of the information they gathered and gave it to the council woman's office as a way to help them still do this fair but on a more realistic time line.

So as we were all presenting our different projects as the class comes to an end, this group gets up to presents and shares all this with us. And it got me thinking of some great leadership quotes and examples I've seen or heard of. I've once heard that to be a great leader you must be willing to order the destruction of the thing you love. I've seen commanders looking over battle plans to figure out which of the options was the least bad. I've sat in meetings where leaders had to make tough calls on issues that everyone was passionate about. Yet during this presentation, the one thing I pulled away from it is to be a good leader, you must be willing to stand up and say "No". While this is not the original outcome we would want, it is sometimes the best outcome for all.

So the question to RallyPoint I have today is this. When, as a leader, have you had to say "No" to something because you knew that trying to push something through would be even worse? What lessons can we as leaders gain from saying "No"? Is saying "No" ever completely wrong?

Response by PFC Joseph Levi made Aug 26 at 2015 11:00 AM

2015-08-26T11:00:31-04:00

I know at my job now I have had to say NO. It comes with the decision making of a strong leader. Would you want to make a decision to go ahead with something knowing that it will probably fail, then turn around and blame the people that tried to put it together because of your call. You are setting them up for failure!!

Response by LCDR Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 26 at 2015 11:04 AM

2015-08-26T11:04:45-04:00

This depends on who I'm saying no to. As far as a boss goes, I have had to tell him no I will not work my Maintenance Department over the weekend unless he explicitly orders it himself. The reason was that we had given a 3 day weekend as a reward for hard work and a lot of long days including a couple of weekends. The need to work that weekend was 100% due to an Operations and Headquarters failure to plan. I told him I was not going to go back on my word and tell them that although we gave them Friday off they would have to work Saturday and maybe Sunday. He ended up siding with me, but standing my ground cost me later in a ranking situation. Not the way it should have happened but I am still glad I made the call.

Several times I have had to tell people that worked for me that their request or desire to do something could not be accommodated. One of the biggest of these is leave requests that are routed up with almost no time before the leave is. I have had to deny leave to someone who bought non-refundable tickets, but they failed to route their request until 2 days before the leave and we literally didn't have someone else to cover their shift the following week. Again, a decision that made me unpopular, this time with those that worked for me.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Aug 26 at 2015 11:15 AM

2015-08-26T11:15:41-04:00

Ask any responsible parent, leaders say no when (1) those they lead risk harming themselves or others [including pets and other animals :-)]; (2) after counting the cost and they recognize there are insufficient resources to purchase something or a service; (3) based on wisdom and years of experience that the risks of adopting a course of action or implementing a suggestion outweigh the benefits SGT Ben Keen

Response by MCPO Roger Collins made Aug 26 at 2015 11:19 AM

2015-08-26T11:19:26-04:00

One does not need to take a course to be a good leader, whether military or civilian. In all situations, one looks at the objective given by top management and does what it takes to accomplish that objective. How it is accomplished does reflect on the person saying yes or no. My practice was to listen to all relevant information, then make a decision and explain why that was the result. If anyone had strong feelings, I invited them to my office, after working hours and explained it on a personal level

Response by SSG Warren Swan made Aug 26 at 2015 11:28 AM

2015-08-26T11:28:28-04:00

Does it violate policy? Can a troop get hurt or killed? Is it part of "best practices" or the Creed? Does it go against the K.I.S.S. principle? Will it make you part of the next safety brief? How much a** are you willing to loose in the 1SG and CDR's office? Will you be fired or relived? Can you LIVE WITH that decision? Important questions to think about when making that yes or no answer.

Response by MAJ Ken Landgren made Aug 26 at 2015 11:48 AM

2015-08-26T11:48:06-04:00

I don't remember saying no. I think its due to a bad memory.

Response by COL Mikel J. Burroughs made Aug 26 at 2015 3:16 PM

2015-08-26T15:16:32-04:00

SGT Ben Keen Great subject for Leadership, when to say "No!" or have you ever had to say "No!" during your tenure as a leader. I can't count the number of times as a leader I had to say "No!" from small requests made by the staff or the CSM all the way up to major decisions that encompassed millions of dollars in costs, planning, and execution. I can tell you that you aren't the most popular person in the room at the time when you have to make those calls, but that to me is what leading is all about. The willingness to make command decisions whether they are popular or unpopular, but instead making them because of your experience, sometimes your ability to really accept risk, and because of analysis and understanding that the 2nd and 3rd order affects of that decision (whether it be a Yes or No) will result in collateral damage for soldiers or the organization you are leading. You have to have the fortitude to say "No" and "Yes" for the good of the command, the soldiers, the units below your headquarters, or for the good of the military service you represent. Finally, you have to be willing to live with and support your decision when questioned by a higher authority! Know your stuff and keep tabs on your decisions through organized files, backup material, and detailed times/dates of occurrences and meetings. That's my two cents without writing a book on it today! There is a lot more to it than what I just shared!

One last point. Me personally, I always quantified or qualified my reasoning behind a "Yes" or "No" response. I hated it when I was an NCO and leaders would say "No" just because I said so. I made it practice to qualify my reasoning with my staff and the individuals that I was communicating with. In most cases they really appreciated the breakdown and synopsis on why I made that decision and they learned from it. That is my style and the way I liked to lead and conduct business - personal preference!