Finding ways to say no to internal customers
Many of us find it difficult to say no to requests. In business we sometimes have to reject a request from an outside customer. That’s tough—maybe we’ll lose future business from them, or maybe they’ll write a negative on-ine review.
What can be even tougher is saying no to an internal customer—a colleague from another department in your company who is asking you to do something for them. You’re going to have to keep working with them, so you really don’t want to sour the relationship.
Adapting your approach to succeed
That was the problem that a client recently asked me to advise them on. A group of professionals inside a large corporation, they had a clear understanding of what kind of work provided the most strategic and competitive value to their company. But internal clients often asked them to do other work that created little or no value—administrative tasks, advice on trivial issues, etc. If they said yes, their manager would be annoyed. If they said no, their client would be annoyed.
I proposed that they needed two kinds of tactics. First, they needed tools to manage their own discomfort with saying no, and second, they need skills to navigate the necessary conversations with their clients. Here are a few of the tools I recommended.
Tools for self-management
Get comfortable with delegating work that is below your pay grade. You don’t have to do it all yourself.
Understand that “good enough” in some tasks enables peak performance in others. Do it quickly and move on. (For those of you who have read my book, Curating Your Life, this suggestion will be very familiar. It’s the best way to deal with tasks that are necessary but not important.)
Tools for client management
Meet regularly with your internal clients so you know what they’re dealing with. Learn about their priorities. This provides the relationship basis for having the tough conversations.
Understand that people fear a loss more than they desire a win. Bad is stronger than good. Focus on how your approach will prevent problems. Help your client to assess the size/probability of a feared risk.
We also talked about how to manage different kinds of pushback, how to use assertiveness techniques, and how to plan your conversational “script.” If you would like to learn more about navigating these and other tough conversations, contact me at ggolden@gailgoldenconsulting.com.
