When Is It Okay to Say #8216;No#8217; at Work

When Is It Okay to Say #8216;No#8217; at Work When Is It Okay to Say #8216;No#8217; at Work In todays installment of my column, Im going to tackle a question Recruiter.com has  touched on before:  When, if ever, is it okay to say no at work? This situation comes up in many different flavors: for employees working for a company or corporation; for managers answering  their  employees requests; and for business owners answering to their clients Although the  above  list is not exhaustive, it does give you the idea that regardless of what role you play in  an  organization be it employee, manager, or owner you will always have someone that you need to answer to. And sometimes, that answer is going to be no. Were always worried about saying no at work, but it’s never the answer that gets us into trouble its how and why we give that answer that does us in. The great news about this is that we can always control the how, and sometimes even the why. The key is to be very clear about your overall goals and long-term plans. If the current situation does not support your overall goals or long-term plans,  than it should be a candidate for one of the Four Ds: delegation, deletion, delaying, or diminishing. Its Okay to Say No at Work When Youve Done These Things: 1.  Co-created a professional business commitment plan with your manager.  This is a documented that clearly states your career goals, your current roles and responsibilities, and your SMART goals that support your business commitment goals. 2)  Co-created an individual development plan with your manager.  This document states your career path and career goals. It lists the skills that you need to develop and the things to need to accomplish to  reach the next level of your career. 3)  Understood your managers business commitment plans   and how your current role and responsibilities support both his and your  professional business commitment plans. Once you have done the above, you can intelligently decide if any  request in front of you supports the previously agreed upon road map. If the request doesnt match your goals, then you can work with your manager to find another solution (i.e., modify the request so that it does fit your goals; delegate the task  to someone into whose professional business commitment plan  it does fit;  determine if the essence of the goal can be accomplished by some other means). The bottom line is to work with your manager or whomever it is you are answering to in order to find an alternative way to accomplish the essence of the goal if not the exact task itself. For more information on everything discussed here, including the Four Ds and professional business commitment plans, why don’t we schedule an appointment, where I get to know more about your unique situation? I will be happy to make recommendations on what your best steps are moving forward.  Contact  LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info.