by Carol Gioia

Created on: December 17, 2009

Learning to say no is difficult in everyday life, and often even more so in the workplace. You potentially aspire to be a cooperative employee and a congenial coworker, and saying “no” does not seem like compatible behavior for accomplishing that mission.

Sometimes, in order to enhance your own job satisfaction and fulfill the reason you were hired in the first place, it becomes necessary to just say “no.”

Reasons why it’s important to learn to say “no” in the workplace:

* Dependability

You were hired to do a specific job in an allotted length of time. If you allow yourself to be distracted from your primary duties, because you cannot say no, there is a potential of lessening the quality or quantity of your production, and risking being viewed as undependable by your employer or teammates.

* Workload

Persons who cannot say “no” risk the chance of being overloaded with projects beyond their capability to complete in a reasonable workday. If you do not learn to say no, you could begin to feel overworked and underpaid, which is a prelude to extreme job dissatisfaction.

* Self-esteem

When you realize that you are viewed as a “pushover,” who will never say no, your self-esteem might suffer. To be asked to take on special projects because of your competence is an ego boost, but knowing you are a candidate for doing the “dirty work,” due to your inability to decline will eat away at your self-confidence and sense of well-being.

* Mood spoiler

Being unable to say no can make you resentful and ill-tempered. You might arrive at work with every intention of staying in a positive mood and then the inability to say no to an unreasonable request can turn your mood sour and disrupt your entire day.

* Respect

When you learn to say no, setting realistic limits and boundaries, you will earn the respect of others. Many times individuals are afraid to say no, for fear of alienating or disappointing someone else. When they do gather up the courage to say no, without apologies or excuses, they often find the person making the request will accept the no and simply go looking for another taker.

There is no reason to feel guilty about saying no in the workplace. In most cases, you are doing the other person a favor by not overextending yourself and instilling in him a sense of obligation.

There is also no virtue to saying yes and projecting a martyr attitude of having been imposed upon, or having the arrogance to believe no one else can do the task as well as you.  Both of those misguided reasons for failing to say no will lose you the respect of others.

In order to ensure job security, enhance job satisfaction, and garner respect from your employer and coworkers as an individual who displays good judgment, learn to say no in the workplace on those occasions when it is prudent to do so.

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