Deep Dive Series: The Power of No Through Deprioritization
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
I worked in the financial industry as support staff for over a decade. As a person who was lower on the organizational chart than others in the office, it felt almost forbidden to say no to any request that came my way. But there were many times when I had a full day’s worth of tasks on my list and then another one came. In that situation, I would tell the new requester a summary of the entirety of my task list, and ask them, “Which one of these tasks should I deprioritize?” Asking this question lets the requester stand in your shoes for a moment and wrestle with you regarding the tradeoffs needed in order to get everything done. In the face of my enormous task list and the possibility of being a person who is responsible for a colleague’s work not getting done, a lot of people would simply ask someone else to do the task. So it would end up being a no for me, but I wouldn’t have to say it.
There are some details to keep in mind if you’re going to use the deprioritization method. You want to use it sparingly when you truly do have a lot on your plate, and you want to be truthful about what is on your plate. If you don’t have a system in place to let you know the entirety of what your task list is on any given day, then we can teach you that system. You shouldn’t have a light day and make up fake tasks just to get out of a new request. Lies like that are easily found out and will make you look bad. But if you are truly at your max for the day, using the deprioritization method from time to time can be a way to say no without ever having to utter the word.
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Sincerely Yours,
Focus to Evolve Team