6 Times You Should Stick Up For Yourself

It’s important to roll with the punches in your career, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to play doormat. Here’s how to strike a balance.

- Mel Evans

Katy Perry loves to Roar, Amy Schumer is unapologetically challenging the status quo, and Beyoncé is, well, Queen Bey forever. But the rest of us are more likely to apologise—even though we haven’t done anything wrong—than call out someone else’s mistake in the workplace. Sad, but true. In fact, a study in the American Political Science Review found that in group situations—read: most workplaces— women will speak less than 75 percent of the time men do. So not only do we not have our own hacks, we’re too dang afraid to open our mouths in the first place.

“We’re still the minority when it comes to leadership positions or having our voices heard as experts in business, leadership and political forums, and I strongly feel we have not had the opportunity to develop assertive communication skills or the support for us to gain confidence to speak up in the workplace,” explains corporate educator/consultant Marina Bakker. “We tend to bottle up our feelings and display passive communication behaviour that can affect our mental health.”

Truth: the squeaky wheel gets the oil. Stop thinking of that as a bad thing! If you don’t speak up, how can you expect to get what you want? Don’t let anybody treat you like a doormat come desk time. Here’s how to handle yourself.

1. SOMEONE IS CUTTING YOUR GRASS 

There’s nothing worse than when a sparky upstart decides your to-do list is much more attractive than their own. And now you’re both butting heads on the same tasks.