In a recent Harvard Business Review blog, Ed Batista, who is an executive coach and Instructor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, writes that learning to say “no” is part of successful leadership.
He notes that success is based upon the habit we all have of saying “yes” to those all-too-good opportunities that present themselves. Everyone has the tendency to want to prove themselves to others, and by accepting even those most challenging opportunities, we jump at the chance.
“Success tends to attract bigger and better opportunities. As we succeed, a key challenge becomes prioritizing the many opportunities that present themselves,” Batista writes.
Batista suggests that we learn to say no to some of those opportunities. And while there is no magic bullet for saying no, he offers three effective steps.
- Slow down and consider your options.
- Recognize the emotional cues that influence your decision making.
- Practice saying “no,” because it can feel clumsy and awkward at first.
So what does this look like in a school system? There is usually no lack of good ideas with good people supporting them (and bad ideas as well), so how do you separate the wheat from the chaff and know when to say yes, and when you might be overcommitting your team?