What's the difference between saying no at work
when your boss or coworker simply accepts it
and maybe even thanks you for it
or having them call you a B with an itch behind your back?
The difference comes down to
earning how to say no at work the right way.
That is exactly what I'm talking about today.
If you're ready to know how to say no at work
without the drama, tap that like button
and let's jump straight into it.
The first step to learn how to say no at work
is to know what to say no to. This is a lesson
way too many ambitious professionals learn the hard way.
There is a difference between saying no to busy work
and saying no to career advancing high visibility work.
You want to say no to the former and yes to the latter.
That means before we start saying no to anything,
you need to get clear on what the priorities are.
What is important to your boss,
will the Ask build visibility to powerful leaders in your company?
Or is this work that no one is going to notice if it's done or not?
This can be tricky to answer.
Whether it's work you're proactively taking on
or tasks you're saying yes to
focusing on making an ignorable impact is essential.
Some examples of unignorable impact might be
preparing to give a presentation to your boss's boss,
or contributing on a project for
your company's largest customer.
These are opportunities to stand out at work
you should not say no to, while
planning or going to the next team happy hour
might be things you can say no to.
To determine if this is something that you
should say no to or say yes to,
you need to ask yourself three questions.
Is there a benefit to saying yes?
There are many benefits that there could be
to saying yes sometimes, like the opportunity
to build a relationship at work, being owed a favor
or getting on your boss's boss's boss's radar.
Next, ask yourself what is the impact you
never want to look a gift horse in the mouth
and say no to an opportunity that completely
aligns with your career success strategies,
especially when the impact is on ignorable.
And if you're not sure what those unignorable impacts are,
make sure you're subscribed because
I'm going to dig into exactly that in my next video.
Finally, ask yourself Do you have time?
And are you the best person for the task?
There is no point in stressing yourself out
by taking on extra work and suffering career burnout
rom doing too much when the ask isn't part
of your unique awesomeness quotient
and is far outside your wheelhouse. In fact,
the answer to this question might help you say no.
Which brings us to the next step to say no effectively at work.
And that is to use the Guiltless No.
Let's face it, you're struggling to say no at work
because you are an amazing team member and
you don't want any of your coworkers being left in a lurch.
You want to help.
But when you don't have the bandwidth,
or the skills saying yes is a bigger problem.
In fact, when you say yes to things you shouldn't
you are doing your boss, your team and
your company a disservice.
Something won't be done as thoroughly as it should be.
Because you're stretched too thin.
Remember that say no means that you're
actually saying yes to something that is
more important to the company and to you.
And if you hop over to my Instagram,
I'm going to make this into a post because
I know it's a reminder so many of you need.
If you feel guilty saying no, that's going to come
across when you say no at work,
and the person you're saying no to is going
to become defensive or maybe even argumentative.
So removing all of the guilt out of saying no.
And knowing that it's in everyone's best interest
is really important. Now that we've removed
the guilt from saying no at work, i
t's time for us to move into step three,
which is to say no effectively.
There are three elements to saying no effectively at work.
First, you must be clear.
Saying no too softly can come across as saying yes
to the other person or having them
just think it's a subject of debate.
For example,
"No, I'm not available."
is much clearer than
"I'm not sure if I can help right now."
The next element is something that I find many
of my clients tending towards, and that is
justifying and explaining the reason why you're saying no.
If the person you're saying no to at work
needs more information, they can ask for more information.
You do not need to preemptively defend or argue your reason.
And if you do, you're framing it as a negotiation.
And it is not a negotiation.
That said, when you're saying no to
someone influential in your career, like your boss,
you might choose to give options. For instance,
if your boss wants you to drop everything that
you're doing to create an urgent report,
but you're already working on an
urgent presentation for a client, you can say,
"Today I can either complete the report or the presentation
for Acme. Which would you like me to prioritize?"
Here you're saying no to one,
but you're giving the option to select which one.
Finally when you're saying no,
suggest a redirect whenever possible.
Because I know the career bestie community is
full of professionals who are eager to help each other.
This is going to be really helpful to get you
started saying at work, because you can say no
and still be helpful. When you say no,
simply suggest someone who can be of assistance.
"Have you asked Chad, he's great at this."
or an alternate timeline if you're just saying no right now,
"I can't review your presentation today.
But if you need my thoughts next week, let me know."
Of course, because you are so helpful,
you're getting requests for help all the time,
but you never know exactly when to expect them.
That's why this next step is so important.
Be prepared to say no.
Think ahead of time have scenarios and scripts
that you can say, especially to the managers
and coworkers who were always pulling you into things.
There are a lot of ways that you can say no,
"I am not available."
"That doesn't work for me."
"It's not possible for me to help today."
Find words you're comfortable to say and practice them.
This way, saying no will be a reflex when Chad
rolls over and tries to dump his work on you,
"Jennifer mind training this customer for me?"
"I am not available, but I can forward you my template."
But what if they push back, argue, try to force you
to do the thing that they want you to do?
Especially when you have a history of saying yes
to everything at work, this can come up.
When you start saying no saying no at work
is placing a boundary. Whether it's a work life boundary
and you're saying no to get another
after hours team building event -
I genuinely want to know who likes those things -
enforcing a time boundary by not
taking a meeting at the weekend or
a workload boundary and say no to a project
you have no bandwidth to take on,
people who are offended by boundaries are
the people who need boundaries.
This is where your reasons for the guiltless no
come in really handy. Because your reason for
that guiltless no is actually what's in it for them
by not pulling you into it.
If you're already overworked and
you cannot focus on the help that they need,
say so.
Not the best person for the job?
Redirect them.
Does it mean that some people will be unhappy?
Maybe... and this is why I think it's important
to be kind when you say no to offer that redirect
but also where the final step in saying no at work effectively
really comes into play.
Be firm when you say no at work.
When you know you're saying no to the right things,
giving options when it's appropriate,
like when you're saying no to your boss,
it's okay to stand your ground.
So what if boundary stompers who were abusing your time
and frankly taking advantage of the fact
that you're too nice at work think you're a bee with an itch?
Let them complain about the fact
you wouldn't do their work for them.
Unless it's your boss, to be clear.
While there may be some instances where you
do genuinely need to reconsider saying no
like when it's your boss, your boss's boss
in general firmly holding your no and your boundaries
is what will ultimately make you effective
in saying no at work. Since I know so many of you
struggle to say no at work because
you're really too nice at work, I want you to go and
watch this video right now so that you'll feel
more confident when you do say no.
But before you go, if this video helped you
give it a thumbs up. Really helps my channel,
makes you my favorite career bestie,
win win situation going on.
While you're down there,
consider subscribing if you haven't already.
And as always my friend thank you so much for watching.
I will see you in the next video.
Bye for now!