Get a Naysayer and Keep Them Close

I still remember the conference call when I heard a team
member spout, “Nay, I say, nay!” While I took a moment to recover from
my laughter on mute, everyone knew that this comment wasn’t a joke. This
was a respected team member that contributed real progress to our team
goals. He was pointing out a critical flaw that would delay delivery of a
quality product.

At that moment I knew, every team should have at least one naysayer.

This idea is difficult to follow, fellow managers, but hang in there with me.

Your quest is to find competent people who have the emotional
intelligence to say no respectfully but who also don’t play the safe
game with their career, your team, or your goals. These are not the
people who “always present an alternate solution if they do
point out a flaw in your plan.” No, not those people. Those are ‘A
student’ employees and I’ll write about them at a different time. 

These
naysayers are the people who are really, really good at their assigned
job; they just don’t color between the lines the rest of the time. They may be true curmudgeons during
team meetings. They might be late, last, and incomplete with every
non-critical work function that you ask from them. It will be clear that
pleasing you completely as their manager is nowhere on their to-do
list. 

But, naysayers will sharpen you as a manager and you want at least one.

I had a naysayer once on my team that I first thought was
spectacularly gifted at his job. He was truly great. He could be trusted
with the most difficult work situations and he got along with everyone.
Then the naysayer broke out.

We were at an in-person meeting and I was sitting next to him at a
very large round table while the leader was talking. The speech was
clearly unrehearsed by the leader, it was one of those “everyone go in X
room in 10 minutes because the leader has something to say” moments.
‘Splash zone’ was clearly uttered as we all dutifully filed in to
listen. The leader then lambasted the employees for not doing their jobs
and admonished them to do better. The employee sitting next to me went
from zero to throbbing in anger.

At the point when he threw his pen across the table, I knew we had
crossed from intellectual disgust to physical anger and even though this
person was probably 150 lbs heavier than me, I started calculating what
Spock-like maneuvers I’d need to do to physically take him down before
he made it to the stage.

Don’t be concerned here, managers. We would go on to joke about this moment in the future.
Fortunately, as good employees do when things get tough, he turned to
me as his manager and allowed me to verbally calm him down right after
the speech was done. I had so much cleaning up of psyches to do after
that speech. Splash zone was a good metaphor after all. 

But I admired that my naysayer had the temerity to question authority so deeply. It is only because he listened so intently
that he knew he had been spoken to in a disrespectful manner. Neither
he, nor his team, were guilty of what was being thrown at us. While I
wish he had not thrown the pen, there was no one on the other side of
the table. Haven’t we all felt frustration of some type before? Let he
who has not felt frustration go pick up that pen.

This employee went on to be one of my most treasured team members.
In a clutch, I knew exactly what my naysayer could and could not
deliver. He became one of my most honest touchstones of my management.
If he stayed in the mildly pissed off stage, I had him in the sweet
spot. He’d stay honest, he’d keep me honest (no faking for a naysayer),
and he’d be my true canary in the mine.

Here are 3 reasons why you want a naysayer:

The naysayer will say “Voldemort” when no one else will.

2. Use your naysayers to bounce your ideas off of.
I have a notebook on my desk where I scribble my most brilliant, often
caffeine-fueled ideas that will solve my employers’ greatest problems,
end poverty, and bring world peace. It really is brilliant. No, you
can’t see it.
In my private 1:1s with naysayers, I crack open
an idea from the notebook and see what happens. The most important part
is here is the privacy and importance that you give the naysayer in that
private space. They need to be heard. It’s healthy for everyone to get
the right message delivered in the right time at the right place. Yes,
this is a manager CYA manuveur too. Use up their naysaying juice
privately and they *might* have too few nays to give at that bigger
meeting.

If a naysayer feels heard, they are going to pipe up in
other meetings less often.

3. Pay attention when a naysayer does get excited. If a naysayer sees even a glimmer of hope in any idea, scream “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!” No, not out loud,
mind you. Naysayers love shooting down ideas so…if they don’t find that
an idea is a complete waste of time from start to finish, you’ve got
something worth pursuing. They are your canary in the mine. But pay
attention to frequency here. If your naysayer likes an idea that they
traditionally hate, worry as to why your naysayer isn’t saying nay.
Something is really wrong. #Igottabadfeelingaboutthis #thatsnomoon

Get nervous when your naysayer is nervous

In summary, I hope you will embrace naysayers. They truly are the
most honest and loyal employees because they are willing to pick the
mountain that they’ll die upon. They really are. They call things like
they see them and are often the first to see the emperor naked.

At times when you are questioning your mountain to die upon, they will be behind you saying “Nay, not that one” when you might most need it.

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#remotemanagement #onlinemanager #onlinemanagement #wfh #surround
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#asktheonlinemanager

 

This article originally posted on LinkedIn on April 19, 2019

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/get-naysayer-keep-very-close-heather-dodds This post was slighted edited and updated with a better font and replacing of missing images on April 3, 2026.