Every man possesses three characters: that which he exhibits, that which he really has, and that which he believes he has. –Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, novelist and journalist (1808-1890)
Many of my clients, who come to me, face some common problems in how they handle their career. The most common problem is excessive workload and the stress that results from it. It also creates a problem in balancing their personal and family needs with the demands of the workplace.
Now, why does this happen?
After working with many clients with such issues, one common factor I note in their situation is that they are not as authentic in their everyday interactions as they can be and must be. They are trying to please almost everyone around them, and, in the process, making themselves miserable. The price they pay to please everyone around them is high! In the end they end up hating themselves for it!
So, how does authenticity play into this? “Authentic” means real, actual, genuine. What are some of the traits of an authentic employee? They have a brand that they have established and everyone around them knows what that brand stands for. If you are wishy-washy in how you accept assignments and in how you work in a team, then you do not have a strong brand and people around you, especially the lazy, less-than-competent ones, or the ones that want to take credit for the work that you do to get noticed, will hijack your work, your time, and your dignity. This happens often and people let it slide for the fear of being disliked, or for being marginalized in their team.
Don’t get me wrong, teamwork is critical for both your success and the success of the team, but there must be clear assignments, and team members must carry out their assignments. But, to protect the team’s image, the delivery milestones, or some other obligation, some go out of their way to accommodate team members that are less than doing their part—and the people involved on both sides of this barter are usually the same. This is what creates the extra workload, and, soon, it becomes a norm.
An additional source of generating extra work for yourself is saying yes to any ad hoc work that your manager wants to get done, even though that work does not belong in your responsibility. Employees often do this to please their boss and, soon it becomes expected that you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, and the extra work becomes the norm, yet again.
So, what does being authentic have to do with all of this? Here is my take on it:
- Be clear about your role, responsibility, and the value you create in your work and in your team. That way if you constantly have to do the work that others slough-off, then you are covering for them, just so that people, like you as a good team player. Actually, a team, as a unit, performs much more effectively when everyone is carrying a workload commensurate with their abilities and if it’s shared equitably. Weak teams stem from just a few weak team members. Find out a way to remedy this situation by alerting the Team Lead and by being vigilant about duties of everyone in the team. A well-balanced team that shares workloads equitably is able to deliver much more than a team with a just few strong members.
- Establish a clear relationship with your boss about how your work is assigned to you. If you occasionally get asked to do something that is important, do it with alacrity. But, do not keep accepting work because, either no one is doing it, or that your manager does not want to deal with Sally’s performance issues and gives you her tasks, instead. Hold your manager accountable to her duties, too!
- If you have slipped into a work pattern that has made you growingly more “popular” in getting work assignments because you always come through, have a serious meeting with your boss and re-calibrate your workload. In such a meeting do not suddenly change your stance about workload assignments, but ask the manager in an assertive way: Help me understand, John, how this workload is distributed among the team members. Then give some facts to make your case. You’d be surprised how your manager will quietly assign that to someone else.
- If you routinely do extra work or the work that needs to be redone because someone did it poorly, make sure that you get that documented to reflect in your annual review. Do not suddenly bring up during your review, but keep a trail of emails that you send to your Team Lead or to your manager on an ongoing basis for such extra work. If they do not counter these emails, it means that you prevail.
- Learn how to communicate your no answer to someone without offending them or without shutting down open communication. Assertive communication is at the heart of a healthy relationship with others and they will also appreciate it.
Being authentic takes serious work, but it is the work that has a high pay-off for you: less work, more respect for what you do, and getting to do the work that you really want to do!
Good luck!