Ask a Mentor: Am I a Team Player or a Push-Over?

Written by Sandra Kleinsasser.

Dear Mentors: I have a feeling that I am being taken advantage of at work. I have a hard time turning down a couple of co-workers who often ask me to pitch in on their projects. I always seem to be the last one to leave for the day, but I never get caught up with my own work. I want to be a team player, but how much is too much?

If you are not finishing your work while you are helping on other projects, this will reflect on you as a poor time manager.

Be very realistic with yourself about how much time it takes you to complete your own projects and be prepared to set expectations with co-workers when they ask for help. If you can help for one hour, then it’s one hour.

— Barbara Springer

 

 

People tend to keep asking if you always say yes.

I’m not saying you should never pitch in, but draw some boundaries, especially since your work seems to be getting lowest priority.

When someone asks you to help out, ask questions. Get an idea for the priority of the project and why they need your help. Be upfront about what your deadlines and priorities are so that you don’t end up sacrificing or taking on more than you can handle.

And please read The Power of No: How to Keep Blowhards and Bozos at Bay.

— Cara Lyons

 

If your own work is suffering, it’s time to examine your motives.  You don’t have to be unpleasant, just say you don’t have the bandwidth and need to meet your own deadlines,

Also, maybe you’re not recognizing your own star power; perhaps it is time to claim credit and pull in some favors given.

— Raye Elizabeth Ward

 

I suggest talking with your supervisor to get advice about priorities.

It could be that your work is the priority; it could be that your co-workers’ requests are higher priorities. My supervisor wants me to tell him when my staff or I am overloaded with requests and he reassigns those requests to another member of our team.

I usually suggest a plan for getting the work done; he sometimes he comes up with his own ideas.

— Margaret Barry

 

This sounds like a great opportunity to re-evaluate job descriptions. Do you have one in writing and are these types
of tasks within your role? If not, the next question is whether you like the tasks you are helping with.

With appropriate compensation/ recognition/ schedule allowance would you like to continue? If not, it’s time to be a little more firm in declining to pitch in.

Blame your schedule or other work priorities as necessary. If you would like to continue helping, perhaps it’s time to renegotiate your job description to allow you to include those things in your day-to-day work priorities without them feeling like “side projects.”

— Jenny L. Magic

 

Follow-up from last month’s Q and A

Leah Nyfeler had some good advice in response to our last column about the boss who had not scheduled a performance evaluation in a year and a half.

From Leah:
This is all great advice. However, the assumption is that the boss is simply not fulfilling her duties by providing an evaluation. It may be that the overall organization does not put stock on regular evaluations.

Take a look at your company’s HR materials to see if there is any documentation on when evaluations should occur. If you can’t find anything, ask your boss for clarification. She may explain that it’s not a company focus. Or perhaps the company has a unique schedule or philosophy that you might not expect. This gives your boss an opportunity to explain the bigger picture to you and even get clarification herself, if she is unaware.

If you’re at a company that simply doesn’t put any emphasis on regular evaluations, you may want to consider whether this is the place for you. A company that’s not interested in personal evaluation and feedback is not going to support your needs, work to promote employees, or do much self evaluation.