VIEWPOINT
‘Yes’ is not always the best answer
Some people tend to take on more responsibilities than they can handle. Obviously these people don’t know how to say no. As a result they are terribly overloaded with work. They fail to catch up with work in spite of toiling extra long hours every day and even during weekends. Are you one of them?
If you are, you should understand that overreaching has a negative impact on all walks of your life.
Some of the new responsibilities that you take on just to oblige others may not have any links to your core responsibilities and goals.
In fact, working on these relatively unimportant tasks, you waste lot of time and also lose focus on your primary objectives. Besides, overloading leads to early burnout.
Your extended work schedules eat up the time you otherwise devote to your personal life. As a consequence your work life balance takes a severe beating. If saying ‘yes’ leads to so many ills don’t you think it’s time you learnt saying ‘no’ wherever necessary?
By trying to please everyone you end up being a loser. Every time you say ‘yes’ to someone even though you honestly wanted to say ‘no’, you are in effect saying ‘no’ to your own priorities. You feel you will disappoint the other person by saying ‘no’.
Especially if the person in question is your boss, you may believe saying ‘no’ will be perceived as being disrespectful. But you must also recognise that ‘yes’ is not always the best answer. You are worse off if you take on too much load and then fail to deliver.
‘No’ is not a dirty word at all. In fact it is the only word that prevents you from making insincere commitments or taking on responsibilities that you have no time to honour.
When your platter is already full, saying no to further requests helps you to focus on things you have already committed yourself to. It may not be easy but learning to say ‘no’ is essential to make your life less stressful.
Here are some tips to tactfully avoid overloading yourself:
Set clear priorities and deadlines for yourself based on your key result areas. This will help you understand how much time you have at your disposal to accomplish your critical goals.
Refrain from accepting further responsibilities without consulting your schedule. Politely decline taking on new responsibilities if you honestly feel you have no time for them. But if you find it difficult to say an outright no, volunteer to help the person without assuming the entire responsibility for the job.
Saying yes to your peers and boss will definitely make you look good in the short-run. But chances are you will be taken for granted in the long run. People start depending on you to promote their own personal agendas and in the bargain you lose out on growth opportunities.
Remember, bosses in general don’t like to let go people whom they consider indispensable.
Therefore resist your urge to be too accommodative. Saying no to the boss will be a lot easier if you can explain to him why you are doing so.
When your boss asks you to take on additional responsibilities don’t commit yourself immediately. Instead buy some time. Ask him if you can discuss about it the next day.
When you meet him again present a list of activities that you are right now handling and seek his guidance as to how these activities plus the new activity should be prioritised.
By doing so you tactfully move the ball back into his court. If he feels the additional responsibility will jeopardise your earlier commitments, he will assign the new task to someone else. If he still thinks you must take up the new work, he may decide to shift some of your responsibilities to others. Whatever he decides you stand to gain.
When your colleagues or subordinates fail to get something right, refrain from stepping in and taking over their work. If you start doing the work for them soon you will become a victim of reverse delegation.
You will be spending a huge amount of time dealing with others’ problems. Instead, give them your inputs and advice to set things right.
Overreaching almost invariably undermines your ability to handle priority jobs. So think twice before you say yes to new responsibilities.
N. PURNIMA SRIKRISHNA
faqs@cnkonline.com
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