I recently finished The No Club by Babcock, Peyser, Vesterlund and Weingart. This book is a deep dive into the inequality of tasks that women perform on a much more frequent basis than men and the impact it has on their careers. The authors coined an acronym called NPT or Non-Promotable Tasks versus PT with are Promotable Tasks.  Non-Promotable Tasks (NPT) are those tasks with might be useful such as taking notes during a meeting, making coffee or planning the department Christmas Party but they have relatively no effect on the organizational bottom line.  When review time comes around, the NPTs are not going to get you a higher rating or more money in your next salary increase. You know you’re doing an NPT if it’s not driving revenue, it’s invisible to the organization and almost any skill level can take it on (i.e. you don’t need a Bachelor’s degree to make coffee). 

I found it incredibly interesting but not surprising that the authors did several studies and women by and large say Yes more often than men and they volunteer far more often than men.  The authors, for the most part, work in academia and almost 80-90% of committees are comprised of women.  Women are more likely to be asked to do NPTs, while men are focused on PTs.  This creates what the authors referred to as work/work imbalance because women are devoting so much of their energy on the NPTs and the result is working more hours to fulfill the additional demands. It can really pay to know how to say No to free up your time to focus on what really matters for the organization.  Not only for the organization but for your career in general.  Keeping NPTs to a minimum will result in renewed focus on PTs, balance and career success.  Having had a long career in Human Resources, I can tell you that most of the tasks within the Human Resource realm are NPTs; everything from training, recruiting to office celebrations. I have a new awareness of how little this directly related to the bottom line of the organization. I also think that no one notices an NPT until it has taken too long to complete or it’s done badly.  An NPT is rarely remembered when it goes well. 

Here is how to say No.

Volunteer.  Quit volunteering. I remember coaching a client several years ago who was always the first to raise her hand for community outreach, staying late to clean up after the meeting and putting the reports together for the presentation. I suggested that she count to 20 the next time they asked for volunteers. It dramatically reduced what I now know to be NPTs and freed up her time to work on revenue producing activities.  The eighth habit in How Women Rise is the Disease to Please.  Women generally want to please others which causes us to want to volunteer for the tasks that aren’t as valuable to the organization. Weigh out what you are giving up if you volunteer to be on the search committee. What are you saying No to if you say Yes to this.  Perhaps it’s time with your children, your ailing father or time to take care of yourself. Be discerning with the things you volunteer for.

Pause. In the Power of the Positive No by William Ury, he suggests taking a moment or perhaps a few hours to reflect on whether you want to take on a new task.  So instead of replying “Happy to” or “Sure” or “Yes”, say “Let me review some of my deadlines” or “Let me double check a few things and I’ll get back to you.” Of course, if you know it’s a No, say it right away.  There’s no reason to delay your response if you know there is a conflict.  If you are leaning towards Yes, this is a good time to pause and get back to the requester.  Pause before committing or turning it down.

Explain your workload.  I tend to think that everyone knows what I’m working on at any given time.  That the world around me is omniscient and knows that I’m coaching my daughter’s soccer team, I have a big deadline approaching for the widget project and my assistant is out with gallbladder surgery. Most people have no idea what you have on your plate. This is also what Ury described as explain your values.  So “I value doing timely, quality work so I don’t have time for this new project” or “I value being off by 5 PM so that I can spend time with my family”. Shine a light on what’s currently on your plate and your time commitments. You could also explain that you currently have too many NPTs or have been focused on some highly visible PTs. Shed light on what’s currently getting your attention and effort.

Solve the problem.  This is the third step in Ury’s Power of the Positive No. This is basically a proposal to solve the problem.  For example, “I don’t have the bandwidth right now but I think Joe has some time and he’s familiar with this software” or “Once project ABC is done next month, I could devote some time to this.” Find an alternative to you taking on the project or task.  This is especially true if it’s an NPT. It’s also helpful to know who else is skilled to do to the work besides yourself.  Say No by solving the problem.

Say yes while saying no.  This is where you can get creative in saying no by breaking the project or tasks into parts and only taking a piece of it. Or suggesting a limit to the time that you can spend on the project.  So, I can say, “I organize the invitee list if someone else sends out the invites and tracks responses” or “I can devote two hours on Friday to reviewing the slide deck”. You get to say yes but limit your time and effort. Think about ways that you can give a partial yes.

It’s always been a struggle for me to say no. I want to appear helpful and approachable.  I didn’t realize until I read this book that it ended up stifling my career because too much of my time and attention was spent on NPTs.  There are ways to maximize my time besides saying yes. Which method will you try?