Regardless of the business you will work in or the position you will hold, every workplace has the same thing in common. Each place will have its fair share of overbearing people, bossy co-workers or even a difficult team. The one way to effectively stand up to any of them is to be assertive. This one skill can boost your self-esteem and have a positive impact on your work and your business.

A successful leader is an assertive one. Being assertive means you have the courage in your convictions and stand up for what you believe in. In Social Enterprise this is extremely important as you will have your belief in why you started up this business and must always stand up for this and sometimes have to convince others. As an assertive person you will be respected and feel secure in your actions. You will know how to say “no” and won`t be afraid to stand by your decisions.

Assertive people always do well in business because they know how to communicate effectively and will earn respect.

How will you benefit from being more assertive?

• It helps you to earn respect – when you learn to be assertive, it won`t be easy for others to take advantage of you and you won`t be easily intimidated by bossy people. Once people realise you will stand no nonsense and that you are sincere and truthful, they will start to respect you.
• It helps you to control your emotions – Being able to act in an assertive way will help you control your emotions in a better way. This is very important in business as a lack of it could be interpreted by some as a sign of weakness
• You`ll be able to set boundaries – You will rarely find an assertive person being pushed around at work. That is because an assertive nature helps you to set boundaries and lets others know exactly how they should behave around you. When boundaries are set it adds clarity in your workplace.
• It helps to build your judgement – Even the most assertive person needs to have the judgment to pick the right battles.
• It improves your body language – When you are assertive, it also makes you more confident and makes your body language more positive. This tells people around you that you are not a person to mess with and it will help to portray you as a leader
• It gives you the confidence to ask for what you want – Being assertive will help you to look at situations in a more positive light and help you to stay focused.
• It teaches you to say no – When you learn to be more assertive you will be able to put your point of view across in many various situations. It will give you the confidence to say no.