In my second installment of “A Good Reputation and Methods to Maintain One”, we’ll be focusing on the phrase “Yes, but…” This post is not intended to encourage you to say yes to things that are absolutely a hard line “no” for you. This post is intended to encourage you to re-frame your mindset away from automatically saying “no, this won’t work.” Of note, the context of this post is in regard to executing existing government contracts and not bidding on new contracts.
I have heard many defense contractors say, “if the government requests this work, it will be costly and won’t buy them very much capability” or “if we provide the government this capability, they’ll lose capability in other areas that are important.” Those comments are usually immediately followed by “we’ll tell them no” or “we’ll tell them this is a bad idea.”
Word of advice–don’t immediately say “no.” By saying no right away, even if you’re confident, you may give the appearance of being inflexible or difficult to work with. Instead, spend a little time evaluating the reasoning behind rejecting a potential request. Typical reasons for reluctance to accept a government request include cost increase, schedule concerns, performance degradation, product degradation, or logistics and training concerns. Taking the extra time to evaluate why you immediately thought “no” will allow you to better articulate your thoughts, concerns, and advice.
If you say yes to a proposed scope change or increase that you don’t feel comfortable with, and you provide the government a product or service that is grossly over cost, over schedule, degrades your product, or lessens an existing government capability, there is danger to you and your company’s reputation and future work. Yet, if you say you don’t want to comply or think their proposed work addition is a bad idea, you look difficult to work with and non-flexible. So, what do you do?
Think about how you would respond to these two statements if presented to you by one of your vendors:
- No, that’s a bad idea. If we do that, it will push us over budget and over schedule. You are asking for lesser capability, and we won’t provide you with a lesser product.
- Yes, we can do that, but it will come at an increased cost. Based on that cost, we will either need more money or you will need to choose another effort on this contract to scale down in order to include this new effort. Additionally, if you ask for additional capability in this area, you will lose capability in another area due to these reasons. This capability loss cannot be overcome due to (a technical or physical reason). Or this capability loss can be overcome with a given amount of money, time, and development.
What is your reaction to these statements? Statement 1 is probably entirely true. However, it comes off as combative, solution adverse, and could suggest that the government doesn’t understand what they’re asking, which may be construed as an insult (even if true). Statement 2 is more open minded. By presenting the challenges both you and the government will have to work through as a result of their request, you provide an opportunity for open dialogue and discussion about the pros and cons of potential work or product addition. It is quite possible that due to mission needs, the government is willing to take a loss in existing capability, pay more for a different product or provide more time for a solution.
Sometimes what is best for your product development on the commercial side does not line up with the mission needs of the government and they are willing to take capability or schedule losses that a commercial customer might not be willing to take. By phrasing your reluctance to additional work in a way that articulates your concerns on cost, scope, or technical limitations, you are providing more detail on the consequences of the government’s request. It is likely that the government will rely on you to tell them the limiting factors of their request, but that can only happen with open and honest dialogue.
I once had a very experienced program manager tell me that you could do absolutely anything with enough time and money. I couldn’t agree more with this statement, unless of course physics prevents it. When you think about any problem from the standpoint of resources…with enough resources, you can do anything you want. But we live in a world of finite resources and trade offs are inevitable. However, how you articulate your response can make a huge difference in building a relationship with your government customer and can go a long way in your reputation as an open and honest contractor. Remember, words matter!
Please join me next week for my blog on the importance of timely, quality deliverables!
Keep moving forward,
