Leverage The Confidence-Preserving Power Of Saying ‘Yes, But Not Now.’

One of the keys to time management is having the confidence to say “No.” However, that means having to say “No” to the person who asked you to get something done. Sometimes you can soften the blow with a “Yes, but not now.” That’s level five in the six levels of delegation: Do later.

Recall the six levels of delegation from Digging into the Art of Delegating:

1. Do well yourself – Individual contributors’ main area of focus
2. Do yourself, but just well enough – Individual contributors
3. Delegate and supervise – The realm of managers
4. Delegate and trust – inspiring, enabling and empowering others
5. Do later – deprioritization saving others time now
6. Do never – the ultimate deprioritization, saving others time and attention

You will get a lot of requests and be faced with a lot of opportunities to which your answer should be a hard “No.” As Michael Porter taught us, strategy is about choosing what not to do. And as my partner Harry Kangis once told me, “Saying no to something that’s a bad idea is easy. The hard thing is saying no to something that’s a good idea – for someone else.” In either case, choosing to do something never is the ultimate deprioritization, level 6, saving you and those you lead time and attention.

The first four levels of delegation are ways to get things done.

Do well yourself – Level 1

Do the most important things only you can do. And do them well. If you’re a first-line contributor, these should take up the vast majority of your time. If you’re in middle management, there should be no more than five things on your list so you can spend the rest of your time managing others. If you’re in senior leadership, you probably want to get down to three things. And, if you’re the CEO, you’re not going to be able to do more than one thing yourself at a time, delegating the rest.

Do yourself, but just well enough – Level 2

Choosing to do things just well enough can be a big time-saver. These are things that will hurt you if you don’t do them, but have no incremental value beyond just getting them done. Expense reports are a classic case. You have to get them done. But there’s no upside to investing any time to improving the format or presentation. Level 2 things are prime candidates for AI efficiencies.

Delegate and supervise – Level 3

This is the realm of managers and supervisors, not doing the work themselves, delegating, but with relatively short leashes to make sure people get done what they are asked to get done in the way they are asked to do them.

Delegate and trust – Level 4

This is leadership, inspiring, enabling and empowering others to do their absolute best together to realize a meaningful and rewarding shared purpose. This is the delegation with the highest leverage and requires inspiring direction, enabling resources, empowering authority and credible accountability as described in Digging into the Art of Delegating.

Do later – Level 5

“Yes, but not now” can mean yes, maybe, or no.

For example, Jack asks you for a promotion.

Scenario 1. Jack is getting promoted, but it’s not getting announced until next week. You tell Jack, “Yes, but not now.” And then follow that with a reassurance that it’s coming soon so Jack feels confident.

Scenario 2. Jack is going to get promoted, but not until he’s developed more. You tell Jack, “Yes, but not now.” And then follow up with a time-bound development plan so he’ll be ready soon.

Scenario 3. Jack might get promoted if he proves himself worthy of the promotion. You tell Jack, “Yes, but not now.” And then help him understand what he needs to demonstrate.

Scenario 4. Jack’s not going to get promoted unless circumstances change. You tell Jack, “Yes, but not now.” And then help him understand what circumstances need to change for him to get promoted.

Scenario 5. There’s no chance you’re ever promoting Jack. You tell Jack, “Yes, but not now.” And then help him understand the advantages of working for someone else. In this case, “Yes, but not now,” is really “Maybe, but not by me.”

The basic logic applies in all sorts of circumstances from tasks, to projects, to programs, to organizational moves. The power of “Do later,” or “Yes, but not now” is that allows you to give others confidence at best, and some hope at worst.

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