Anne called another of her impromptu meetings to discuss the departments failings when the time could have been better spent dealing with them.
We were summoned to meeting room 2 and sat around the table while she berated the teams and told us that 'she certainly wasn't going to take the fall,'. It reminded me of that scene from the Untouchables but instead of a baseball bat, our Anne Capone, wielded a flip chart marker.
"Your priority for this week," said Anne. "Is too clear the backlogs that are mounting up. No one should be working on anything else but the backlog,"
"Well," I ventured, "We have the end of month reports. They have to be in by end of play Thursday,"
"Ok," said Anne. "Your priority for this week is the backlog and the end of month reports. There are no excuses. I don't expect to see anyone working on anything else other than those tasks,"
"You asked me to complete the timesheet database by Friday," Gary added.
Anne nodded. "Yes I did. All right. Everyone's priority for this week is the backlog, the end of month reports and the time sheet database. No one should be working on anything else,"
"We do have some MD complaints that have to be responded to in 24 hours," Tracey said.
Anne sighed. "MD complaints have to be a priority. Your priorities for this week are the backlog, end of month reports, time sheet database and MD complaints,"
Jex now piped up. "Do you want us to put QCing aside for this week?"
"No. We need to QC weekly to meet with audit requirements. Priorities for this week are the backlog, end of month reports, time sheet databases, MD complaints. QC's are a standard daily task so should be done weekly no matter what. But they're not a priority."
"So we have to do them even though they're not a priority?"
"They're part of your daily job,"
Now simple maths tells me that there is more work here than can be completed in a week by the available resource. This is assuming that no customers calls the department with queries and the team don't need any assistance. I've been on a time management course. I know that the correct response when faced with this situation is to advise the person expecting the work to be done that something has to be dropped. It's their call.
But Anne hasn't been on the same time management course. I explain the position on behalf of the rest of my team leaders who do not feel the strength to push back. The response has Tracey reaching for her Kalms.
"You have to do them all. Not doing them is not an option. You'll just have to juggle," was Anne's dismissive reply.
I can't help but feel that I've now just marked my own card as a troublemaker.
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1 comment:
This may have marked your card as a troublemaker, but do you think this was their first inkling?
I've found it's better to wear the troublemaker label proudly rather than acting embarrassed about it, but in a way that's not confrontational and acknowledges the boss's feelings and pressures. You still might be made an example of, but it would come at a larger cost to your boss.
In any case, good luck with these troubled waters and I hope things work out somehow. The best case scenario for loyal readers like me would be if you can hang onto the job, but that it doesn't improve so much that it's no longer entertaining to read about. Obviously, that may not be the best thing for you personally, but it's my own selfish wish.
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