The trick to being assertive…

Often we think to be assertive we need to jump straight into disagreement, but actually there is value in graded assertiveness, that is, recognising that different contexts benefit from different levels of assertiveness.

🔩The nuts and bolts:

This tool can be used to either consider how you might approach a situation requiring graded assertiveness or to support someone else in considering their own approach to past or present situations.

👫Adapting to a team activity:

To adapt this to a team activity, move to hypothetical scenarios to avoid breaching confidentiality and develop skills through an agreed approach to challenging concerns in the workplace.

📖The theory:

Graded assertiveness came out of medical settings, equipping more junior medical staff with skills to challenge the likes of more experienced and qualified professionals, the two most popular models being PACE and CUSS.

Often when people think about challenging someone, they mentally imagine having to confront someone directly, but in reality many situations benefit from taking time to understand the situation and/or explore alternatives. Graded assertiveness models provide a framework for assessing what degree of “challenge” is needed, while also equipping people with the skill of showing curiosity in exploring potential threats and solutions.

🫴An example:

Effie (manager) is speaking with Mike, someone she manages, about a recent situation where Mike didn’t speak up when he had concerns about a project. Effie and Mike consider the point in which Mike could have intervened early on through clarifying questions early on in the project, and how this could have progressed to countering and challenging if the concerns persisted. Mike mentions another concern he has and agrees to clarify and perhaps counter some of the colleagues ideas before any further concerns arise.