Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose \u2013 Corporate Exit Strategist for the blooming entrepreneur \u2013 and I am a business and life coach that specializes in Time Management, Project management training and work-life balance strategies.\u00a0 Today we are sharing tips on how to handle multiple (and often conflicting) directives from various clients, managers and stakeholders.<\/p>\n
Whether we are in the corporate environment or starting our own small business, we have competing resources for our attention, skills and talents.\u00a0 How can we not only professionally handle these multiple and unclear job directives, but use these opportunities to propel us forward faster?<\/p>\n
Step 1) Acknowledge and congratulate ourselves for being in demand. Because we are valuable in our field of choice, people do come to us for our advice and coaching.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to stop this trend. \u00a0We don\u2019t want to resent that people value and need us.\u00a0 We just want to better handle and take better advantage of this great phenomenon. \u00a0\u00a0You need to create a daily schedule that allows you to get important work done AND handle the unexpected.\u00a0 Although you don\u2019t\u2019 know exactly what will interrupt you, you know that you will be interrupted.\u00a0 Therefore, the intelligent thing to do is to schedule and integrate interruption time in your daily schedule.<\/p>\n
Step 2) Incorporate a Sprint and Buffer <\/strong>technique for splitting up your tasks to mini-tasks (self-contained, short duties that can be handled in a few hours).\u00a0 Once your larger tasks have been split into mini-tasks, you can now schedule buffer time between the mini-tasks to allow interruptions during the day.\u00a0 If an emergency doesn\u2019t occur between mini-task1 and mini-task2, you continue to mini-task2.\u00a0 When an interruption does occur, you share when you will be done on mini-task2 (it will only be a couple of hours) and offer to work with them when mini-task2 is completed.\u00a0 This allows you to stay focused on what you are currently doing, while giving your client, co-worker or manger a reasonable time-frame for their request.<\/p>\n Step 3) Don\u2019t assume they are asking you do DO THE WORK.\u00a0 Realize that the person coming you to help doesn\u2019t necessarily need YOU to solve or work their problem.\u00a0 They just need help.\u00a0 Providing them coaching, or recommendations provide them the help that they desire.\u00a0 Sending them in the right direction allows them to take their next step.\u00a0 And most of the time, that is all they really need.<\/p>\n Step 4) TimeBox your interruptions.\u00a0\u00a0 If you value your time, others will do the time.\u00a0 When someone interrupts your work schedule, take ownership of your calendar.\u00a0 Set ground rules on how long you can devote to their interruption.\u00a0 If their project problem takes longer than the time you have scheduled for them, then suggest either a separate longer meeting at your next available calendar date OR suggest someone else that may be just as effective as you.<\/p>\n tep 5) Be transparent.\u00a0 Share your entire list of projects that you are currently working on.\u00a0 Allow your clients, co-workers, managers better prioritize your time.\u00a0 Ask them if they feel their current last-moment request is of higher priority than the things that you are currently working on. \u00a0Ask them which projects they are willing to postpone or delete, in exchange for this new request.\u00a0 Ask them to attend meetings with the other stakeholders to explain the change in priorities.\u00a0 If there seems to be a conflict between executives or directors, get the conflicting stakeholders in the same room to discuss the change in priorities.\u00a0 Do not try to resolve the conflict on your own (you will not be able to make anyone happy).<\/p>\n Step 6) \u00a0If you have unclear directives, you <\/strong>substitute any ambiguous and vague requirements with your explicit understanding of the project features.\u00a0 You provide a sketch, prototype or high-level demo to the client and stakeholders.\u00a0 Use your requirement specifications to gain clarity.\u00a0 It\u2019s okay if your requirements are incorrect.\u00a0 The goal of this technique is NOT to create correct requirements.\u00a0 The intent of this technique is to gain clarity and start the discussion in the right direction.\u00a0 Take responsibility for getting all the information you require to produce a quality product or service.\u00a0 This is your<\/strong> reputation that you are building.<\/p>\n If you enjoyed this article, you can at Laura Lee Rose\u2019s Professional Career Development Library<\/a>\u00a0 (or cut\/paste the below link: http:\/\/eepurl.com\/dUi81<\/a>)<\/p>\n If you are interested in more detail professional coaching or a professional coach to help you stay on target with those goals, please consider one-on-one coaching sessions to propel you forward faster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whether we are in the corporate environment or starting our own small business, we have competing resources for our attention, skills and talents. How can we not only professionally handle these multiple and unclear job directives, but use these opportunities to propel us forward faster?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1508,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,6,1,855,847,848],"tags":[195,39,13,51,33,1370,17,38],"class_list":["post-8891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leadership","category-time-management","category-communications","category-miscellaneous","category-pmbok-process-executing","category-self-leadership","category-1-1-leadership","tag-accountability","tag-best-practices","tag-career-development","tag-change-management","tag-common-sense","tag-leadership","tag-lessons-learned","tag-project-management"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1508"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8891"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8893,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8891\/revisions\/8893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/svapm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}