Thoughout my career, I have never only had one role. Whether it’s additional projects, training, or even entire desks. Which manager or employer doesn’t like more for less? For me it was about the opportunities to learn and grow. Having said that, just because it can be done does not mean it should be – there are consequences.
So today you are the lucky one: Your manager stopped by and asked you to help prepare for a department meeting, 3 days from now. And yes, your day work is also time-sensitive so nothing can be dropped. What do you do?
Some of these things do not require deliberation, and there is a quick way to get to 70-80% of perfect, especially for one-time requests. Long-term or repeated needs deserve more careful considerations.
But the difference is alignment with the person requesting it.
Here are some useful clarifying questions:
- Who is this for? The audience provides some context
- When do you need it by?
- What are the desired outcome? (is it just to inform or lead to decision)?
- How will it be used?
- Will it be an input to something else (just the data) or in presentation (needs to look nice)
- Will an educated opinion suffice or do you need referencable data?
And that allows you to offer options: Keep in Mind Everything is a trade off between quality, time and cost.
For example, if you ask for input to a presentation, I can give you:
- My opinion and rationale right now in 5 minutes
- Some reference from previous analysis this afternoon
- 2 of the 5 slides today and the other 3 by the end of the week
You get the idea.
Now that you are equiped with this superpower – Stop feeling like a victim being dropped a truck load of new work. That person is trusting you with something important (and perhaps urgent)!
Take ownership and control – Be a part of the solution (in your terms) and help them respect your work and capabilities.
