Leadership & Negotiation · Communication

TheCleanNo — Declining the Side Project Without Burning the Asker

A respected colleague has invited you onto a side project. Your week cannot hold it.

2 rounds MBA & Masters English, Español

Preview

About this simulation

A respected colleague has invited you onto a side project. Your week cannot hold it. You have to say no, and you want to keep the relationship. Practice the five-test decision frame, then draft a 4-6 sentence clean no with warmth, plain refusal, credible reason, optional smaller-yes, and specific affirmation — while an AI coach scores apology spirals, fake-busy framings, empty counter-proposals, and length.

Who it is for

An intermediate simulation for participants who already know the core concepts of the subject, designed for master's and MBA programmes.

How a session runs

  1. The instructor creates a session from the Eureka dashboard and invites the participants.
  2. Participants play 2 rounds. In each one they submit their decisions and the simulation calculates the results. The first round opens with: Decide properly — the five tests.
  3. The simulation can be run in English, Español.
  4. The instructor follows each participant's progress and results from the dashboard, and uses the class results for the debrief.

Decisions participants make

The decisions participants make during the simulation:

  • Test 1 — Does this REPLACE something on your week, or ADD to it?
  • Test 2 — Am I drawn to the PERSON or the PROJECT?
  • Test 3 — Can I deliver this at 80% or more of my usual quality?
  • Test 4 — Will I resent this in month two?
  • Test 5 — Is there someone better suited I could recommend (with their consent)?
  • Your decision based on the tests
  • 1. Warm open — glad they thought of you
  • 2. The no — plainly stated, no hedging
  • 3. The reason — short enough to be credible, long enough to be honest
  • 4. Optional — a smaller yes, or a substitute (only if you mean it)

What participants track

What participants follow on screen as the rounds go by:

  • Decision quality over the rounds

Subjects covered

Designed for courses in Communication.

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