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Voice Index
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Are
you endlessly plagued with people who are frankly wasting
your time? Could they have solved their own problem, made
their point in half the time or at least chosen a better moment
to interrupt you? Stand up and tell them:
Stop
Wasting My Time!
Mr
‘I've got a problem'
Usually
he means ‘I've got a problem that I don't want, so I'm going
to give it to you'. This quite often involves dumping a whole
load of unrelated tasks, issues and misunderstandings on your
desk, moaning about how useless everyone else is, and somehow
making you feel you have to deal with it.
Ms
‘I don't know what to do'
Occasionally
this is a genuine request for support, but when repeatedly
coming from the same person it often means ‘I can't be bothered
to think about it so will you do it for me'
Mr
‘Can I have a word'
This
is often an invitation to play office politics. Lots of fun
if you are bored and like that sort of thing, deeply irritating
in all other circumstances.
Ms
‘We need to do this now'
Oh
Yes – says who? Many people rightly think their work is important
for the organisation, that doesn't mean that others can override
your priorities.
Mr
‘Can we talk this over now?'
This
often means ‘I'm bored, I'm seeking a diversion, so I'll use
an hour of your time to randomly discuss something that we
could probably address in 5 minutes.
Dealing
with your timewasters
The
common factor in all these is that they need your time NOW
regardless of what else you are doing, and making you somehow
complicit in their problems.
There
is an answer to a lot of this: NO!
If
‘ No' is not politically appropriate, then you could try ‘Not
Now'.
Or
take the positive approach by asking them to ‘Write down clearly
exactly what you want to discuss with me, any background information
I need to know, and what you want out of the conversation
– we can then make time to talk.'
Anyone
who really needs your input will respond positively, and the
rest will go and waste someone else's time.
Of
course, if you are feeling like a bit of procrastination yourself,
you can always ask all of these people to join you for a coffee!
Management
Voice Index
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