"Decision makers in your organization can’t help you unless you state clearly what you need to be successful, and explain why it’s so important."
A Fast Company article titled "How to be More Assertive at Work When That's Just Not Your Personality"
encourages those who find advocating for themselves difficult to
be more assertive.
The article suggests that more agreeable leaders may not be as
good at getting their teams the resources they need, and more
agreeable individual contributors tend to make less money. The reason:
more agreeable people generally won't want to impose upon others.
To help combat this, Fast Company suggests stating
requests directly. If your tendency is to use phrasing to "soften
the blow," don't — be direct. Using language like "I was hoping
you would..." tends to make your request seem unimportant.
"Decision makers in your organization can't help you unless you state
clearly what you need to be successful, and explain why it's so
important."
Explaining why it's so important is... so important. And here's why:
"[A] clear statement of the underlying need or purpose is key to sounding
assertive. The reason helps because it shifts people from making an
up-or-down decision to having to argue with the reason. Sometimes, just
the effort of having to grapple with the reason is enough to get people
to agree." I think this is great advice. The Fast Company
article also suggests you keep this explanation short: "When you can give
a crisp statement of why your request matters, people assume you have
really thought it through."
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