Saying no! (a humble guide)...

One of the most prevalent challenges that comes up with clients is stress and overwhelm associated with a lack of attention to deliberate time management.

This typically relates to people not having the confidence to say 'No'.

So here's a simple three step process to help you stop taking on more that you have capacity for:

Step 1 – Remember everything you have in your current backlog and workload.

• How much stuff has already been started (work in progress)?

• What projects are coming to an end?

• Do any colleagues have planned leave coming up (that means you may need to take on more for a short period)?

• Do you have any planned leave?

• What personal commitments do you currently have?

The cost of context switching

It’s up to you to decide what happens next.

You have the power 🦸🏿‍♀️. We sometimes forget who’s really in charge of our destiny – us.

Step 2 – Qualify

Before jumping to ‘Yes’, or even to ‘No’, slow down and get more info.

Taking a brief pause to understand what is actually being asked and why, can only help inform your decision.

• What are they asking for?

• When does it actually need to be done?

• What’s the impact / outcome / the ‘Why?’

Step 3 – Decide

It’s crunch time, but there are nuances to how you could respond. There are 5 different ways to say no:

• Not all but some – Maybe you have some capacity that allows you take on a small element of the request?

• Not now but later – Will you have more capacity in a couple of weeks from now? In a month?

• No, but – you know someone else who is better placed to help, or who you know has capacity to help

• Not unless – the workload you already have can be re-organised. A good question here is “Is there anything you’d like me to stop doing in order to start this?“

• Pre-emptive no – Where you are open and let everyone know well in advance that you’re fully loaded and have no capacity or option to take on anything more (great before meetings where you often end up with actions)

If this topic is of particular interest to you or your organisation then just let me know.