How A Bad “Yes” From Your Team Will Ruin Your Project
You’re hosting a kick-off meeting.
Everyone is sitting around the nice conference table, nodding their heads at your presentation.
No one is even checking their phones.
Amazing right?
If you’re the project manager, you feel relieved.
However, days later you get tons of critiques about why this or that task will no longer work. Or shouldn’t be a priority.
What happened?
That’s the bad or counterfeit yes at work.
A bad “yes” is when everyone on your team agrees to follow the plan but no one actually does it.
A bad or counterfeit “yes” appears when people on your team want to say No but feel unsafe being honest. So they use a counterfeit Yes to escape. They give you the yes you want to hear so you’ll get off their back and leave them alone.
The bad “yes” will destroy your goals…
… If you’re missing the right ingredients.
Here’s the problem.
The project manager knew what was happening, but everyone else didn’t. Everyone was on board except for the people who needed to make the work happen.
The project manager didn’t adequately move the team forward.
A project plan fails when it…
… seeks to control others. Alex Katsanos, a management consultant, shares his thoughts on why project planning doesn’t work.
“We clearly worked very hard to create this thing that no-one can understand or follow. Can we now get real?”
Ouch.
Read through the story he shared and you develop a clearer picture about their circumstance.
- “The planners, 9 times out of 10, are the people who know the least about the practicalities of site-work sequence challenges.”
- “90% of the subcontractors and suppliers have not yet been procured and thus cannot contribute details about their workflow, sequences and productivity rates, lead-times etc.”
- “The contract, typically will stipulate the type of activity relationships and maximum activity durations” which they don’t have.
Their project plan was created without any of their teammates. No one took the time to talk to the team and get their feedback. They haven’t laid the right foundation. Their project was doomed from the very beginning.
Was their project plan the problem?
No.
The problem was team collaboration. There was no communication, no feedback and no ownership. They weren’t able to harmonize project conflicts and they weren’t able to adapt to the inevitable and natural headaches that appeared.
The bad “yes” ruins projects.
When teammates fight for control, projects suffer. A bad “yes” appears automatically when people on your team want to say No but feel compelled to say Yes. They use a counterfeit Yes to escape, to get you off their back.
At that moment, a project plan is doomed to fail.
Good project plans are clear, complete and carefully planned. But good project plans still fail. Amazing project plans win because they’re effective. And what makes these plans effective?
They’re followed.
What gets everyone on the team to follow your project plan?
Ownership and feeling like they’re developing the project, not just part of it.
Give your teammates the details they need and your project plan will write itself.
Collaborate with your teammates and you’ll get the yes you want, and the commitment without the bad “yes.”
Last updated on May 28, 2025
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