Do you struggle to say no to requests for your time?
Do you drop whatever you’re doing to help others despite having deadlines?
If the answer to the two questions above was yes, then you will probably benefit from these approaches for saying No more effectively.
Quite often people struggle with saying no to someone request as they don’t want to offend them. It’s even more difficult when it’s your boss that’s making the request. Adopting a more assertive approach to your language and tone can bring much better results.
The assertive approaches below will help you to say no more effectively whilst at the same maintaining and building the relationship for the future.
- Up-front honesty: This is the simplest and the best approach. If they know the true reason why you aren’t saying yes, then they can judge whether to approach you for the next situation, which actually might be for a good opportunity where you would want to say yes to.
- Letting the other person say no for you: Don’t bear the entire burden! If you know that saying yes in this situation is saying no to a more important situation, then just present your case and let the other person say no for you.
- Not now, but later: The word “maybe” is sometimes a good euphemism for “no.”
- Circumstances: Sometimes it’s not a choice at all… you have prior commitments, or conflicts of interest, or whatever. Your circumstance is saying no, not you. Make sure it’s legitimate though, since integrity is also important.
- Polite: If none of the above options are viable, then a polite “no” should do the trick. You risk the chance of being perceived as an unhelpful person, but sometimes you simply have to politely say no without going through the messy details of the other approaches.
- Blunt: This is the tactic against the persistent salesperson. Sometimes the emphatic “no” is the only “no” they’ll hear.
How do you say NO to people? What suggestions would you have for other people? It would be good to read your views……..
Martin Smith Learning and Development Ltd is a specialist consultancy working with leaders at all levels to improve their relationships with the people that they interact with both internally and externally to the company. We work with organisations, teams and individuals to identify how they can get the best from their people. We have experience spanning diverse industries and encompassing sectors such as engineering, design, customer service, finance, supply chain, sales and procurement.
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