If you say Yes …

Bite sized leadership advice

If you say YES to something, what are you going to say NO to, to make the space? We have a finite capacity to do things well.

It is all too easy to feel obliged to say Yes to everything. The more we say Yes, the more others expect us to keep saying Yes, until we can’t say Yes anymore.

Shrinking organisations make it harder to say No. Less people and the work doesn’t seem to go away.

Saying No feels negative and as though you don’t care.

But we are not like the Tardis (a fictional time machine the size of a phone box outside and the infinite size of a spaceship inside).

We are human.

The more we take on, the less well we do things. Quality and quantity suffer.

It is time to learn to say No.

Get in the habit of thinking what you are going to say No to, before you say Yes to something new.

This is part of our Leadership Wizdom series, bite sized leadership advice for leaders who wish to improve their leadership, but don’t have much time. For more indepth articles check out The Change Wizard