I used to work in ministry with the author of the statement above, my dear friend and mentor Ted Johnson. Occasionally I’d walk into his office, and he’d look up from writing and speak those words.

The first time it happened, his statement caught me off guard, and I confess that my mind started racing, trying to think of what (or how much) I could ask for with Ted’s promise to deliver. He told me he used to give that greeting to the sales reps who reported to him in his 30-plus years in sales and marketing. It was his way of saying, “I’m here for you. I trust you. I want to serve you and make you successful.”

What would prevent you from saying that to every staff member who walked through your office door? Stop and think about it. Consider your staff and their potential responses.

“The answer is yes. Now what was it you wanted?”

To me, there are only two fundamental reasons we would not offer that statement to any staff member who entered our office (though I’m sure you may think of others).

1. We don’t trust the person. We know enough about the staff member and her history that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to offer her anything she wanted. Perhaps she has led us to believe she cares more about her own interests than the good of the organization/ministry, and we’d say the words with gritted teeth, anticipating an answer we really don’t want to hear. If this is the case for you, I’d suggest you consider whether you have the right person on your team.

2. We don’t believe the staff member understands well enough our mission, vision and values. We think he might make a request that’s outside the scope of what is best for our organization, and we’d have a hard time promising to give him anything he wanted. Maybe it’s a matter of maturity, length of time in service, or even that he just hasn’t received the training and instruction—or our vision casting—to give us confidence that he would make the type of request we would grant. We can remedy this through good communication, training, reiterating our message and sharing our vision. If the vision is clear and compelling enough, and delivered and discussed frequently enough, it is likely to shape the staff person’s response.

With the right people “on the bus” and the vision clearly cast, there should be no reason we don’t say the words of Ted Johnson to each staff member who walks through our door:  “The answer is yes. Now what was it you wanted?”