It seems paradoxical, but saying no strategically and respectfully can help your career. To sustain your effectiveness and well-being over time, it’s essential to learn the art of turning people down.
Sometimes, saying yes to every request that’s thrown your way might seem like the best way to appease colleagues or make your team happy. But, in reality, some demands actually detract focus from your core objectives resulting in stress or decreased quality of work.
This can be a hard habit to change, just like any new skill you want to develop. Saying no takes practice, but the more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll become with it.
“No.” It may just be the most powerful word in any language. Still, using it can be equally tricky — especially at work. It’s important to say no at work because it earns you respect.
Saying no is probably worse when you find meaning and enjoyment in what you do. If you really love your job, you may fear that you are missing out every time you set a healthy boundary.
In fact, people passionate about their work are at higher risk for burnout precisely because of this. Recent research from Duke University shows that other people believe it is legitimate to take advantage of passionate employees over dispassionate ones.
We must say no to any meeting or project that does not directly or materially work toward our key priorities. We have limited time and resources, and it’s our job to spending these on the highest-impact efforts while maintaining a healthy balance in our agendas.
Being honest about our prioritizing efforts will resonate with anyone with similar constraints, which will respect our honesty and commitment to our goals. It is also essential to say no when we know that we won’t be able to deliver.
In Boundaries for Leaders, clinical psychologist Henry Cloud explain how the best leaders set boundaries within their organizations. With their teams and themselves to improve performance and increase employee and customer satisfaction.
These boundaries are helping people attend to what is essential, focusing on what shapes results, and, for leaders, directing themselves in a manner that creates outstanding performance in others.
Here Dina Denham Smith provides three proven strategies to help us figure out when (and why) it is worth it to just say no — even if we really love what we do. With practice, these steps will give us the confidence we need to feel good about our choices, including our refusal to take on work that doesn’t benefit us – How (and When) to Say No to the Boss: http://ow.ly/SL8l30rHsbP
