hello there, I have a couple of co-workers that are leaning a bit too much on me, technology-wise.They are too lazy to learn the task(s) themselves, so I end up doing it a lot of the time for them. I don't mind doing favors, it helps all of us, but hey, I have my own work to get done as well! The scary thing is, these people are managers in our organization and I am assisting them-this also undermines the confidence I have in the persons that are supposed to be 'leading' our organization!!

Thanks! B.

-- Brent smith (bsmith@alliedsavingscu.com), January 14, 2001

Answers

I am puzzled. You mentioned that your co-werkers are supposed to be leading the organisation. This means you are, like them a leader. I face the same situation at work and initially I used to act busy when some one asked me something for the nth time. But later on I found that repeating information / actions helped me to remember easily forgotten arcane usuages / trouble shooting techniques. This may not help you because I am talking not of high level management inquiries but low level technical computing tasks. I consider development to proceed along parallel lines in technical, people skills and leadership qualities. Someone may be a 'guru' as a leader and still not remember the command to connect to the department printer. All the best.

-- Ether Voice (ethervoice@india.com), January 16, 2001.

Brent, take a leaf out of my zany world. I work in the world you would call consulting and we call what you are doing as "added value". I have taken that added value one step further by creating what I call a no-charge invoice. This invoice details the total hours I have committed and the service I provided, but the cost is marked NO CHARGE. My clients don't pay anything for a no-charge invoice but they always have an accumulating and constant reminder what I have done for them. In this life there is a thing called payback; you just need to learn how to remind others of it and then remember to and have the strength of character to collect your dues. In your world a no charge invoice might be called a memo. Whatever you come up with as your "no charge invoice", it has to leave a track or trail, a record of something you can always trace back. In the non-business world it is called giving back and no record is required but in the profit world it is called added value. You have to decide whether you want to be a philanthropist or a businessman every time you walk into your particular professional arena.

Everybody pays back in his or her life some how, in some way, in some shape or fashion and not always to the same person they took from. That is simply the Law of Power Economics, even the Bible tells you about "give and you shall receive" but what about "receive and you shall accumulate a debt", the Bible doesn't tell you that only your banker does.

M.

Jan 2001 Profile at: http://www.fastcompany.com/fasttalk/replypost.html?p=9738

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), January 18, 2001.

Brent, I have only two thought to share with you on this one. But first, one question: Are you frustrated because you don't want to do these odd jobs, or because you are doing them for these people? What I am trying to get at is the idea that you may want to consider the real source of your frustration. Doing odd jobs for a manager can be an opportunity to build the relationship, prove competence, and stay in touch with one of the people who might influence your next promotion.

On the other hand, if the situation seems to be one where you are being taken for granted, or filling in areas where your co-workers simply are not doing their job, you better take a stand, and quick! One truth of human relations to keep in mind is that ground lost is not easily recovered. The idea here is that once you agree to do something, let's say that it is fixing an error entry on your manager's system, and this something is clearly outside of your job description, the process is well documented in the SOP, and you are called to to this task repetitively, what you are doing is extending the authority of that manager beyond its true proportions. Once this is done, you will need some finesse to withdraw from this routine without communicating a decrease in respect for your manager. I have seen similar cases work well when the person in your shoes simply asks the manager why they keep coming back. Sometimes the manager believes that they enjoy (really!) doing it. Sometimes the manager confesses their lack of desire for doing it or learning the process. In every case, however, there is a channel of communication opened up that allows each person to share their viewpoint, and begin to work toward a mutually agreeable solution.

Communication really is the best tool you have at your disposal. Be honest and kind, and be sure you approach this with a genuine desire to resolve it amicably. Forget about whatever frustration you have experienced in the past! Today is a new day, and you are going to take the initiative to make tomorrow look more like your own vision for your job.

Best Wishes My Friend,

Bruce Eberle

-- Bruce Eberle (beberle@myavista.com), September 06, 2001.

I too have been the "babysitter" of too many of my co-workers until I made up my mind that I cannot enable this poor practice of work habits any longer. There was a long period of my having to refuse assistance along with some rather angry feelings toward myself. But it was worth the time and re-training of them and myself. Thank you.

Sincerely Bradford Q Whinewillows, DFDA

-- Bradford Whinewillows (cedricofmn@yahoo.com), September 05, 2002.