Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Understanding demands and what you say

Over the last little while, I have seen a few people who figure that as soon as they ask for something to be done, they expect it to be done immediately.  What has happened with people understanding that they are not the only one's asking for things.

I know as a business co-owner, we have times that we are extremely busy and things have to wait, and times when we can quickly get something done.  No matter what you do, some people get upset because you didn't do their work fast enough when things aren't instant enough for them.  This is happening more and more, and it does get frustrating.  Understand that if you don't give me all the information that I require to do the work, I can't do the work.  Also remember that you aren't the only one asking for my time, and you don't know my schedule. In some cases, I am working on something else you already sent me, so the next item is going to have to wait until the first thing is completed unless you explicitly communicate the revised priority.

Another issue is how you ask for something to be done.  If it is clear and concise, it makes it a lot easier to complete the work.  If you don't explain what you want, I have to guess at your expectations or I have to ask you questions.  Oh, when I email you, please read it and reply, because I am not writing an email just because I feel like it.  Remember, complete information means the work gets done, incomplete information means the work has to wait, or is not done the way you want.

This post is being written after a burst of where I had to repeatedly ask for information to complete the work instead of it being provided in the first place.  I understand that not all the information is always available at the beginning, but at least let me know that the information is to follow up and actually follow up.

I am organized, and I do my work, so don't say I need to be organized just because some aspect didn't meet your belief of what organized means. 

1 comment:

  1. This was why I resisted getting a Blackberry at the company I used to work with, because I knew too many induviduals (mostly in management) would have that expectation. When I finally couldn't escape the tool, that is exactly what happened. Worst example being a mangler who demanded at 7:30am a new report written for 9:00am when I was clearly booked to be at a client that morning and already in transit to site without access to required resources until after 9:00

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