Who is a Yes person?

In my previous article, “The Transparency Trap,” I introduced a new archetype: the Yes-Person.

I’d like to dive deeper into this concept, as there is so much to unpack here, I’ve decided to create a mini-series exploring this character.

But first, who exactly is a Yes-Person?

1. Different Levels: Where can we find a Yes-Person?

We can encounter a Yes person at each level of the hierarchy.

It is not just the middle-management trying to please the C-Levels, we face them at the peer and team level as well.

To understand this behavior, we need to remember that in professional world, the Green dashboard is often the top of the success criteria on a project.

The assumptions are the same: “we are on the right track, we are on time, we are on budget” and we want to please our teammates, managers, stakeholders.

2. Different behaviors: How does a Yes Person behave and How do you spot Them?

We can say “yes” in different ways. During the last 15 years on large ERP projects, I’ve met many Yes-Persons. Here are the most common profiles I’ve faced, along with some tips to recognize them based on my experience:

GreenDashboard Profile I met 2 types of this profile.

• The Illusionist sub-profile

They have the ability to make up performance metrics to make them look good for stakeholders, to convince you that everything is fine and surprise their audience.

Have you ever faced this situation?

The Watermelon context: Green Outside…but if you look closer, it’s red inside.

You have been surprised during a steering committee that your scope presenting by the “Illusionist” has been turned magically all green despite the fact you clearly mentioned during your daily standup, that the scope is orange even red because you’re facing technical issues.

Spoiler alert: yes it is happening in real life

How to spot them: They tend to talk louder than the rest of the room, often adopt a sales pitch, and speak only to their peers and upper management.

• The Underconfident sub-profile

This person has the opposite behavior of the illusionist. They are always saying that everything is fine, but out of fear or anxiety.

How to spot them: They speak with nervousness, lack confidence, avoid debate and eye contact. When someone speaks louder, they capitulate and say yes just to please the loudest speaker and end the debate.

Overoptimistic Profile.

Project Management certification taught me that this is a well-known bias in the work environment.

This is a person always thinking that everything will be fine, that we will deliver on time, on budget, with the expected scope — in other words, always focusing on the best-case scenario and ignoring the worst-case or most realistic scenario.

How to spot them: Always smiling. “Oh no, that’s no big deal” is their favorite catchphrase.

“It’s under control” Profile.

This is the person who is always saying that everything is under control, even when it’s not.

It could be at the Middle Management level, but it is especially common at the peer or team level.

Usually, this person wants as little interference as possible from peers and leadership. Their strategy is simply to say everything is fine.

However, at the end of a critical milestone, reality hits, and features are not ready to be delivered because they and their team are facing a lot of bugs.

How to spot them: They often avoid touchpoints with their peers and managers and have a strong tendency to work in silos.

3. Different Phases of a project: When does a Yes Person show up?

Like we can encounter a Yes-Person at each hierarchy level, you can meet one of them at different phases of a project.

Explore Phase — The Beginning

If you recalled my 1st article *“Transformation project leaves scars”*, I named it “the Honeymoon phase”.

As it is the seduction phase, everyone wants to please so much the client, they’re saying yes to everything.

This feature doesn’t exist or is not native in this version of the Platform? No matter we can do it during the project by developing something.

Realize Phase — *The Execution : *The Messy Middle (Where the reality hits)

The under-control and overoptimistic persons take center stage here.

The first insists everything is fine even if it is not true to appear competent and be alone.

The other one constantly highlights the bright side of the situation to avoid the real issues, and will always say “we will fix it after.”

Deploy Phase — The Launch : The Finish Line of the marathon

This is the end of the project, the so-wanted launching phase at any price because there is no remaining time, budget and the project team is exhausted.

At this stage, everyone becomes a Yes-Person because they want to finish and deliver after multi-years of transformation projects.

A Yes-Person can emerge at any phase and at any level — whether from a desire to please, fear, or pure exhaustion. But dealing with these behaviors daily is a challenge.

4. Real-life experience Working with a Yes-Person

Trust me, a “Yes-Person” can spreading bad energy and creating an atmosphere of distrust that makes it hard to collaborate.

I will be very honest with you, it is complicated to:

• Catch the subtleties and differentiate these personas. In real life, a Yes-Person is not always easily recognizable and often behaves with great subtlety.
• Find the proper recipe/solution to work with them. It is challenging, time- and energy-consuming because you must adapt your communication style almost every day.

How I managed to handle this persona?

First, I want to be clear: I do not like putting people into boxes. Human beings are complex and cannot be defined by a single behavior. However, in a demanding work environment, I had to learn mechanisms to quickly identify and manage a Yes-Person.

1. Is it really a Yes-Person? To catch them, I look for specific cues: Do they say yes even when it is factually wrong or false? Are they avoiding eye contact, or are they overly direct? Is their tone of voice unnaturally loud or surprisingly soft? These subtleties give them away.

2. How I act with them Once identified, I had develop a tailored approach for each profile:

• The Illusionist: Always remain transparent. I stand my ground to make them realize that their behavior has a negative impact on them and the project.
• The Underconfident:** Be patient. Create a **safe space (remember this publication? Safe Room) and let them softly explain to you why they felt the need to say yes.
• The Over-optimistic: Counter their bias with evidence and facts. Make them to take into consideration the realistic scenarios, not just the bright side.
• The “It’s under control”: I Do not give up. Keep asking for regular touchpoints and ask them to explicitly explain why and how things are under control.

Even though I’ve now learned how to handle and recognize them quite easily, every time I face one of these personas, I ask myself: Why do some people from different backgrounds, hierarchical levels, and experiences want to say yes to everything so badly?

That is exactly what I want to explore in Episode # 2: The Why?