How to SAY NO to your colleagues and protect your time at work - Business English lesson + FREE PDF

Do you find it difficult to say no to your managers or colleagues at work? If you want to protect your time and your schedule when people ask you to do things then today Business English vocabulary and tips might help! If you use English at work and want to sound more native and natural when your colleagues ask you to do tasks, take new duties or responsibilities then today's 5 stage system should help. This is a framework for politely but directly explaining to your colleagues that you can't say yes to their request. 

This podcast is all about helping you to communicate better, in English, at work. I work with international English speakers from around the world who use English, at work, as a second or third language and I hope that I can bring some of the ideas, vocabulary, and grammar, from those sessions, to you in this podcast.

Don't forget, if you want to work with me in one on one, private sessions then I am a full time Business English coach and tutor. I spend my whole professional life helping international professionals to improve the way that they communicate at work. If you'd like to book some of my time, listen right to the end of the podcast to find out how you can get on my schedule.  

To get the FREE PDF DOCUMENT with the vocabulary and grammar points from today's episode, visit https://www.breakoutbusinessenglish.com/episode19

Transcript

Welcome back to the Breakout business English podcast. My name is Chris and my full time job is helping international English speakers, who speak English as a second language, to communicate better at work. Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to the podcast and our topic today is saying no to your colleagues and managers at work. A lot of the people I coach tell me that they often get asked to do extra work. This might be your boss wanting to add tasks to your to-do list, or your colleagues who want to pass some of their work on to you. In this podcast, we're going to talk about some great ways that you can politely but confidently say no to people when they ask you to do tasks for them, and when you need to protect your time.

There is a free PDF document with today's podcast. It contains all of the most important vocabulary, tips, and grammar points from the show. If you'd like that then you can go to breakout business english dot com / episode 19, that's breakout business english dot com / episode one nine or click the link in the show notes.

As I mentioned, helping non native English speakers improve their professional communication skills is my full time job so if you'd like to work with me to improve the way that you communicate at work then you can go to breakout business english dot com to book some time with me. I sometimes send out discounts and offers for my one to one coaching sessions and entering your email address there is the best way to hear about those offers first. 

At the end of our podcast today we'll also have a short quiz to find out how much of the vocabulary from today's podcast you can remember. So with that said, let's get started. 

—————-

The structure of today’s podcast is going to be a five stage process that you can go through to say no. Each stage is useful on its own, however, the more stages you go through and the more parts of this framework you add, the stronger your response becomes. let’s start with step one.

—————-

The first step in saying no to a colleague is to explain your reasons. This is the easiest and most basic item on our list, so it should be the first thing that you tell your colleague, whether you’re too busy or you just don’t think you’re the right person for the job, actually explaining to your colleague why you don’t want to agree to their request is essential. Let’s take a look at a couple of ways that you can do this.

I’ve got a lot on my plate right now so I really don’t have the time.

I’ve got a lot on my plate right now so I really don’t have the time.

I honestly don’t think I know enough about that to take it on.

I honestly don’t think I know enough about that to take it on.

I’m actually clocking off early today so I won’t have time.

I’m actually clocking off early today so I won’t have time.

OK, let’s talk about some of that vocabulary. In the first example we heard, “I’ve got a lot on my plate”, “I’ve got a lot on my plate”. This is a really popular idiom, so maybe you’ve heard it already? Imagine that you’re at a buffet restaurant. You’ve walked around every station, adding food to your plate until it’s piled high. That plate of food is going to take you a long time to eat. In fact, it’s going to take you so long that you probably won’t have time to eat anything else. We can apply this same idea to our work. If you have so much to do that you really can’t possibly accept any more tasks, then we can say that you have a lot on your plate.

We also saw there the phrasal verb to “clock off”, to “clock off”. As in “I’m clocking off early today”, “I’m clocking off early today”. To clock off is a phrase that means to finish work. As you might be able to guess, we can also use the phrase, “clock on” to talk about starting work. A fun tip here is that clocking on and off is more commonly used in American English. In British English, we’re more likely to use “clock in” and “clock out”. The meaning is exactly the same, there’s just a slight difference in preposition depending on which side of the Atlantic ocean you’re on.

————-

OK, now that we’ve told our colleague why we can’t say yes to their request, we want to take this a little further. If I’ve told you that I have too much work to do, it might be nice for me to explain why this makes it difficult for me to accept more work. Surely I can just have an even bigger pile of work right? Why can’t I just be more busy? Now, we can let our colleague guess or make assumptions about the connection between these ideas, however, if we control the conversation and actually explain it to them then our objection becomes even more powerful, let’s take a look at an example to help us understand.

I know that’s a really important task and if I took it on I would want to give it my full attention. 

I know that’s a really important task and if I took it on I would want to give it my full attention. 

I really don’t like to do things by halves and I might end up making some mistakes.

I really don’t like to do things by halves and I might end up making some mistakes.

I really should be putting all of my effort into what I’ve already got going on and I don’t want to compromise on anything.

I really should be putting all of my effort into what I’ve already got going on and I don’t want to compromise on anything.

In the first example we had the phrasal verb, “to take on”, as in “if it took it on I would want to give it my full attention”, “If I took it on I’d want to give it my full attention”. We also heard this phrasal verb in the first set of examples a moment ago. This is a phrasal verb that has several meanings in different contexts, however, at work we often use it to say that we’re agreeing to do a piece of work. For instance, “I’ve taken on two new projects this week”, “I’ve taken on two new projects this week”. We often use this to talk about how much work we take on, for instance, “I took on so many things last year. I’m never doing that again!”

We also had the phrase, to do something by halves, as in “I really don’t like to do things by halves”, “I really don’t like to do things by halves”. This is a phrase that we almost always use in negative sentences to talk about our commitment to effort and quality. If you say that you, “don’t do things by halves”, you mean that you are thorough, you do things completely and to the best of your ability. For instance, if you were to start skiing for instance, you wouldn’t just borrow someone’s skis and try to figure it out on your own. You’d book private lessons, do lots of research, and maybe even buy your own equipment. Then when your friends ask you why you’re spending so much money on your new hobby, you could tell them, “I never like to do things by halves”.

————-

We’re going to split our third step into two ideas, depending on who you’re talking to. One for talking to managers and one for talking to colleagues. Let’s start with managers. The great thing about talking to managers is that they already know that you are a resource for them, then can give you instructions and decide how you spend your time. But this also means that we can ask a little more of them. Let’s take a look at some details we might add if we were talking to a manager.

If you have sometime, it would be great if we could go through my workload and maybe reprioritise some things? That way we can free up some time for me to devote to new tasks.

If you have sometime, it would be great if we could go through my workload and maybe reprioritise some things? That way we can free up some time for me to devote to new tasks.

I’m really not sure I have the skill set to do that to the level that it really requires. If there’s some training available for it I’d be happy to upskill a little so that I can help out.

I’m really not sure I have the skill set to do that to the level that it really requires. If there’s some training available for it I’d be happy to upskill a little so that I can help out.

We heard there the phrasal verb, to “free up”, as in “That way we can free up some time for me to devote to new tasks.”, “That way we can free up some time for me to devote to new tasks.” We use “free up” to talk about resources, usually time or money, but it can also be staff, rooms, desks, basically any resources. If a resource is freed up then it is made available for us when it was previously in use. If I have some money that I intend to spend on a taxi, but then you offer to give me a ride, then that money has been freed up. I can now spend it on other things.

We also saw the verb, "upskill", "upskill". As in, "I’d be happy to upskill", "I’d be happy to upskill". This is quite a modern word and can sound a little corporate. However, it's definitely one you'll hear in English speaking work places. To upskill simply means to improve your skills or acquire new ones. It first appeared in the late 1980s but really started to become popular in around 2010.

——-

Ok, we've mentioned saying no to managers, let's change gears now and talk about saying no to colleagues. In my opinion this is a little easier! A great tip here is to mention your manager and talk about how they would want you to spend your time or deal with this situation. This is a great tip because you're essentially saying that it's not your decision, which makes it far easier to apply, and maybe even feel less guilty! Let's hear some examples.

I know that my manager would want me to be laser focused on my own work.

I know that my manager would want me to be laser focused on my own work.

I don't think my manager would want me spreading myself too thin.

I don't think my manager would want me spreading myself too thin.

I think the management team wants me to concentrate on my own to-do list right now.

I think the management team wants me to concentrate on my own to-do list right now.

In that first example we heard the phrase laser focused, as in "my manager would want me to be laser focused on my own work". Laser is usually a noun, however, we can use it here as an adjective to emphasise the word "focus". Just like a laser focuses light into a very small point, we can focus our attention on one specific thing.

We also heard there the idiom, "to spread yourself too thin". To understand this idiom we need to think about food, more specifically we need to think about toast. If you make yourself a slice of toast and you add maybe butter or jam then one thing you don't want to do is to spread it too thin. You probably won't be able to taste it and it would have no effect on your meal! In the same way, we can talk about spreading yourself too thin. This means to take on so many tasks or responsibilities that you become ineffective at all of them.

——-

Next, let's talk about solutions. If your colleague is looking for someone to take some work off  their hands then they're looking for a solution to a problem. So, lets offer them a solution. It's at this point that you might want to suggest someone else who could help them. Maybe you know a colleague who would be better at the task than you, or you simply want to recommend that they ask someone with a little more available time. Let's take a listen to some examples 

Maybe you could ask David, he might be able to pitch in.

Maybe you could ask David, he might be able to pitch in.

How about David, I don't think he's got much going on right now.

How about David, I don't think he's got much going on right now.

You should ask David, he'll definitely do a better job than me.

You should ask David, he'll definitely do a better job than me.

In that first example we heard the phrasal verb to "pitch in", as in "he might be able to pitch in", "he might be able to pitch in". If you pitch in with something then you help someone do a task. This usually means to contribute part of the effort, or time required. Maybe you're moving house, you might ask a couple of friends to pitch in. The more people pitch in, the quicker you move all of your furniture. It doesn't make your sofa lighter though! It'll still be as heavy as the day you bought it!

We also talked about having things "going on", as in "I don't think he's got much going on", 
"I don't think he's got much going on". If you have something "going on" then you have a task which is taking up your time. I could ask you, "what do you have going on today?", to which you might reply, "I've got two meetings and a few emails to reply to". Or you might tell me, "I've got so much going on next week, would you mind if we reschedule our meeting?"

———

Finally, let's try to accommodate our colleague. Let's offer them our help, just perhaps not now. If you really can't find someone else to help them, and you really are the best person for the job, and trying to guess what your manager would want does work, then maybe it's just not a good time. Suggesting that they ask you at another time is a great, final way to protect your time at work. You could of course try pushing this as far into the future as possible! Here are some examples of how a native speaker might do this.

Is there any chance I could help you out next week?

Is there any chance I could help you out next week?

I might be able to free up some time next week, if that's any good for you?

I might be able to free up some time next week, if that's any good for you?

My schedule is really hectic right now, but things should quiet down by the end of the month. Maybe I could give you a hand then?

My schedule is really hectic right now, but things should quiet down by the end of the month. Maybe I could give you a hand then?

"Quiet" is a word that we can use to describe the water in a river or the ocean, and also your schedule. As in our third example, "things should quiet down by the end of the month", "things should quiet down by the end of the month". If you have lots of demands on your time then you could describe your work days as crazy or hectic. The opposite of this would be quiet, or maybe even calm. Perhaps if you work at a ski resort then your schedule is hectic in the winter months and really quiet in the summer. Maybe your colleague should come back in the summer and you'll have some time to help them!

——-

Don't forget that there is a free PDF document with today's podcast. It contains all of the most important vocabulary, tips, and grammar points from the show. If you'd like that then you can go to breakout business english dot com / episode 19, that's breakout business english dot com / episode one nine or click the link in the show notes. 

If you'd like to work with me one on one in a video call to improve the way that you use English to communicate at work then you can head over to breakoutbusinessenglish.com and book some of my time. Also, if you're listening on Apple podcasts or anywhere else that you can leave a review, please do so. It really helps me out and helps other people to know that there is value in this podcast. 

Until next time, thank you so much for your time and I'll speak to you again soon on the Breakout Business English podcast.