“The basic difference between being
assertive and being aggressive is how our words and behavior affect the rights
and well being of others.” - Sharon Anthony Bower
There are people who suffer silently
in their personal, professional and social lives as they don’t know how to
assert themselves. When they are asked
to attend functions or ceremonies they attend unwillingly because they don’t
know how to say, ‘No’. There are people who
accept extra load of work which they are not supposed to do because they don’t
know how to say, ‘No’. At the same time,
we also find some people saying, ‘No’ adamantly and aggressively. Neither accepting
extra work nor obliging others politely is good. At the same time, rejecting aggressively with
others’ request is not a right etiquette.
That means there must be a right balance between politeness and
aggressiveness, and that is known as assertiveness.
Assertiveness is the art of saying
‘No’ firmly but politely. If you say
‘No’ firmly it is an aggressive response.
If you say, ‘No’ politely it is a submissive response. Shakti Gawain said, “Assertiveness is not
what you do, it's who you are!” If you are submissive you will suffer silently
and burst out one day. You will be
exploited by others and get into depression.
If you are aggressive people don’t appreciate and nobody will come near
to you, and befriend you. Therefore, you
must learn the art of saying ‘No’ firmly but politely.
Companies provide training on
assertiveness so that employees enjoy their rights and respect the rights of
others. In addition, they learn to gel well with others. They can work with
peace and harmony as there are less chances of getting into conflicts. The
assertiveness is included along with communication skills during corporate
training programs as it is closely connected with communication skills. Hence,
it is essential to acquire the tools and techniques associated with
assertiveness to lead a conflict-free and comfortable life.
“The most powerful assertiveness
technique is to repeat your command with the confidence that the child will
soon yield.” - John Gray PhD
Email: profmsr12@gmail.com
Born for the Students
Dear readers,
I would appreciate your comments about
this article.
Copyright©2012 MSR Leadership
Consultants India. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part
without permission is prohibited.
This is an educational blog for free
sharing of knowledge, not for commercial use. Please don't cut articles from my
blog and redistribute by email or post to the web. The use of this material is
free provided copyright is acknowledged and reference or link is made to the Blog
http://professormsrao.blogspot.com
This material may not be sold, or
published in any form, or used in the provision of business services to a third
party without permission.
No comments:
Post a Comment