As a supervisor you are constantly being asked to do things – by your boss, by 1 of your fellow managers, by the head of another department, by 1 of your staff.

Your operating life is a continuous bombardment of requests coming from all quarters.

Your boss will inquire you for a quick report on something or other in time for his approaching meeting with the directors or his go to to see overseas customers. The report is, of course, very urgent.

Or you will be asked to give a presentation about some facet of your department’s function to colleagues elsewhere in the business. It will be an essential communication in between departments and will outcome in good publicity for you, your group, and its function.

Naturally you will receive numerous invitations to attend meetings at which your presence is needed.

And unquestionably your fellow managers will get in touch with you to inquire little favours this kind of as giving their particular request greater priority than others, or diverting a resource to a various undertaking to pace that up at the expense of another. Needless to say, meeting your colleague’s request is ‘vital to the company’.

All these demands come on leading of your habitual tasks this kind of as progressing new projects, preparing the budgets, studying the marketplace and your competitors, organising your staff, reviewing their progress, and preparing their training. And of course there are always the unique requests from members of your staff to meet you to discuss some individual grievance or other problem.

The checklist goes on and on.

If you let this continuous barrage of requests get on leading of you, you will be ground down under the weight of them. There will be no finish to them. Your function and that of your department will endure.

You must discover to say NO.

There is a limit to what any individual or group can accomplish in a offered time and it is your job as supervisor to set that limit. It is up to you to remain in control. It is as well easy to always say sure, especially to your boss.

Everybody admires a ‘can do’ attitude. Nobody likes someone to says ‘no’ to everything. But people also like to see outcomes. They don’t want just promises. They want to see the job effectively finished. It is completely counterproductive to guarantee much more than you can provide. If you do, then eventually you won’t be asked any much more. Your status and that of your group will be gone forever.

So, be reasonable. Define your limits. Draw the line. Type out the core tasks that you have to do at all costs and give them priority. Then see what else you can do. Stick to your choice. Explain why.

You will soon be observed to be a dependable operator. Other people will trust your judgement. They will discover that when you say you will do a job you truly will do it, and on time. And when you say that you can’t do the job they will accept your phrase, because they will know that you are not just generating excuses.

Your status and that of your group will be established.

(c) Copyright 2004

About The Author

Arthur Cooper is a author and publisher.

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