9
Manage Your Workload
In a typical workday you will be bombarded by an endless list of tasks. When you’re new to the workforce, it’s hard to know how to get everything done while not making mistakes and keeping everyone happy. It’s hard enough just figuring out your assignments. First step: understand what tasks are urgent and important so you can prioritize correctly—and maintain your competence at every turn.
How to Define What’s Urgent
Urgency is something we’re all familiar with from school: the assignment with the nearest deadline is the most urgent; the assignment with the furthest deadline is the least urgent. This is true for the workplace as well, but urgency applies to more than just deadlines. In the workplace, urgency is defined by four factors (see figure 9-1).
- Proximity. How close you are to the deadline or, if you don’t have a deadline, how long it’s been since others started waiting. In general, the closer you are to the deadline or the longer people have been waiting for you, the more urgent the task is.
- Scrutiny. Who is involved in a project or initiative. In general, the more leverage (power) someone has over you, the more urgent it is to reply to them. So, the higher up someone is in your chain of command, the more urgent their requests should be considered, because they have the ability to shape your future in the organization. And the more you are relying on someone to do you a favor, the more urgent it is that you respond to them, because they can change their mind and decide not to help you anymore.
- Anxiety. How eager others are to move on. Recall the unspoken rule of mirroring others: the more urgently your colleagues are treating the situation, the more urgently they will likely expect you to treat it as well.
- Time sensitivity. Whether a task gets harder or your options get more limited as time passes, such as if you are trying to book time with someone. The longer you wait and the fewer options remain, the more urgent the task becomes. And if you have a task that needs to be done before other things can happen, that task is more urgent.
How to decide if something is urgent
Know This
- You won’t have enough hours in the day to do everything.
- To be competent while remaining sane, focus on what’s important and urgent.
How to Define What’s Important
Importance is also something we’re all familiar with from school: the assignments that count the most toward your final grade are the most important; the assignments that count the least are the least important. At work, though, the number of “points” you get from each assignment is unspoken, which means importance can be trickier to nail down. At work, importance is defined by three factors (see figure 9-2).
How to decide if something is important
- Centrality. How core a certain task is to your role. Every task sits on a spectrum between have-to-do and nice-to-do. Since have-to-do tasks are what you were hired to do, the closer a task is to the have-to-do end of the spectrum, the more important it is for you to do it—and to do it well.
- Scrutiny. Who is affected or paying attention. The more a task affects people beyond you—and the more leverage those people have over you—the more important the task is.
- Criticality. How much something matters to others. If a certain task is critical to a project that the team or company cares about, then that task is considered important. One clue to uncover the criticality of a project is to observe the amount of attention it is getting from the higher-ups. If your boss’s boss is asking for regular updates, the project is likely to be considered high-profile—and critical.
How to Prioritize What’s Urgent and Important
If we bring urgency and importance together, we get my adaptation of what’s called the Eisenhower Matrix (see figure 9-3).1
- If something is important and urgent, do it immediately.
- If something is important but not urgent, schedule it for later.
- If something is urgent but not important, “timebox” it—budget a certain amount of time to get it done, then go do it. Or, if you are a manager, delegate it to someone else.
- If something is neither urgent nor important, remove it from your life.
- If you have multiple tasks that all seem urgent and important, force yourself to rank your tasks from most important and urgent to least.
How to prioritize your work
Of course, the framework considers what’s important only from the perspective of other people (namely your manager). While this can be useful when you are new to the team and are trying to demonstrate your Three Cs, it isn’t always sustainable or even desirable for your long-term career. What you find important may not be what your manager finds important. What your manager finds important may not be what your company finds important. What your company finds important may not be what you find important. Figure 9-4 shows the tension between what you find important and what others find important.
The tension between what you find important and what others find important
One area where what you care about can come into tension with what others care about is the domain of promotable tasks and nonpromotable tasks.2 Promotable tasks are those that help you get ahead because the higher-ups care about them, whether it’s building new features in a product or making the company money.3 Nonpromotable tasks, also known as “office housework,”4 are tasks like taking notes for other people, ordering lunch for a meeting, and organizing social events. These kinds of tasks might contribute to the greater good, but they don’t necessarily help your career, unless these tasks are part of your job description.
The ability to distinguish between promotable and nonpromotable tasks can be especially important if you are a woman or a person of color. Studies have shown that engineers of color tend to receive less desirable assignments at work.5 Women tend to both volunteer for and be asked to do office housework more often than men.6 They also tend to be perceived more negatively when they say “no” to these tasks than a man does—and get less credit for saying “yes.”7
How much you should worry about office housework depends on your context, of course. Receiving a task from a higher-up with leverage over you is different from being asked to do something by a coworker. Organizing team events when you are an administrative assistant is different from doing it when you are an engineer. Being asked to take notes when you are new—and still trying to prove your Three Cs—is different from being asked to take notes when you are no longer the most junior person on the team.
So, what do you do? Analyze the pros and cons: Do the benefits of volunteering outweigh the costs? Can you prove yourself, show your commitment, learn something new, meet more people, or help someone in need? What else could you do with the time? Step up if it makes sense. If not, let someone else volunteer. The opportunity may not be valuable for you, but it could be valuable for someone else. If you find yourself being assigned office housework constantly and need a way out, consider what a diversity and inclusion consultant suggested to me: ask your manager if the team can have a rotation system where everyone takes turns, say, taking notes in meetings. And stick to the schedule, even if other people don’t. As a female insurance executive told me, “Lean on others. Don’t do the work when it’s their turn. If it doesn’t get done, it’s OK. Otherwise, some guys will just assume the girl will keep doing it if they slack. Don’t let them.” And if the work still somehow boomerangs back to you, try finding a more urgent and important assignment. That way, you can say, “I’d love to help, but I’m helping Brian with an important client workshop. This could be a great opportunity for Caleb or Rob, though, given their interest in _________. Have you asked them?” So, instead of framing your reply as “I don’t want to do this” (which could make you sound uncommitted and incompatible), you can now frame your reply as “I want to help, but my circumstances don’t allow me to.” Push gently but firmly.
Even though we’re discussing what you can do when faced with unfair amounts of office housework, know that the responsibility of distributing work more equitably shouldn’t just fall on you. A more level playing field is everyone’s responsibility—and that includes your manager and all of your teammates (and especially the men). It’s not enough to expect women or people of color to say “no” more. Men need to step up and share the load.
How to Juggle Your Priorities
Although focusing on the most urgent and important priorities can help you tame an overwhelming set of tasks, doing so is rarely enough. You may reduce, say, ten tasks down to four, but still: if all four are both equally urgent and important, you still won’t have enough time in the day to do everything—and do it all well. It’s normal and expected to find yourself in such a situation. Let’s walk through some strategies that I and others have found helpful.
Avoid surprises
Crystel, a field organizer on a political campaign, was in charge of almost everything. And everything felt both urgent and important: recruiting and managing volunteers, preparing and analyzing voter data, and sometimes even advising on policy.
While picking up her takeout dinner one evening, Crystel received a call from her boss, the campaign field director. Fifty volunteers were scheduled to knock on doors and needed a map of the homes to visit. Crystel had been preparing the maps all week and had also ordered a number of tablets to replace the usual printed copies. But her boss couldn’t find the tablets.
Crystel checked her email and found a shipping update for her tablet order. The tablets had been delayed until the following evening. Her heart started racing. She had been so busy organizing the voter data that she’d forgotten to monitor the tablet shipment.
She explained the situation to her boss as she ran back to the campaign office. When she arrived, several of the volunteers had already shown up. Because Crystel and her colleagues had assumed everyone would be using tablets, no maps were printed. Over the following half hour, more volunteers arrived as Crystel and her boss scrambled to export the maps, find the clipboards, run to the local print shop to print the lists, and organize the volunteers. In the end, Crystel solved the problem—but kept fifty volunteers waiting around.
Crystel’s challenge wasn’t that the tablets didn’t get delivered in time. It was that she didn’t warn her boss as soon as possible and propose a plan to solve the problem before it impacted others. Imagine if Crystel had said this to her manager instead:
Hey, I just checked the tracking on the tablet order. The delivery has been delayed and so the order might not arrive until the day after the Thursday canvass. Three options: (1) I can try to order from another store that can deliver the tablets in time and then return the late shipment later, (2) I order locally and drive to pick them up, or (3) we revert to pen and paper on Thursday. All three are possible, but from what I’ve seen from the nearby electronics stores, option 2 might cost us $300 more in total. I think we have time to try option 1 first. What do you think?
Had Crystel alerted her manager as soon as possible, her manager would have picked an option and both of them would have moved on. By letting her manager be surprised, Crystel let a constraint become a problem. It’s about doing what you say you will do.
It all comes down to expectations—whether you exceed them or fall below them. Figure 9-5 shows how the difference between actual performance and expected performance can impact others’ perceptions of you.
No one is superhuman. People understand that every situation has its trade-offs. When making promises to other managers or clients, your manager may say that work can be done cheaply, quickly, or with high quality. You may be able to achieve two of those, but rarely will you achieve all three. Your job is the same way. If your manager needs a one-day task done in one hour, you will need to make trade-offs. As long as you are being proactive, articulating the trade-offs, and giving reasonable explanations that frame your situation not as “I can’t do this because I’m uncommitted” but as “I’m committed, but my hands are tied, so these are the options,” people are generally understanding.
How to think about managing others’ expectations
A warning: it helps to under-promise and over-deliver, but you need to be convincing with the signals you send. As we’ve discussed, everything you do and don’t do sends a signal—and every signal contributes to others’ impressions of how competent, committed, and compatible you may be. But your actions don’t just send signals. Over time, your signals become patterns of behavior. Once people can explain your behavior using the phrase “Whenever … always …,” you’ve established a pattern (for example, “Whenever a patient needs help, Saba always has an excuse to step away” was a pattern of behavior I heard about from a youth counselor at a hospital). Establish a pattern of being the one who never surprises your teammates. Surprises may be fun on a birthday, but they aren’t much fun when it comes to broken promises and missed deadlines.
Stay ahead of patterns
In elementary school we learned that if we see three circles followed by a square, and then another three circles, what should follow next is another square. This is the ability to recognize patterns. Pattern recognition isn’t just something from kindergarten. It is a life skill that can help you not only do better work but better manage work—and your life.
Let’s look at some tactics.
How to Manage Others’ Expectations
Can you see a surprise ahead? Here’s what to say to manage expectations.
If you don’t think you can commit to something, try saying, “I’m happy to help, but I have _____________ that will conflict with _____________ because _____________. Would _____________ work?”
If you might be late to something, try saying, “In my calendar I have _____________ right before _____________, so I might be about _____________ minutes late. Would that be OK?”
If you can’t meet a deadline, try saying, “Unfortunately, with _____________ and _____________ I suspect I might only finish _____________ by _____________. Would it be possible to _____________?”
If you aren’t sure you can meet an expectation, try saying, “Given _____________, I can do _____________ by _____________ time or I can do _____________ by _____________ time. Which do you prefer?”
If your plans have changed, try saying, “Just a heads-up that _____________, which might impact _____________ and might require _____________. I’ll keep you posted, but wanted to let you know.”
IDENTIFY PROBLEMS AT THEIR ROOT CAUSE. When you confront a problem, don’t just solve it once, only to have to solve a similar flavor of the same problem again later. Figure out why the problem happened in the first place so that you can prevent it from causing trouble again.
Isaiah, a farm manager, was doing his daily walk down a row of tomato crops when he noticed something: some leaves on one of the tomato plants were turning yellow. It had been a dry growing season, so Isaiah watered the yellow patch and then got busy with his other duties and forgot about it. Several days later, Isaiah noticed that a few more plants had started turning yellow. Isaiah once again pulled out the hose and started watering. A week later, Isaiah’s boss showed up to inspect the farm. She noticed the yellow patches immediately.
“Isaiah, why are these tomato leaves yellow?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Have you been watering them?”
“Yes.”
“Did you apply the NPK fertilizer?”
“Yes.”
“Have you tested the nutrients?”
“No.”
“Have you tested the pH?”
“No.”
“Have you looked for pests?”
“No.”
“Have you isolated any of the affected plants?”
“No.”
“Have you spoken with nearby farmers to see if they’ve faced a similar issue?”
“No.”
“When did you notice this problem?”
“A week ago.”
“Isaiah! What are you waiting for?!”
Isaiah explained that he had been busy fixing the tractor, directing the farmhands, and calling the irrigation company. He added that he’d wanted to see how the yellow patch would progress. His boss was not impressed. She told me:
Discoloration could be due to a dozen problems, anything from a minor watering problem to a serious infection. The crop life cycle is only about six weeks, so a week is a long time to not be doing anything. You have to separate the affected crops immediately before the problem spreads to the entire farm. You can’t just say “I don’t know” and wait. You have to take control of the situation.
Many other managers have told me something similar: if you see a negative pattern, whether it’s a repeating error message, several customer complaints, or a regular equipment malfunction, it’s important to not simply monitor or patch up the problem, but to fix the underlying cause. Otherwise, the negative pattern could return—and you’ll waste valuable time chasing yet another symptom. If you see a problem happening twice, don’t let it happen a third time. To identify the root cause, ask “Why is this happening?” Then, keep asking “Why?” until you uncover the underlying cause. Once you have a hypothesis of what’s going on, report back to your manager with what you’ve learned. For example:
Hi _________,
I looked into _________ and suspect what’s happening is _________. Would it be appropriate for me to _________? I suggest this because _________.
Thanks,
_________
Then, keep investigating the problem until you not only find the root cause but also have a few solutions to offer your manager. For example:
Hi _________,
I wanted to give you an update on _________. I investigated and found that _________. The options are to _________ or _________. Given _________, my suggestion is to _________, but I wanted to run it by you. Would that option make sense? I’ll go with it if I don’t hear from you by _________. [You can include a deadline if your boss doesn’t always reply quickly and you’ve earned enough leeway to pull this off.]
Best,
_________
When you’re new, you may not have the background knowledge to uncover the root cause on your own. That’s fine. And when you are working in a team, you may not be able to address the root cause on your own, either. That’s fine, too. The important thing is to be in control of the problem as much as you can—and that begins with understanding what’s really going on.
PREEMPT PATTERNS. The habits of the people you work with are more than just habits; they are patterns—and hidden opportunities for you to take control of the situation before the situation takes control of you. If your boss’s boss has a habit of creating fire drills (sudden urgent and important requests that require your undivided attention) the day after holidays, consider clearing your schedule after the next holiday to accommodate the likely flare-up. If your manager has a habit of asking for project progress updates each Friday, consider offering them an update before the next Friday. If a coworker has a habit of responding to emails between 7 and 8 a.m., consider timing your next email so it reaches their inbox when they are most likely to reply.
The strategy of staying one step ahead can apply to more than just your boss. A freelance project manager told me about how, whenever multiple clients asked for something similar (for example, a certain design project management workplan), he’d create a template that he could easily customize. This works for emails, too. If you find yourself sending the same kinds of messages over and over, make it as easy as hitting Copy and Paste. Doing so can help you free up time for more important and urgent matters, rather than have to start each task from scratch.
Get your point across
When you are working on a team, you won’t always have full control over how you tackle an urgent and important task. You need to communicate with—and rely upon—other people. But there’s a problem: just because you communicate doesn’t mean you get your point across. To maximize your chances of getting your message across and, ultimately, getting what you need, it helps to keep in mind the following assumptions:
- People don’t know what you know.
- People haven’t read what you sent.
- People aren’t fully paying attention when you’re speaking.
- People don’t remember what you said or what they agreed to.
- People don’t have the time or attention span you have.
Protect What’s Sacred
Achieving harmony between work and life isn’t easy—especially when you are juggling multiple priorities or working from home.
Bobby, a sales rep I interviewed, told me how easy it was for him to drift in his personal routine when he started working from home while also balancing a startup on the side. First, he abandoned his usual morning run to make more time for answering email. Next, he started working later into the night to clear his inbox for the following day. Then, he replaced his home-cooked meals with pizza, soda, and beer. Before long, he felt like garbage.
Bobby’s partner, an avid follower of mindfulness, encouraged him to start meditating and engaging in breathing exercises. Several weeks later, Bobby began to see a therapist. A few weeks after that, he replaced his pizza with vegetables, started drinking more water, and began working out again. Bobby eventually returned to his prior self; only this time, he established new, more productive patterns like scheduling tasks around when he had the most energy, logging off at 5:30 p.m. every day, and following a consistent sleep schedule. Bobby realized that whenever he ate and slept poorly, he always felt bad; whenever he slept and exercised well, he always worked well. It didn’t take long to see what patterns worked—and didn’t work—for his mind and body. It all came down to recognizing patterns—and protecting what’s sacred: what Bobby called his emotional immune system.
Nisha, a university administrator and mother of a young child, established her patterns even before she started her job:
Being a mom is important to me, so I told my manager that my family comes first. I had to be up-front that if the university was going to have me, it would have to have my entire family—and if me working from home on Fridays, and coming in early and leaving early, didn’t work, then this job wouldn’t work. When I showed up, I reminded people so there were no surprises. I made it clear that I’m still delivering—just on a different schedule.
Nisha taught me another lesson: you don’t have go it alone. Every time she switched managers, departments, or jobs, Nisha immediately looked for coworkers who were in situations similar to hers who could become allies in protecting what was sacred. Often, all it took was a question like, “Hey, did I overhear that you’re also juggling both work and _____________? I’d love your advice on how you made it work.” Before long, she had strength in numbers.
Don’t worry if you can’t find allies and haven’t set expectations upfront. It’s not too late. Consider what a diversity, inclusion, and belonging leader told me and wait until you’ve received two solid pieces of positive feedback from your manager. Then, approach your manager, explain the factors that are outside of your control, share what you’ve already done to solve the problem yourself, and express how willing you are to match others’ commitment—but on your own terms:
By the way, I was hoping to get your advice on a challenge I’ve been facing. I didn’t appreciate how crazy traffic can get, so the difference between leaving at 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. is the difference between being stuck in traffic for one hour and two. I’ve tried taking other routes and carpooling. I’d love to discuss an arrangement that would allow me to leave at 4:30 p.m. while still making sure I’m delivering. Can I come in early or log back in later in the evening?
Luckily, more organizations than ever are realizing that what matters isn’t your input (how hard it looks like you’re working), but rather your output (what you accomplish). If your company is stuck in the past, you may need to push gently and firmly to get what you need.
So, what can you do? Try the following strategies:
- If you are making a point, start with the background information, using an opening phrase like, “The background is …,” “The context is …,” or “The goal is …”
- If you are sharing something complicated, start with your main point and limit yourself to three supporting points.
- If you are sharing emails or documents, make your message as short as possible.
- If you are making multiple points or talking for a long time, pause occasionally and let others comment or ask questions before moving on.
Beyond what you say, how you say it can be just as important. Table 9-1 offers a few options for getting your message across.
|
If you have … |
Try to … |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Lots of data or details to compare |
Create a chart, graph, or table |
|
|
An idea that’s hard to imagine |
Share a picture, sketch, mock-up, or example |
|
|
An edited version of a document |
Track your changes and add comments explaining your thought process |
|
|
Specific details from a prior document you want to reference |
Send a screenshot or the original file with the relevant sections highlighted |
|
|
Information from a specific source that others might want to reference |
Share a hyperlink to the web page |
|
|
A file with formatting that could show up differently on different devices |
Save and send your file as a PDF |
|
|
A file where people need to manipulate the information |
Save and send a raw editable file |
|
|
A decision you want to document to avoid any misunderstandings |
Send an email documenting the decision |
|
|
Lots of details for people to sift through, think about, or comment on |
Send a file for people to review on their own time (plus schedule a follow-up meeting if needed) |
|
|
A topic that’s complicated, controversial, or requires discussion |
Schedule a call or meeting |
|
|
A meeting to schedule |
Send a calendar invitation with the date, time, and meeting method clearly stated |
|
|
A decision that requires multiple people’s approval |
Consult people individually, then bring the idea to the entire group |
So You Made a Mistake. Now What?
We all make mistakes; it’s how we learn and grow. If you aren’t making mistakes, you may not be stretching yourself enough. And in the workplace, what you need to worry about usually isn’t making a mistake per se; it’s the kind of mistake you make. Figure 9-6 lists several types of mistakes and shows how they compare.
Different types of mistakes
Some mistakes are worse than others, of course. But unless you accidentally project a cat video onto your CEO’s investor presentation, try not to worry too much—your coworkers have likely seen worse. The reality is this: Some mistakes are simply irreversible—there is nothing you can do to change the situation, no matter how bad it is. All you can do is apologize, explain what happened, and share how you will avoid making the mistake again. Showing your competence and commitment isn’t about never making mistakes. It’s about owning up, gracefully recovering, and not making the same mistake twice. Figure 9-7 has suggestions for how to respond to different kinds of mistakes.
How to respond to different kinds of mistakes
As much as we frame this chapter as a set of mindsets and strategies for what you can do as an individual to manage your workload, it’s important to keep in mind that not everything is within your control. It may be your job to take ownership over your sanity, but it’s the job of your manager (and their manager) to create work conditions where you can remain sane.
In business, people often like to say that culture is set from the top. It’s true. If company leaders have a pattern of creating fire drills, it can be difficult for their subordinates (and their subordinates) to push back. And once this culture trickles down, layer by layer, to those who have the least leverage, you end up with the attitude of “Well, that’s just how things have always been done.”
While this may be discouraging in the short run (especially if you find yourself in such an environment), I hope that it can be empowering in the long run. The person in charge may be someone else today, but before long it will be you. And when that time comes, it will be your responsibility to make sure your team stays sane. Remember what worked—and didn’t work—for you. If everything worked well for you, learn from those for whom things didn’t work so well. The culture will be yours to build. Create one that you will be proud of!
Try This
- Prioritize what’s urgent and important. Before starting a task, consider how urgent and important it is compared to everything else you have to do.
- Avoid surprises. Manage others’ expectations by being up-front and proactive about what you can deliver and what you can’t, given the constraints you are under.
- Get your point across. Be deliberate about when and how you communicate so that you maximize the chance that others receive and understand your message.
- Stay ahead of patterns. Recognize repeating elements in the people and situations around you, then figure out how you can make these patterns work for—and not against—you.