Struggling with team work during the busiest time of year? Here's my guide to minimizing the chaos
Time pressure and having too much on their plates can lead even the most well-intentioned team members to offload work. Here's my plan to help.
A few weeks ago, I was in a panic. I was giving a talk at the University of Zurich and my Power Point slides were a hot mess. We’re talking 9 different fonts, images that went off the slide. Naturally I turned to my lab manager to make my Frankendeck pretty. It took me twice as long to put the thing together than I thought it would. I gave her a whole 24 hours to pull off the job.
She did it (and beautifully), but I felt bad, putting a request like that on her desk. I knew I could rely on her to stop everything in my time of need to get the job done, but it doesn’t mean I should have. I also think my behavior is fairly common. A few weeks before my Power point panic, I met up with a senior leader who told me that despite having a great working relationship with one of her team members, she was going crazy with his last minute requests for help. “He has bad time management skills, despite his talents. And because I can pull off a lot in a short period of time, I’m always his go-to.”
If you’re a conscientious worker with good time management skills and a flair for performing well under stress, chances are you will at some point, encounter a team member who slips up during crunch time. A person who, although is usually good at their job, turns to you to pick up the slack when they feel overwhelmed. Slowly and over time, they start to ask you for favors, call in last-minute “emergency help” sessions, or “just this once” have you pull of their part of a project since your part is done (on time, as it should be). Sometimes they are nice about it; other times they sound like dictators.
I like to think of these people as little kids on an ice-skating rink. The minute they feel themselves starting to slip they panic, and then out of instinct, grab the most stable looking human around (that’s you in this metaphor). Picking up the slack for these folks is tempting, and probably easier than fighting about it. The problem is, it also reinforces the pattern.
Like most problems at work, the best strategy for handling this one involves some preventative steps. But even if you’re deep into a working relationship, you can always take a time-out and implement this plan.
Step one: Come up with a work allocation and check-in strategy, before the work begins. And make it a Google sheet.
The first misstep most of us make is trusting that people will do the work assigned to them, even under times of stress. It’s not that we don’t intend to follow through, but people are notoriously bad at anticipating the unexpected stuff. Before a new project begins, create a spreadsheet that has tasks, timelines, and updates.
Here’s an example one below. You can do “Tasks for the week,” “Whose job” (which is important if your work involves allocation to people who work for you), and deadlines. As you work through each task, fill in status, and the “need help” column.
Step two: Set some ground rules around how the Google sheet works
Google sheets like this are only useful if people use them with some set rules. Here are mine:
Rule one: When it comes to the “need help” column, people can only ask for help via the Google spreadsheet. Not on Slack, not on email, not as a text message. All correspondence happens here. This might seem rigid, but when people panic, they start to violate boundaries. It keeps the project organized, and it keeps everyone’s requests totally transparent to all group members. There is no invisible labor when a Google spreadsheet is involved.
Rule two: Agree to check the sheet twice a day (or however often you all agree on) at certain times. There’s no ghosting, and there’s no hovering. Everyone checks the sheet at 10 am and again at 4 pm, and not in between. It forces people to think about the timing of their requests.
Rule three: Set ground rules for the turnaround time for help requests. At my job, it’s no less than 24 hours before you need the help. If you ask for help at 9 am and you need it by 5 pm, it might not happen. Every workplace has a different pace. The key is to get people on a set “help schedule” at the start of the project.
Rule four: Once a task is completed, move it to a separate tab in the Google doc. I keep “completed work” in a separate place as “on going work.” Keeps things organized.
Step three: evaluate your timelines as you go
Creating plans a priori means sometimes your plans don’t work. Perhaps there are more tasks flying at you last minute than you anticipated, so the 24-hour turnaround time for help requests is too long. Meet as a pair (or group) to evaluate once a week or so, and make changes that all agree to ahead of time.
Step four: use this process any time teamwork is involved
The process I’ve outlined above isn’t just for dealing with slackers. It’s great for teamwork with a lot of moving parts. It cuts out the back and forth, and helps groups organize their work. It can prevent credit stealing, freeloading, and exploiting junior folks who don’t feel like they can speak up.
Like most of my advice around the workplace, we can do a lot by putting structures and systems in place that prevent problems down the road.
Have a workplace dilemma?
Have a career question? You can share your story here, and in a week or so, I’ll share my advice. You can go totally anonymous, or share your first name and location. Whatever makes you comfortable. And if you accidentally include some identifying details, don’t worry. I will edit them out before I post.
Extra Bits and Bobs
This week, I discovered a new app: Fishbowl. You sign up and reveal as much (or as little) of yourself as you want (think “HR leader” as your title but with no name and no company). It’s the perfect place to get real advice and ask tough, sensitive questions with the safety of anonymity. The questions people post are great, the atmosphere is supportive and collegial.
What I’m Reading
Raju Narisetti posted McKinsey’s in-depth year in review. It is full of useful information—from what happens to tomatoes in the supply chain, what the war in Ukraine to the global economy, to the biggest drivers of what keeps people in jobs. This figure is worth a thousand words. Meaningfulness at work isn’t going anywhere as one of the key factors driving retention.