Quick Quiz!

Q: What’s the worst thing to hear at work?

  1. “We’re out of coffee”
  2. “How does a few hours overtime sound?”
  3. The fire alarm
  4. “Hey, can you do me a favour?”

 

A: “Hey, can you do me a favour?”


 

Okay, we may have made that quiz a bit hard. The fire alarm was a definite curve ball – sorry. Although, judging by the title of the post, you should have deciphered that “Can you do me a favour” was what we were getting at.

You work in a small business – you’re ALWAYS busy. We know that. You know that. Smaller business are all about teamwork, cooperation, synergy (if you’re unsure what some of these buzzwords mean, just check out our blog, The Business Buzzword Dictionary). Sometimes it all just gets a bit too much.

You’re overworked, and there are not enough hours in the day. You have two options:

 

  1. Become superhuman
  2. Learn to say no

 

superhero-office-worker

Superhero Office Worker

We’ll cover how to become superhuman at a later date, but for now let’s focus on how you can say no at work the nice way. Because, let’s face it – flat out saying “No” can seem very standoffish, and wholly opposite to what we said small businesses are all about, above. The trick is to say no the right way, and it’s really, really easy. Here’s how:

 

Genuinely consider it

Before your colleague has even finished the sentence you’re thinking “No, no, no! Absolutely not. Impossible!”, but don’t. Tell them you’ll get back to them and actually consider their request. This is the most important first step, as it helps you formulate your response (We’ll get to that later!). Think about:

 

  • How much time it might take to do well
  • Consider what’s actually in it for you
  • Decide whether it overlaps with your core role
  • Think about whether anyone else in the business might be better suited (People often come to you because you’re approachable, not because you’re the best person for the job)
  • Consider your current workload
  • Is there anything on your to-do list you can reciprocate-delegate (Yeah, we made that up.)
  • Does this person ask you often, or is this a first-time thing?
  • Will this problem come up again?

 

Write this stuff down. Now. You’ll use it a lot.

 

Why is it important to run over all of these points, when your desire is to say no? Seems like creating more work for yourself other than rejecting work, you might add? Knowing these points lets you make an informed decision AND let your colleague down nicely, should you decide you still don’t want this task.

 

If all you want to see is an example script of how to say no, just scroll down a bit. We won’t be offended.

 

Let’s look at why we consider all these options…

 

How much time it might take to do well

It’s all too easy to say “No” before you know how big the task could be. Similar to the way it can be all too easy to say “Yeah sure” before you realise what a gargantuan task you’ve undertaken. Consider timescales, and whether it can tie in with any other projects you’re working on.

The idea here is to ensure you always produce quality work. You might be able to do the task, but doing it well is more important. You never want to be reliably average.

 

Consider what’s actually in it for you

What do you get out of this? Will your manager know what you’ve done and appreciate your cooperation? Will this help you learn a new skill? Will this help you complete your own work? If the answer to all of those is no, and this is simply a quiet favour for a colleague, then you’re putting yourself out there for no reward.

 

Decide whether it overlaps with your core role

Similar to the above points – is this an extension of your own role, and therefore doing so will help you further down the line? Is this completely irrelevant and for another department, therefore not mattering that much to you whether it is completed or not?

Be ruthless. If it’s ‘only a little bit’ relevant, it can fall into the ‘not relevant’ bucket.

 

Really-busy-poster

A very busy persons wall poster

 

Think about whether anyone else in the business might be better suited

A lot of the time, the person who came to you asking for your help might not even know if you’re the best person to ask – they just know that they can ask you. And, if you’re reading this, you probably have a history of saying yes to them, right? If someone else is better suited, then not only should it fall under their remit, they’ll also do a much better job. Cast pride aside.

 

Consider your current workload

We all have busy weeks and quieter weeks. Which of those 2 do you sit under at the moment? If you’re stacked – explain that and say no. If you’re not, don’t let laziness influence your decision.

 

Is there anything on your to-do list you can reciprocate-delegate

Is there anything you need to do that you can ask of them, to help you free up some time? This can be a great way of getting something ticked off your list, to free up time for them.

“I should be able to look over that XXXXXX for you, but I’m a bit swamped with XXXXXX at the moment. Any chance you could XXXXX for me in return?”

 

Does this person ask you often, or is this a first-time thing?

If this person always, always, asks you to do things for them, then letting them down once or twice is allowable. After all, you don’t want to end up doing their job for them.

If this person never asks you for help, but has this once – you might be a last resort. Their knight in shining armour.

 

Will this problem come up again?

If this is something you can see cropping up again and again, then it would be a much better use of your time to sit down with this person and teach them, instead of doing it for them.

Colleague: Hi, can you import the data for the monthly invoice run?

You: No, if this is monthly then it would make more sense for me to show you how to do it. When are you free for 20 minutes?

 

How to say “No”

Now you’ve considered all the options and actually thought about it rather than blurting out a “no”, it’s time to get back to your colleague and let them know the bad news:

 

  • Don’t leave it too late to get back to them.
  • Say it face to face – tone of voice on email is hard to master

 

Here’s an example script of something you could say:

 

“Hi [Colleague],

I’m sorry but I can’t do [big task]. I’m a little swamped with [specific task or general work] at the moment, so unless you can lend a hand with that, I don’t think I’ll have the time to do it well.

Saying that, it might be more in line with [other person]’s job – they’re probably better to help you with this!

This might be something I can walk through with you at a later date, if you want me to show you how to do it? Just let me know and we can put in a meeting down the line to go through [the task they asked you to do].”

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