How effective are you at saying “no” to requests you shouldn’t take on?

Our reader poll today asks: How effective are you at saying “no” to requests you shouldn’t take on?

• Extremely good: I am great at giving a firm “no” 10.71%
• Good: I can usually say “no” but sometimes waver 45.33%
• Not good: I say “yes” way more often than I should 40.46%
• Not at all good: I can’t ever seem to say the word “no” 3.50%

The art of “no.” A large portion of you (45%) struggle with saying “no” and likely end up with way too much work on your plate. This usually results from wanting to be a team player, wanting to be valued, wanting to be liked, or not fully assessing where the new work fits alongside everything else you’re doing. Before saying “yes,” pause. Take a moment to assess where this new request fits in with other work on your plate. If it doesn’t fit, explain to the requestor what else you’re working on. Tell them what it would take to take on the new work (more resources, deprioritizing something else, stopping another project, etc.). Once the requestor sees the tradeoff they’d need to make, it helps them put your “no” into a broader context and understand why you can’t take on the work.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.