How to handle too much work in a culture of "yes"?

[Reneeme]

Originally Posted by manderly6

Make your boss prioritize the work for you. At some point you have to say you can't get it all done and let her decide what gets done and what doesn't.

That is probably what I will have to do!

[Roman77]

Originally Posted by Reneeme

My boss's boss has no concept of what I do or how long some of it takes. I would say she is smart, but would be better in a creative position than a director position.

In that case I would say you need to stress to your boss how long it takes you to perform your normal functions, and make a case for how the addition of added tasks will impact the time it takes to perform those normal functions. It sounds like a no-brainer, but for some bosses you really need to spell it out for them, word for word. A few weeks ago I was going flat out because the person I normally work with was off, so I was doing the work of two, and the boss was coming into my office every 5 f******k minutes asking if a particular task was done, all the while shoving additional crap on my desk.

[Reneeme]

Hi Greg1977,

Good points. I did send an email to my boss on Friday afternoon about being concerned about maintaining quality and that we might need to take all of my new tasks into account as we plan for our upcoming season (my busy season is on it's way again and we had lots of improvement ideas that were already going to add to my my workload). I am pretty sure that she will not be able to fix it until it is very clear that it is too much work (i.e., after mistakes are made and things are missed), but I wanted to give it a try anyway!

I will also track how long things take me and how many extra hours I worked.

[kodaka]

I swear you might work with me. I work in a culture where most of my colleagues are always saying 'yes' to requests made at the drop of a hat. And then they complain about it all the time. Me, I don't have that problem. I learned years ago how to diplomatically say no. There are a few tricks:

1. Don't say 'no', period. Offer the requester a choice. For example, "I can't do that right now, but I could work on it tomorrow afternoon." Or, "Well, I'm working on this other task for someone else right now. Do you want me to stop doing that so I can fulfill your request?" The latter is basically what others have said above: it makes my boss decide what's more important, and take responsibility for what work doesn't get done.

2. You have to say yes sometimes. That way they know you're not just being disagreeable, that you are really saying no for a reason. If I'm working on a deadline for the end of the week, even though it will take me all week to do it, that's enough time for me to squeeze in a half-hour task somewhere, and still meet my deadline. Sometimes, I even go above and beyond, by getting done sooner than required. This way my boss knows that I really know how to manage my time, that I'm working hard and not slacking off, and I know how long it takes to get things done. If you say no to everything, you'll make everyone universally unhappy with whatever you do get done.

For my coworkers, I think the problem several things: First, they're just on that treadmill--once you get in the habit of always putting out the latest fire, you're always in emergency mode. Second, because they are always in emergency mode, they haven't learned time management skills that may allow them to prioritize and get things done more efficiently. For example at a recent staff meeting one person complained that clients and vendors were always calling with new requests that she had to fulfill right away. She wastes so much time jumping from one thing to another, losing her concentration and trying to get it back. Even management has told her, let it go to voicemail sometimes--but she just can't get her head around that idea. She's not using her time effectively, so she's getting even less done.

And third, because of the previous two reasons, some managers are accustomed to going to them with last minute requests and always getting a yes response. Whereas with me, they don't come to me saying 'kodaka I need you to do this right now'. Instead they say 'kodaka when do you think you could get to this new thing?'

It's called 'managing expectations', and I do it with both my clients and my employer.

[tvdxer]

Just say no.

"While you're at it, could you file these papers for me? I'd like to have them filed by 3 p.m.". "No."

"Could you work Saturday? Lana is taking vacation and we need to open our store then." "No."

"Are you willing to come in three hours early on Friday morning? Our department has a deadline of Friday at noon and there's no way we're going to get the project done by then if you don't." "No."