The Power of "Yes, and..."

Why trying to be devil's advocate all the time can be a pain

If you ask me, what makes a good team, I would simply answer, the degree in which you can align with each other, and build on each other’s ideas.

Some people call this “chemistry”. Some people call it “culture”. Some people call it “cohesion”. I would agree. Specifically, in my opinion, the number of times you build on top of each other’s ideas, simultaneously taking a bit of risk but trusting that into the the process.

I’ve had a time when one of my team members was perceived as “constantly throwing a spanner to the wheel”. What this means is that this person constantly pushed the panic buttons in the team, by continually challenging in a negative way. Of course, a different perspective is always appreciated but doing it constantly without trusting the process and taking a bit of risk in letting things go as planned, could derail the team motivation.

It becomes worse when one is a leader. Anything you say to the team that is perceived a constant disagreement or re-direction, would ren…