The ‘Yes and But’ approach
Something that I’ve had the habit of letting slip through my attention is the But after a Yes.
My work has always involved coming up with things–ideas, plans, strategies. I’ve helped launch services, products, business plans. In that process I’ve found it natural to try and make the most of an insight. ‘Yes, that’s it!’ — a voice goes in my head every time.
Recently I’ve come to realize that my method is one-dimensional and can be improved with a tweak.
I used to say:
❌Yes, there’s a need for this product and we should move ahead with it.
I would go deeper into the Yes, make escalating commitments, without checking in with the But.
Whereas now I’m tempted to say:
✔Yes, there is a need for this product on the market and we should move ahead with it. But, we need to learn more about XYZ before we commit.
This dawned on me when I was working with a colleague and trying to persuade a bunch of cross-functional people to get a change off the ground. I found myself talking about the positives while my colleague did a great job reminding me of what could go wrong. Focusing on both sides helped us anticipate both opportunities and barriers.
At first, I framed this as a 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯-and-𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 mental model (focusing on the gains AND on avoiding losses) but then later I heard the same idea more beautifully explained on the Masters of Scale podcast as the 𝘠𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘉𝘶𝘵 approach.
Now you know it.
