How to Put Assertiveness Training to Good Use at Work: Tips for Baby Boomers and Seniors

Have you ever had assertiveness training? Taking assertiveness training is well worth the effort, particularly for baby boomers and seniors returning to work. When it comes to putting assertiveness training to use at work, you will likely find this is one of the best skill sets you could acquire.

Going to work can be a frightening or terrifying experience, if you are a person who is passive in nature, especially when someone at work is aggressive and intimidates you in one way or another.

Are you continually engaged in different kinds of conflict with a person at work or a number of people? Are you afraid to stand up for yourself or do not know how?

Enrolling in an assertiveness training program, can help you to resolve these kinds of problems. In many ways, assertiveness training can serve as a form of emotional, mental and even physical, self-protection. It can also help to increase the stability of your employment.       

There may be times when you wish that you were more assertive by nature, but at the same time, you do not want to become as aggressive as the person who is continually antagonizing, upsetting or abusing you at work or elsewhere. 

What is assertiveness?

What does overly assertive mean?

What is aggressiveness or overly aggressive? How do they differ?

According to the article entitled “Assertiveness,” 

“It is your right to stand up for yourself and to assert your individuality. On the other hand, you do not have to be assertive all the time, in all circumstances. The goal is to be able to assert yourself, and to be free to choose.”

What does it mean to be overly assertive?

There is a fine line between being assertive and overly assertive. Being assertive is appropriate, but being overly assertive, may not be. There is also a difference between being aggressive or overly aggressive, neither of which is appropriate for the work place. 

“When assertiveness goes too far and takes advantage of others, it is aggression. Aggressive behavior cuts across the rights of others, attacks them and puts them down; it is destructive, hurts people and makes them feel badly.”

How can you express assertiveness appropriately in the work place? 

Choosing to be assertive, but not aggressive, is a proactive rather than a passive choice that you make with respect to yourself and others, your life style and your job. 

“To be assertive is to assert or express your rights, to stand up for yourself and your values and beliefs, and to be able to express your true feelings openly. It is to be able to declare yourself, who you are, what you think and feel. It is an active rather than a passive approach to others, and to life.”

Each person has a right to go to work without continually being hassled by someone who is aggressive or overly aggressive to the point of being verbally, emotionally or physically abusive.

Note that aggressive and over aggressive employees, when reported to employers, are often subject to reprimands. Dismissal may be imminent at times, particularly if people ignore warnings.  

You can find new freedom in your personhood, life and at work, regardless of your age, by participating in an assertiveness training program. Perhaps your place of employment offers this opportunity for anyone interested in pursing this aspect of effective conflict resolution. Make some inquiries and then act on them.