What to do if your boss gives you too much to do
It can be frustrating to work hard every day and feel like you never finish your To Do list. This week I tackle how to have a conversation with your boss about your work load and work expectations. I give you practical steps to make these discussions feel collaborative, not confrontative. Whether your boss is unaware of your work load due to being absent from the workplace or overworked themselves, my strategies work to help you prioritize your work load right away. Even if your boss is toxic or unreasonable, I share simple strategies to clarify their expectations so you know exactly what you need to do to maintain your sanity. Listen here!
You can use my strategies in your next performance evaluation or annual review or you can use them to start a stress free conversation with your boss right now about your workload. You get to decide the timing of your conversation with your boss- it depends on how frustrated you are and how quickly you want change.
My suggestion for all corporate professionals who get paid salaries is to shift your thinking about your workload, responsibilities, compensation packages as well as your career path.
Consider your career as you would your own business. You are building your “business” from the ground up with every negotiation, every job change and every new position. Consider yourself the Business Owner and your career as The Business. You have more control than you think you do regarding your overall compensation and your career trajectory.
To get started with planning your conversation with your boss, you need to determine why your work load is so unmanageable. Possible reasons:
Is your workload impossible to get done in an 8-10 hour day, 40-50 hour work week?
Is your workload requiring you to be available evenings and weekends and that is not the schedule you were hired to be available for this position?
Have your responsibilities changed or increased since you were hired?
Is your boss aware of how much you work after hours?
Is your boss aware of your changing responsibilities since you were hired?
Is your boss unaware, unavailable or unreasonable with their expectations?
Once you answer these questions, you gain clarity about why your workload has become too much for you right now. Next, you want to determine what you want out of the conversation. Do you want your boss to simply be aware of what you are accomplishing every day? Do you want a new Job Description or new Title? Do you need a more accurate description of your Roles & Responsibilities so you, your team and your boss better understands everyone’s roles moving forward? Do you want more pay? Do you want better compensation? Do you want to stop working nights and weekends? Be clear about what you want out of the meeting. If you aren’t clear about your expectations of the meeting- your boss certainly won’t be able to guess. If you want more pay, please listen to my podcast on Negotiating.
Next, get ready for a collaborative conversation about your workload. Here is the list of 5 key strategies I would like you to bring to every meeting about your workload:
Be proactive in communicating with your boss. If your boss doesn’t schedule monthly meetings, it is up to you to initiate a conversation about your unmanageable workload.
Be collaborative, not confrontative. Don’t bring emotions into this. Be professional.
Bring a solution with you to the conversation. Do not have the problems with the workload be the focus of the conversation. Be proactive in having options ready to discuss with your boss.
Clarify expectations. Do not make any assumptions about your boss’s expectations about your hours, your availability, your response time to emails/texts, your workload. Ask for clarification on all aspects of your workload that you deem necessary. This is the conversation to ask your boss to help you better understand what her expectations are.
Your boss needs to tell you 1. What to work on. 2. In what priority to work on it. If you don’t know what your boss’s priorities are, you may end up working on the wrong stuff.
In this podcast I walk through 3 client scenarios to help you determine which solution will work in your situation. I hope it is helpful to hear how other people handle their conversations with their boss about an overwhelming or unreasonable work load.
Remember, you were hired to do a job within a reasonable work week- probably 8-6ish, for 40 hours a week, with a reasonable compensation package within your industry. All corporate professionals need evenings and weekends to rest, reenergize and regenerate ideas for the next work week. You are only able to perform your job at your highest level in a sustainable way, day after day, week after week, if you give your brain and your body time off to rest. .
Make it a great week.
Kathy