Have you ever said “no” to working on a project? If so, how?

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The president asked me if I would be comfortable working on Arch Diocese work, which would include anti-abortion stuff. I said no. We declined to move forward with the business. We’re a small agency, not sure what the difference would be at a larger one.

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Hmm. Do you have a project manager you can go to?

I would phrase it around prioritization. Coming to these types of discussion armed with data about your recurring tasks is always useful. You could say something like “I have tasks a, b, and c, due __. I am struggling to find the bandwidth right now - I could take that on if I offloaded one/some of these other duties, however “

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“I want to make sure I’m making (whatever other thing you’re working on) as good as it can be and I won’t be able to do that if I take on another project right now.”

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Yes I have. As some have mentioned, it’s easier to have a conversation about prioritization. For example, my CD sent a pitch KO to my entire team and I reached out to explain what I was already working on to bring in business (on top of my regular work) and made clear I was not going to be able to take on more work without deprioritizing something. They understood and excused me from the pitch with no hard feelings.

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I regret not saying no more in my current job. The less boundaries you set, the more your boss will walk all over you. Agreed with everyone on the chain, always position it against your other work. “I’m worried if I take this on, it’ll compromise the quality of work of my other campaigns. I’m concerned about meeting deadlines.” Often I break down the other projects by major milestones to make it clear where things will start falling through the cracks.

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I was supposed to be on a health insurance pitch. I told my ACD I had no interest in helping people get rich off of privatized health care. I think word got around and I got taken off. I’m not sure how it looked to agency leadership but I had no problem sleeping at night.

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I said no to working on a pitch for the US Army. Told them I didn’t feel comfortable tricking young, poor kids into dying for no reason.

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Now I work in pharma though so 🤷🏼‍♂️

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Usually I’d say I’m currently working on a, b, c and that I can work on that new project and have it done by a certain time, which is often much later than when they need it by. My PM usually gets it by then and finds someone else to work on it.

I declined the briefing invite and told the accounts “no”. But this was just a small social media project.

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