The ‘one to watch’ video title for this month is, ‘What To Say When Your Boss Gives You Too Much To Do’. Life would be simple if you started your work day with a clear list of manageable tasks that you worked through systematically, in order of priority. But real life isn’t like that, is it?
Last month a friend of mine showed this video to her husband who had just started a new job. He was happy to be there and keen to show what he could do. But his new boss kept interrupting his day: please could he do this - urgently; had he remembered to do that? What time would he have the other finished? And so it went on during the day until my friend’s husband was at boiling point. What, exactly, did she want him to do first? He was about to blow his top and give her a piece of his mind when instead he reflected on the video he’d seen. He took control of the situation, using the tips from the video.
He explained, calmly and positively, that because he wanted to help as much as he could, it would help him to organise his tasks to reflect his manager’s priorities. What was essential and urgent? What had to be done first? What was not time critical? This enabled the two colleagues to have a proper dialogue about priorities and removed the stress of the situation.
Boss bombing
Managers are under a lot of pressure too, don’t forget. Changing priorities are an inevitable feature of modern working life. But many managers unconsciously exacerbate a stressful environment by the way they repeatedly pester their people with reminders, extra tasks and damaging interruptions. This type of working frequently results in unnecessary errors, which themselves cause further stress and more work. Bombarding people with a series of demands is known as ‘boss bombing’ and leads to people feeling overwhelmed, with too much to do. But having too much to do is a state of mind and learning how to get on top of your work - and stay there - isn’t difficult.
The day starts here
Every time you’re asked to do another task, don’t waste time and energy getting stressed about it, simply write it down. And don’t work through your list starting at the top in the order in which the tasks appeared. Say to yourself, ‘the day starts here’ and reschedule your tasks according to their priority. Having a quick review with your manager to show them what you have on your list and which order you are proposing to do things, is a useful way to check that you’re doing what your manager needs. This approach puts you back in control, removes the stress and helps you to be highly productive.
The ‘One to Watch’ for January 2017 is ‘What To Say When Your Boss Gives You Too Much To Do’
The running time is just 5 minutes and 44 seconds.
See this video for yourself, now.
Find out more
You can see a full list of our available videos here If you’d like a free demonstration and access to our entire library of WATCH & GO® videos for evaluation purposes, please call 01638 723590 or visit www.watchandgovideos.co.uk
One other thing about stress and mistakes:
Interruptions and ‘boss bombing’ are a major cause of people making mistakes. This subject is addressed in our new one-day workshop ‘Preventing Mistakes at Work’
Blog by Catherine de Salvo, January 2017