Five ways to say no at work without burning bridges. Practical, human strategies for staying honest and strengthening relationships.

Sometimes pushing back can be particularly challenging when a stakeholder is angry and/or powerful. It requires a delicate balance between maintaining the relationship and respecting your own limits. Here are 5 strategies that you can use to push back effectively in these difficult situations.

Recently I ran a workshop for in-house lawyers and was asked for tips on how to assert healthy boundaries and push back on work demands when your stakeholders refuse to hear it. Here’s my take…