Tom was in over his head at work. He took on this role a year ago and was so excited about the work he would do. Over time the role grew so much in size and scale that Tom couldn’t manage all the work on his own anymore. Things began to slip through the cracks and he worked more hours to stay afloat. He didn’t complain to his manager because he assumed that his manager saw it was too much for one person and would help him. That didn’t happen though, and Tom got frustrated. He took on the additional responsibilities given to him and worked more hours to get it all done. It wasn’t sustainable for Tom to do this long term.
In a perfect world, Tom’s manager should have seen that there was too much work to manage. However, managers are busy, and they expect that an employee will say something if it gets to be too much. Have you been in a similar situation? When is it time to say I can’t do it all? Tom was in unfamiliar territory and didn’t know how to handle it.
It is great to create visibility for the good things when they happen, but leaders also need to speak up when things aren’t going well too.
Tom and I coached through the ways that he could show his manager the current view of his workload. He was worried how his manager would perceive him negatively. I asked him what outcome would be best for him and his manager? He responded, “that all the work gets done and I am not so stressed out.” Great, so that means you need to show him what you think will help to get the work done and not stress you out.
This is a conversation that many leaders struggle to bring to their manager. They feel that it will be a negative for them and if they need help, they won’t get it. This is an opportunity to share a problem, but not without a set of solutions. It needs to be laid out with facts so that the data speaks for itself. It becomes an easier conversation about the solutions you want to recommend when you have data to back it up. Tom can use this as an opportunity to advocate for himself and get some visibility with his manager. He can show that he is thinking strategically about the situation and how to best solve it.
Tom put together a presentation of the current situation for his manager. He came to the table with the facts. He shared the way things were set up today and the negative impacts to the company and himself if they continued in this way. He recommended that if his manager still saw all these things as a priority, then they needed another resource to help with the work. His manager was impressed with what Tom put together and they discussed how to take the plan forward.