Questions to ask yourself before saying Yes or No Exercise
When to use: This exercise is helpful to use whenever a significant request is made of your time.
Activity:
1. When someone requests you to do something, from now on, try to have the self-discipline to realise what is happening! Otherwise you could well say “Yes” without even thinking about how this extra job will impact on your other priorities.
2. Don’t give the person an answer there and then (it may not seem possible but this is possible in 99 per cent of situations – you need to try it to find out).
3. Just tell the person you need a little bit of time to consider their request. Try to grab as much time as possible. Even a few seconds is better than nothing. An hour or longer is ideal (by then they might have found someone else to do the job anyway). Make sure you tell the person when you will give them an answer.
4. During the time you’ve bought yourself, consider the following:
Is this a job I should be doing or is this person just trying to get me to do it because they don’t want to do it themselves?
If the request is work related, does it fall under my role and responsibility? (It’s helpful to have an up-to-date job description, otherwise you might struggle to come to a balanced decision here).
If I say ‘Yes’, how will doing this extra job affect my other priorities?
If I say ‘No’, how am I going to tell the person this confidently and sensitively?
These questions should help you to make a balanced decision. You might only need a couple of minutes or less to do this for simple requests. For more complicated requests, try to buy as much time as possible.