How to negotiate your workload

A spiralling workload can drag you down if not managed carefully. Besides, unless you are the top boss, you’ll have work delegated to you which can worsen the situation. Find ways to manage it. Here are a few ideas;

Catch everything, do the critical: Not everything is of equal importance. Your boss wants the most important things done well rather than you doing everything to a low standard. Most bosses are reasonable and will be open to a discussion where you can explain why those things are critical and you can defend why you are using your time the way you are.

Offer a process for making it manageable: Catch the tasks as they come your way, sort them and come back with recommendation to your manager on what you think you must prioritise and why. Make choices and priority order based on your team’s outcomes and targets. Know what cannot be put at risk and what you should not fail at.

Learn how to reduce the pain: Over time, you’ll realise that certain tasks are similar and shouldn’t take you the same time to sort out as the first time you had to do them. As you do the work, figure out a way to get it done better and faster where possible by building processes that reduce the hassle and better the result.

Increase the value of what you do: Demonstrate how what you are doing is adding value; and knowing who uses your work, how they use your work can help you improve things. Don’t do things a certain way because that is the way it’s always been done especially if that way is not particularly effective Think, don’t just go along.

Now take action: What is the most important task you should prioritise this week?