Dont Say Yes When You Mean No

Let me ask you a question.....

How assertive are you?

Developing your assertiveness skills is one of the most important activities you can ever undertake.

You need to be assertive in today's highly pressurised environment where there are more demands placed on you mentally, physically and with your time.

You need to be able to stick up for yourself!

Indeed, being assertive means being able to stand up for what you want.

The benefits of being assertive are far more reaching than just getting what you want.

You will feel more confident and assured, you will feel good about yourself, you are able to get win win situations rather than giving in all of the time and you can also manage your time more effectively especially if you feel uncomfortable saying no to your boss when he hands you more work to do!

You are also able to delegate work better and ask other people to help you.

What will it take to be assertive?

Well, we have discussed the benefits of being assertive, but what will it actually take to be assertive?

If being assertive does not come natural to you, you will feel uncomfortable at first but being assertive is like anything else in life, you get better at it the more times you do it!

If you have an out-going personality you will probably find that being assertive comes easier to you. If you are more reserved, you might have to work at it a little harder in the initial stages.

Being assertive will mean that you will have to stand up in the face of opposition at times, it may also mean being confrontational and expressing your opinion when all others agree with a certain course of action.

It is human nature to avoid confrontation but many people usually react to it in one of two ways.

The first approach is to fight fire with fire and become aggressive to deal with the situation, the second approach is to cave in and give in to the demands of the other party.

The right way to deal with the situation is to be assertive of course!

So, just how assertive are you?

Why don't you take our assertiveness test and find out?

You could also print off these materials below and run a quick training session of your own with your team.

Take care and please remember that if you have got any training requirements whatsoever and need a course or consultancy or whatever, you know where we are!

Dont Say Yes When You Mean No - To learn more about this author, visit Sean McPheat's Website.

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