Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to push back respectfully when
Speaker 1: somebody makes an unreasonable request at work. Today's tip, like
Speaker 1: some will cover next week, comes from management expert Allison
Speaker 1: Green's book Ask a Manager. In this book, she covers
Speaker 1: all sorts of sticky situations that make the workplace a
Speaker 1: bit less wonderful. In a perfect world, everyone would be
Speaker 1: mature and emotionally aware, no one would ever ask for
Speaker 1: anything unreasonable. Alas, we work with human beings who, like us,
Speaker 1: are wrapped up in their own dramas. What often happens
Speaker 1: is that people have no idea what goes into your job,
Speaker 1: and so they have no idea what's reasonable and what isn't.
Speaker 1: When I was having some home renovation work done, I
Speaker 1: visited a contractor who'd put a cartoon on the wall
Speaker 1: featuring a couple asking for their entire house to be
Speaker 1: gutted and redone for some pittance. The beleaguered contractor in
Speaker 1: the cartoon suggested that perhaps they've been watching a bit
Speaker 1: too much h G TV, So it goes in the
Speaker 1: rest of life for instance, maybe a colleague keeps giving
Speaker 1: you last minute work. Is she a terrible person? Maybe,
Speaker 1: but maybe in her mind it's a small request, or
Speaker 1: she cluelessly believes it's the only thing you have on
Speaker 1: your plate and ask a manager. Green suggests keeping this
Speaker 1: mindset that she may not even realize that what she's
Speaker 1: doing is a problem. So how can you explain that
Speaker 1: it is a problem and solve it? Try this script?
Speaker 1: Is there a way for me to get this type
Speaker 1: of work earlier? It can take a while to turn
Speaker 1: it around, and when I have other looming deadlines, it's
Speaker 1: hard to fit it, and when I don't have more notice. Ideally,
Speaker 1: I'd like at least a few days with this kind
Speaker 1: of thing, since I'm fitting it in around other priorities.
Speaker 1: And if it keeps happening, well, maybe make her deadline
Speaker 1: not your problem. I can try to fit this in,
Speaker 1: but I had most of today and tomorrow scheduled for
Speaker 1: other work. Is there any wiggle room on the deadline
Speaker 1: for this since it's coming to me so late? If
Speaker 1: you've got clearance from your boss for something else that
Speaker 1: really has to get done, first, mentioned this and then
Speaker 1: just smile and let her figure out how to deal
Speaker 1: with this reality, or perhaps you have a colleague who
Speaker 1: keeps asking you to do something that really isn't your job.
Speaker 1: As Green notes, you probably don't want to directly say
Speaker 1: that's not my job. And true all hands on deck situations,
Speaker 1: everything is everyone's job. But for day to day stuff,
Speaker 1: you're best off explaining why you're not the right person,
Speaker 1: and if possible, who might be some scripts. I'm on
Speaker 1: deadline with high priority X, and I've got to stay
Speaker 1: focused on that, so I can't help. Unfortunately, you can
Speaker 1: again cite your manager and note that you've been told
Speaker 1: to focus exclusively on cleaning up some other backlog. Now,
Speaker 1: of course, the problem with the busy excuse is that
Speaker 1: you might want to make sure that your computer screen
Speaker 1: is an obviously tuned to online headlines that have nothing
Speaker 1: to do with your job as you're saying this, And
Speaker 1: this is why I prefer Green's other potential script, which
Speaker 1: takes the focus off time and puts it back on
Speaker 1: the actual work. M hmm. You might say, I'm not
Speaker 1: usually the person who handles that. I think Pablo is,
Speaker 1: and he should be able to help you, because, honestly,
Speaker 1: a big part of solving the problem of unreasonable requests
Speaker 1: is as green notes, believing that it's okay to protect
Speaker 1: your own time and say no to this kind of thing.
Speaker 1: If you truly internalize this, then you're more naturally push
Speaker 1: back in a friendly but confident way. If you're not
Speaker 1: a millionaire and someone asked you for a million dollars,
Speaker 1: you'd laugh, shrug it off with a simple wish I
Speaker 1: could help you there. You wouldn't agonize ever your answer.
Speaker 1: And just like you don't have a million dollars, you
Speaker 1: don't have all the time in the world either. We
Speaker 1: can save our help for the reasonable requests. That is,
Speaker 1: the ones where there is a clear objective, we know
Speaker 1: we can help and the person has enough relationship capital
Speaker 1: with us where we want to do what we can
Speaker 1: Absent that. This is withdrawals without deposits. No one can
Speaker 1: sustain that for long. So what will you push back
Speaker 1: on today? In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
Speaker 1: That's b E. The number four then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,
Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is
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