Has your supervisor ever asked you to compile information on an upcoming project? I’m 100% positive that everyone would answer “yes” to this question.

The big variable is the time element. You may be told that the information is needed by tomorrow morning, and yet you have multiple projects you’re working on that are all equally important. And these projects most likely have “now” or “tomorrow” deadlines.

Thus, the question arises, “What do you choose to do?”
Well like everyone else, I have my moments where I feel forced to give a “yes” or “no” answer. Most of the time, it’s a “yes.” Whether it is a friend in need or an employee who has way too many things on his or her desk to accomplish, we usually feel compelled to help.

While searching for an answer to the question, I found this post from the popular leadership blog Getting Things Done: Three Questions To Ask Yourself When Faced With Saying Yes Or No. This post is especially helpful because it emphasizes those times that you should shift priorities to help someone, and other times when you simply should say no.

Below are three questions from the post to help you make a decision on which direction to take:

• Do you have the capacity to say yes?
• If you say no, do you know how to articulate why effectively?
• Are you the right person for the job?

I would add a fourth question to this:

• Is there such thing as a “maybe” answer? In my opinion, there should never be a “maybe I can help you” moment, because this only confuses the other party and lacks good communication. To be effective, we must give a yes or no answer, knowing that we can accomplish the task, or that either we’re not the right person for the request, or too overwhelmed with other projects at the moment.

There you have it, folks: To help eliminate stress in your personal and work life, it is important to have the courage to tell someone that you can or cannot accomplish the goal they desire – whether it be your supervisor, employee, family member or friend.

Explaining why you can’t give 100% to what they are asking and offering different solutions will always be of help. In return, you’ll be respected for your honesty and forthrightness.   

Go!Go!Go!

Jim

More Resources 

Bold Leadership for Organizational Acceleration (now in eBook format!)

Organizational Excellence: Optimizing Speed and Productivity for Increased Shareholder Value