How to say no to your boss without looking lazy or incompetent

How to say no to your boss without looking lazy or incompetentHow to say no to your boss without looking lazy or incompetentWhen youre invited to a networking event that sounds kind of blah, you can generally respond with, Im not interested thanks and feel okay about it.But try this same tactic with your boss and youll be met with some serious eyebrow raising.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraWhile employees around the country are challenging their employers to address political issues, saying no thanks to your boss when she assigns you a new project could signal youre lazy or disinterested.Even if youre overwhelmed with other projects, or if youre not sure youre the best part to complete this task, you never want to say no flat out or right away.Instead, youll want to think about how you can say yes.According to Michael Kerr, an international business speaker and author of The H umor Advantage, the question should always be, How can we - as in, you and your boss - say yes together?To find out how best to respond in this situation, geschftsleben Insider consulted Kerr and Lynn Taylor, a national workplace expert and the author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior and Thrive in Your Job, on how to say no in different scenarios. Read on for their best advice.If youre already overloaded with other assignmentsI would be happy to do that project, but what that could mean is that whatever other project youre working on will have to be put off until tomorrow, because I was actually going to spend the next three hours finishing that proposal. Would you like me to put that off?Thats according to Taylor, who said that most managers are just going to continually feed you more and more material until you say, Stop or If you give me X, then Y is going to suffer.In other words, you need to stay on top of your assignment list, because your boss isnt going to.Taylor said its also important to remember that you want to frame your response in terms of doing your best work.So even if one reason youre worried about taking on another project is that youll have to stay until 10 p.m. tonight, you should communicate to your boss that what youre really worried about is underperforming on your other assignments.To your boss, Taylor said, its all about the end product.You can offer to meet with your boss and show them exactly what youre currently working on. Tell them, I really want to get on the same page as you and make sure Im doing what it is you want.Kerr also recommended thanking your boss in this situation (seriously) - if theyre piling on the projects, that means they have confidence in you.If you have multiple bosses who dont always consult each other when they give out assignmentsHere are the other things that are on my plate. Perhaps you werent aware, but Ive also been asked to do this other assignment from othe r boss, and they are doing this as a high priority. So I am going to need some clarification from somebody as to what gets the highest priority.In this case, Kerr said, its important to have an open and honest conversation with at least one of your managers as soon as possible.Taylor said sending an email to your primary boss and copying the others works, too.You can say something like I understand that whatever project your primary boss assigned you is a priority for us today, so Ill be spending the first part of the week focusing on that. Just to be on the same page, it looks like the latter part of the week, Ill be working on the XYZ project with John and Jim. If theres anything else I should be working on or focusing on this week, please keep me informed.If you dont think you have the right skill set to complete the assignmentI would love to be able to add this to my work in the future, but right now I dont feel like Im equipped enough to do this assignment. I dont have the prop er training. Could we look at getting some training for me this year? Until I get the training, could I suggest that one of your coworkers handle it this time? Because I know hes well-versed in whatever area.Kerr emphasized that youll want to come from a solution mindset. Instead of simply refusing the assignment, come up with a way to solve it - like getting training.You can even propose that you shadow the coworker whos more skilled in the particular area, so you learn what to do for next time.Express that sentiment, I want to do it, but I want to do it right, Kerr said.If youre not feeling confident that you could do a good job on this assignment - a situation Kerr said comes up fairly often in the workplace - he recommended telling your boss exactly that.Ask your boss if they can offer any help or suggestions. Most bosses will respect you for opening up like that, he said.Ultimately, Taylor said, people who can set reasonable boundaries with their boss can be more well-respec ted in the eyes of their boss.Someone who stays late every night to complete 16 different projects because they arent able to prioritize isnt necessarily an effective employee.On the other hand, someone who leaves at a reasonable hour because theyre organized and know what needs to get done probably is. As Taylor said, They just have their act together.This article first appeared on Business Insider.