I’m dating myself here. But in one of the many Star Trek incarnations, the Enterprise was led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard. One of his catchphrases was “Make it so.”
Don’t we wish we could look at the people we work with, say “Make it so” and watch what we want materialize?
I’ve been thinking about why people don’t step up to more difficult aspects of their jobs, or volunteer to take on new projects.
Instead of taking the usual approach of looking at different situations, it made sense to consider the different types of people.
This short video not only covers the three ways we can hear — or not hear — people saying “no.” It takes a closer look at the first kind of person who is likely to say they can’t do what we want.
Because it’s me, I decided to turn each of these into a character with a name. Here, you’ll meet Olivia Overwhelmed.
This is how you can identify her: by what she says and how she looks and acts. How what she believes is multitasking often appears to you as not paying attention. And what you can do to 1) reduce her feeling of overwhelm and 2) give her the tools she needs to be more productive — enabling her to say “yes!”
In the next two issues, I’ll introduce you to two more people who often tell you no — directly or indirectly: Danny Dead Weight and Terry Untapped Talent.
That way you can deal with the entire triumvirate of naysayers in your operation — and be persuasive enough to move them to “make it so.”