Darina Loakman.com

If you’ve been following this series of entries, you’ll know we have thought about it, researched, prepared our proposal and presented it. If you’ve missed the earlier 2 articles you can view them here

Part1, Part2.

So your boss has read your proposal and come back to you. If it’s with a “Yes no problem we can do that” then brilliant you’re all set ! but if they aren’t so enthusiastic, lets have a look at some of the common objections and how you can be prepared for them.

First of all let’s list some of the bosses and see if yours is among them !

The ” It won’t work” boss !
The ” I can’t even consider it ” boss
The ” It’s just not the right time now” boss
The ” But, but but but….” boss ! (fill in the buts .. with things like, but we can’t do without you in the office, but what happens if… but we’ve never done it before !)
The “on the fence” boss. - Won’t say no but won’t make a decision either !
The ” It’s not me that’s against it ” - Passing the book ! I’m fine with it but it’s the next level up !

Recognise any of those? Don’t worry if you research, prepare and present properly they won’t be a problem.

Here are some of the more common objections:

Your work is not suited to teleworking.
Well hopefully before you’ve even considered submitting a proposal you will have researched this one and be able to talk your boss through all the points you’ve made.

Are you sure you are suited to this - There are a lot of distractions at home?
Again you should have anticipated this one in your proposal, so talk them through it and put their minds at ease

How can I know what you are actually doing?
Yes you’ve got it, this should have been addressed in your proposal.

Are you beginning to see the picture? If you prepare a well researched, well documented proposal you will be able to pre-empt a huge amount of your bosses objections before they even have a chance to voice them.

Here are a few more, make sure you face them head on in your proposal.

All of these are of course valid concerns and it’s up to you to think about specific objections for your situation and prepare an answer for them. If you have some kind of solution at least your boss will know that you’ve thought about it, you’ve researched it and you’re well aware of the pitfalls, this alone will make them more confident in at least giving it a trial run.

So what are you waiting for? get out there start researching, planning and come back and let us know how you get on

Darina