The Power of Saying Yes Correctly: A Career Shift in Strategy

• Lorraine Berg

• 3 min read

Self Leadership Overview Snapshot

Client Profile: Professional working within a corporation, Classic Builder type (BG5)

Team Context: Member of a mid-sized team within a large organization

Primary Challenge: Chronic frustration, unclear role alignment, habitual overextension

Key Insight: Learned that as a Builder, she was saying yes to everything without understanding what was truly aligned

HCW Intervention: One Career Overview Session covering the five focus areas and her decision-making strategy

Outcome: Greater ease and clarity at work, improved boundaries, more aligned contribution, reduced frustration

Core Lesson: For Builder types, understanding how to say the right yes restores energy, enhances efficiency, and brings a renewed sense of purpose to the workplace

Introduction

Sometimes the most profound shifts in career confidence come not from changing jobs, but from understanding how you’re built to contribute. One client, a thoughtful, driven team member in a mid-sized organization, came to Human-Centered Workplaces feeling uneasy about her place in the company. She wasn’t sure if the role she was in was right for her. Despite being competent, well-liked and being with this company for many years, she often felt out of sync with the demands of the job and unsure of how to articulate her needs or direction.

She wasn’t looking for a complete career overhaul. She was searching for clarity.

The Self Leadership Overview Process

During our Overview session, we focused on six key focus areas of how she naturally works, communicates, and engages within collaborative environments. We explored how her working style, decision-making process, and interaction patterns influence not only her experience in the workplace but also how others interpret her role and presence.

As a Builder Style type, she had developed a common pattern: saying yes to everything. This is typical of Builders, who are often seen as the reliable “go-to” people in an organization. While this trait is deeply valuable, it can also lead to burnout when not managed through the correct lens. She had taken on more than was sustainable, not just in her work life, but in her personal life as well. Over time, this led to a sense of inefficiency and rising frustration. She no longer understood how her contribution was impacting the workplace culture, which left her feeling disconnected, slightly disengaged and overextended.

As we walked through her overview, something shifted. She realized that many of the tensions she felt were not a result of inadequacy, but of misunderstanding how she best operates in the workplace. She had been unknowingly pushing against her natural strengths, trying to do everything that wasn't aligned with her true way of working. A key moment came when we explored her decision-making process, one of the most overlooked aspects in most career guidance. She saw how using this inner strategy could help her discern what to say yes to, so her energy could be used efficiently and sustainably.

The Impact

By the end of the session, her posture had softened. Her breathing regulated. She said she felt “validated and finally seen”, a phrase we hear often in our work at Human Centered Workplaces. That deeper recognition didn’t require a new resume or a new title. It simply required insight and presence.

In a follow-up check-in several months later, she reported feeling significantly more ease in her work. While the job title hadn’t changed, her approach to work had. She was better able to manage her workload, set appropriate boundaries, and communicate what she needed from colleagues. Most importantly, she no longer said yes to everything out of habit. She was making aligned decisions, which brought a greater sense of flow, purpose and satisfaction to her day.

What had once been a source of frustration now felt more manageable, and even energizing. With just a few insights on her differentiation, her relationship to work transformed.

Reflections on the Process

This case is a clear example of how a simple overview can lead to profound realignment. When individuals understand how they naturally operate in work environments, they begin to experience more flow and less resistance, even without external changes.

For Builder types especially, learning how to recognize their correct yes is often the turning point. When that clarity is activated, burnout begins to lift, and contribution becomes deeply satisfying and fulfilling again.

At Human-Centered Workplaces, our Self Leadership Overviews provide this foundation. Because when a person feels aligned, everything else starts to click into place.

Are you privately exhausted by your current success?

If your 'Yes' is leading to frustration, it's time to find the clarity that restores your direction.

Take the next step: Book your 1:1 Overview with an expert today.

Book your Direction Reset Session (The Personalized Overview) with an HCW Expert today to gain the insight and sustainable control that transforms your work.