When I revealed that the word “no” can be used as a signal to work-life imbalance, I focused most of the attention on how you use the word with your family.
Too much use of the word with your family often signals that they are not receiving the attention that they deserve. Not using the word enough typically signals that you should probably focus a little more effort on your work.
But what about at work?
Can You Say No At Work?
Absolutely! Within reason of course but there is nothing wrong with saying “no” at work. As a matter of fact, saying “no” at work can actually be a good thing for you.
Without the ability to say “no” at work, you would find yourself with more work on your plate than you can handle. As the work continues to pile up, you will produce work of a lower quality and likely find yourself missing important deadlines.
I don’t know about you but that doesn’t sound like a recipe for success to me.
Do You Say No At Work?
Now that we know there is nothing wrong with saying “no” at work, I’d like to ask you if actually do say “no” at work.
For quite a few people, including myself from time to time, it is very difficult to turn down requests from your colleagues or supervisors. Yet there is rarely a problem telling someone close to us that we cannot do something for them, so why do we refrain from declining requests at work?
Fear!
One of the primary reasons that we do not say “no” at work is fear. Fear of losing our job. Fear of being viewed as lazy or incompetent. Fear of disappointing our supervisor or colleague. When we say “no” to our loved ones, we are pretty confident that they will still be there for us and love us unconditionally but for some reason we think the worst will happen if we say it at work.
Say No At Work
If you have a difficult time saying “no” to requests at work, I want you to try and challenge yourself to decline a request from someone at work.
Don’t go crazy and reject each and every request you receive, as that will likely result in you losing your job. But evaluate the request and say “no” if you really cannot take on the request. I don’t want you to say no just for the sake of saying no but I don’t want you to be a pushover either.
For those that are having trouble saying “no” at work, I would encourage you to check out the 8 essential strategies to saying “No” over at Freelance Switch. As an overview of the strategies provided in the article, you’ll learn the following:
- Try saying “yes” first.
- Know your commitments.
- Value your time.
- Defer.
- Be polite, but firm.
- Pre-empt.
- “I’d love to, but”.
- Never say you’re sorry.
As you begin to learn how to say “no” at work, be sure to come back here and share your stories with everyone!
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No, I can’t. I am too busy to comment.
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You’re almost there already! Lol.
I like this post. It is indeed difficult t say no when people are expecting something from you at work. I try to remember what my Mom said to me last year when I was feeling overwhelmed:
“You have 70 billion cells in your body. You have to get those cells happy before you can make anyone else happy.”
For those who have a hard time saying “no” when at work, my tip for you is this: say “no” to work heh.
My husband never says NO. That’s why he’s always working weekends and late during the week. It drives me insane.
@Damien :: Thanks, your Mom has some great advice there.
@BrownBaron :: I’m all for saying “no” at work, to work and about work!
@Jenny :: It is unfortunate that it seems so easy and acceptable to say no to our loved ones yet we cannot say it to work. I’d love to hear from your husband on his thoughts and reasons as to why he cannot say “no” at work.