Published  on  LinkedIn.  Apr  2,  2015.  

Never say, 'It can’t be done!'

By Rash Khan (https://au.linkedin.com/in/rashkhan1)

Over the years I have had the pleasure of working with great leaders. Almost all of them had a key characteristic. They didn’t like hearing something can’t be done. During early days in my leadership journey I struggled to understand what was wrong with saying something can’t be done when it is the fact. I realized stakeholders don’t like to hear something can’t be done because it impedes progress. Negative energy associated with the thought of something can’t be done is non-conducive to creative thinking. You can also make yourself an easy escape goat when you make such statement because the buck stopped with you.

Two approaches to communicate something that can’t be done in a positive way -

Say what can be done – Think critically, workout options and communicate what can be done with the resources (time, money, people etc.) available to move towards the ultimate goal? May be very little could be done or what can be done may not be acceptable but it demonstrates an attitude to keep moving forward. This approach influences the creative juices to think about options to do the best we can with what we have to get closer to the goal.

Say what’s needed - If absolutely nothing can be done then communicate what additional resources are required to be provided by stakeholders to achieve the ultimate goal; to ensure ‘it can be done’. This approach puts the onus back on the stakeholders to provide what’s needed. When the buck is passed back on more often than not the stakeholders see the challenge in achieving an unrealistic goal. It influences them to focus and think critically about the particular situation which they otherwise may not do as they deal with so many problems in their busy schedule.

Call to Action

These two approaches influences 1) positive attitude, 2) critical thinking and 3) collaboration, which are key ingredients to solve difficult problems. From my experience the outcome of these two approaches is positive at most times because either the stakeholders sees the difficulty in achieving the goal and change direction or they will help with required resources, different options in light of their experience to ensure it can be done which creates a Win-Win situation.