Lately, I've been hearing heard a common theme among many of the senior leaders I coach. They are tired, frustrated, overwhelmed, and overworked. Maybe it’s the time of year, but many of these leaders feel they have little control over how they spend and manage their time since they are regularly responding to “urgent requests” from their executive leadership team.
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And, more often than not, these requests are not something they can delegate to their direct reports. As you may be able to understand, they are in fire-fighting mode more often than they want (or need) to be.
So, what can you do to stop the feeling of overwhelm, which leads to the tiredness and frustration? Do you stand up to your boss?
How To Respectfully Stand Up To Your Boss
There are two things you can do to alleviate this situation. First, you must prioritize. Clearly, there are only 24 hours in a day, so you have to be the leader who knows what the priorities are and decide what truly is urgent and what can wait for another time.
Chances are you effectively prioritize for your team, so why not do this for yourself as well. Yes, I know… your boss called and has a new urgent priority that now sits with the four other urgent tasks you were already working on, right? Not everything can be top priority urgent and something must fall below the most urgent of all the urgent priorities.
As the leader you must decide what must shift to make time for the new priority so everything can be done in a quality manner. This often means you need to pushback, which is the second thing you can do to alleviate the sense of overwhelm.
Yes, I said you must pushback on your boss (or whomever is handing out the urgent requests). I know that pushing back on someone at a higher level is not always an easy thing to do. It’s not always easy to confront your boss (or anyone at a higher level than you) when they assign you additional work or a new project; however, continuous urgent requests not only impact your ability to get work completed but also complete it in a quality fashion. So pushing back is often a necessity.
There are three things that you can do to effectively push back on your boss (or whomever is continuing to add urgent tasks to your list).
Choose Your Approach Based On The Person
Are they data-driven? Getting excessive pressures from their leadership? Dealing with their individual set of unrealistic requests? Knowing these things will help you know the best way to approach them.
Next, Use This Knowledge When You Approach Them
For example, if your boss loves data, present him or her with data that supports your need to challenge what he or she is requesting. At the same time, if they are getting excessive pressures from their leadership, present an alternative solution.
For example, perhaps your boss has given you the urgent task of investigating a customer issue. The time it will take for you or your team to handle this will remove resources from another strategic priority your team is working. While you share data that reinforces your limited resources, you can also present an alternative shift in your teams priorities that supports the latest request from your boss, or, ask your boss if the latest request can wait, based on the other urgent priorities your team is working.
The idea is to continue to show support for what your boss needs while at the same time remaining true to what you and your team can realistically accomplish.
Finally, Get Their Perspective While Holding Your Ground
After you present the facts to your boss, allow him or her to share their viewpoint on what you've presented. Often times it will take you pushing back a few times before they are able to see your perspective. Remember, they are also dealing with their own feelings of overwhelm so their initial reaction to your confrontation may simply be an acknowledgement but not a shift in the request. That’s why it’s important for you to hold your ground.
If you don’t and continue to take on more and more, eventually something will give and slip through the cracks. Too many times, it’s you and your own physical or emotional health that suffers because you didn't pull in the reigns. As great a leader as you are, you are not supernatural (and neither is your boss).
Keep things in perspective and remember that success does not happen if you are buried under a pile of folders feeling exhausted, frustrated, and overwhelmed. Prioritize and push back to prevent this situation. By consistently doing this, eventually you begin to see your way out from beneath that never-ending list of urgent priorities.
This month’s development tip: Review the current “urgent priorities” on your “to do” list. Is this a manageable/doable list? If not, take the suggestions above and begin prioritizing and pushing back so you can regain control over your time and tasks.
This post was originally published at an earlier date.
Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
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Make a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
How did I learn about this job?
How did I apply for the job?
Did I earn an interview?
What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
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Are you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
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Your job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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