Saying No at Work with Confidence and Grace
Melody Wilding, LMSW
Author of MANAGING UP & TRUST YOURSELF | Award-Winning Executive Coach to Sensitive Strivers | LinkedIn Top Voice | Professor of Human Behavior | Keynote Speaker | HBR Contributor
Does saying no at work seem impossible for you? If you said, yes, then you are not alone.?
Let me tell you about one of my clients who I’ll call Angie.?
Angie, a senior director at an advertising agency, excelled in her role and was incredibly proud of the work she and her team accomplished. But, she struggled with turning off at the end of the day.?Work worries followed her?into her evenings, and she often found herself distracted by upcoming deadlines while at the dinner table.?Saying no didn’t even feel like an option.
Then there’s Malik, a product lead at a software company.?
Malik was identified as a star among his peers. He was not only smart and driven but also empathetic and kind. He loved to be helpful to others teams and volunteered himself to take on additional responsibilities. Though it helped his visibility, Malik paid a price. He found himself?overwhelmed and overburdened?by so many meetings that he had no time to get his actual work done. Yet he felt guilty saying no to requests that came his way.?
Angie and Malik both struggled with saying no at work – and this is a very common challenge for many professionals, especially those who are considerate and?eager to please.?
Saying No with Grace and Professionalism
?As a human behavior professor, licensed social worker, and coach to high-performers, I can tell you this:?
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Saying no with grace and professionalism is one of the most important skills you can develop.?
Enter: my new LinkedIn Learning course,?Learning to Say No with Confidence and Grace.?
This course summarizes tools and strategies I’ve used over the past ten years with coaching clients at companies like Google, Amazon, and more.??
And inside you’ll discover how to:?
One of the toughest parts of saying no is?what to say, so throughout the course, I’ll share helpful scripts and language you can use at work starting today.?
When you sign up for the course now, you get access to the course plus additional worksheets, templates, and more.?
Senior Associate, Compensation at LOMA
2 年Refusing to buy in to colleague's suggestion that I'm not being helpful, or worse a slacker...
Coating Inspector at Saudi Aramco
2 年I never say no for the challenges where I could learn something more regardless it’s minor or major.
I used it for the first time this week & immediately felt so liberated, like a weight fell off my shoulders. Thank you!
Spot on & Well Said
Test Consultant at Fujitsu
2 年Saying no can be scary and dangerous Melody Wilding, LMSW. #MoralInjury