The Art of Saying No ... continued

OK, so in another post I talked about the need to simply practice saying no if you want to get better at it. That suggestion sounded painfully obvious yet many of us do not do it. We feel we should just somehow get real good at it so we can say no, and if we are not real good at it, we will not even try.

So let's talk more about this common problem accountants face. Saying no is not always easy, so maybe the best thing to do is in situations where you feel lots of tension and you must say no, see if you can manage the situation where you don't have to! OK, here are two questions/considerations for you...

1.) Do you want to help this person but cannot? Tell them that. Maybe there is a work-around or a smaller way you can contribute. Maybe you do not have to say no, but say you want to help but cannot commit enough resources to get the job done they want so is there something else you could do?

2.) Do you expect (be careful about assumptions) they will fight you on anything but a "yes"? Try turning the onus on them. Make it a team thing. Tell them your general priorities and time constraints and SHOW them that there is no way it is fair for you to say yes TO THEM.

For the next "Saying No" post, we'll discuss always starting with "NO" ... confidently!