tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14962422.post7513279216322999898..comments2023-09-20T11:39:52.182-04:00Comments on Crunchy Granola: How to Say No and Other Handy Academic Talentssusanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12000470374101306070noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14962422.post-83399051195541625642007-05-10T10:25:00.000-04:002007-05-10T10:25:00.000-04:00Welcome, magpie (and thanks for the comment here a...Welcome, magpie (and thanks for the comment here and on a few other posts! I'm in comment heaven this morning.)susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12000470374101306070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14962422.post-78033520495799908882007-05-10T09:52:00.000-04:002007-05-10T09:52:00.000-04:00I'm not good at saying no - I avoid conflict.But (...I'm not good at saying no - I avoid conflict.<BR/><BR/>But (to change the subject), I love that you have "mama days" and that you're able to. I get cross-eyed looks if I need to/want to work from home.Magpiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15460136246441367993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14962422.post-58259998472554851212007-05-10T09:15:00.000-04:002007-05-10T09:15:00.000-04:00It is complicated--as chair, I have been trying to...It is complicated--as chair, I have been trying to nudge some colleagues who have been, arguably, less engaged with the work of the campus to pick up and do their share. Some people are lazy and it is difficult to change them; others are simply unsure what to do. And I have seen departments become truly dysfunctional in the ways that What Now experienced.<BR/><BR/>It's busy competition that gets to me, or the sense that everything someone else has to do is so much more important than the task I'm trying to organize.<BR/><BR/>I also think-and here's where some of the leadership comes in, leadership that has to be built into the organization as well as deployed by those in actual leadership positions-that we should separate the issues involved in how to learn to say no from those around how to make an organization work. The problem I see with some of What Now's colleagues is not that they learned to say no, but that they have a disregard for what it means to work in a functional institution.<BR/><BR/>I'd like to think one can do both.susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12000470374101306070noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14962422.post-15986527191911850222007-05-10T08:41:00.000-04:002007-05-10T08:41:00.000-04:00I salute you for being good at saying "no," which ...I salute you for being good at saying "no," which is something I'm still learning. (But I'm determined to say it, even if I'm not comfortable with it, in my new job; as you say, the first year sets up expectations for following years.)<BR/><BR/>On the other hand -- in my experience there are some people who have mastered the art of "no" to such an extent that they make life difficult for everyone else and don't do their share of the work. I was in a department with a couple of such folks, who thus managed to have every department meeting at their convenience and in some cases the great inconvenience of other members, and who also managed to get out of most of the shared work of departmental administration.<BR/><BR/>So this is something I struggle with a great deal. I mostly think that they were able to say "no" so blithely and frequently because the rest of us were overfunctioning and picking up the slack, and so if the rest of us had said "no" more consistently, maybe the system would have balanced out. Or maybe nothing would have gotten done at all. Hard to know.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14962422.post-50980431341579533732007-05-10T00:45:00.000-04:002007-05-10T00:45:00.000-04:00I've been thinking about this lately myself; somet...I've been thinking about this lately myself; sometimes it seems like the less explanation the no-sayer gives, the better. "That won't work for me" or "I have a previous commitment" is so much easier to hear than "I have a million things to do." Because, doesn't everyone?<BR/><BR/>At my job, I depend a lot on volunteers. Now, these people (all women, mostly moms of small kids) are giving their time *voluntarily* as the name implies, so part of me feels like I should be grateful that they show up at all. On the other hand, if they ditch me at the last minute, the library program (and often their child's class) suffers. And when they run in just before class and say "Oh, I'm so sorry, but I just have so many things I have to get done today!" I get resentful: hey, me too! And one of the things I have to do is teach this class, and now I have to do it without any help!<BR/><BR/>Hmm. I guess this touched a nerve.elswherehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09682431666658202440noreply@blogger.com