How to appropriately push back on requests from leadership
Endurance Management Coaching
Increasing management & leadership effectiveness with training & 1:1 coaching.
Today I'm covering how to appropriately push back when you're inundated with project requests.
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And first, a quick story on the inspiration for this topic…
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There we were this past Sunday evening at a bar in Denver.??
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We'd just left the Broncos game where they won 38-0 over the Chiefs and solidified a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2015.? WOO!? (And don't worry, 49ers will always be my #1!)
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Needless to say, energy was high!
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My good friend looks at her phone and audibly grumbles.
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The cause?
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She'd looked at her email and saw a flurry of urgent project requests from leadership.
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“How can they possibly expect us to do all of this with high quality?”??
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She then immediately expressed concern about burnout for her people as these demands will only get accomplished through heroic efforts.
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And given the conversations I've had with others this week, my friend is not alone.
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I'm guessing many of you are feeling it right now as well.
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So let’s add some tools to your toolbelt for when you’re wanting to address the volume and urgency of work you and your team are being asked to tackle.
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I'm going to cover:
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Powerful Mindset
We are not granted the infinite ability to say Yes.? With every Yes, there should be a corresponding No or No, not now.
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Here's a helpful analogy: air traffic control at an airport.
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2 airplanes can not safely land and take off, on the same runway, at the same time.
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And yet, that's what these requests feel like.??
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We're being asked to launch, track, and land multiple flights with the use of a single runway, and maintain a 100% safety record.
How can you adopt the mindset of an air traffic controller to successfully manage flights?
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You might conclude it's not feasible without a second runway.
You might conclude a few flights need to circle and burn off fuel before they land.
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What systems/processes would reduce your stress as an air traffic controller?
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Managing Up & Across
Now I'm going to illustrate 3 tactics to manage up and across by way of a story of an experience I had.
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I'll never forget that Friday when my team got an urgent request for training to be built and delivered by Tuesday morning.
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The request was received at 4pm on Friday.? (Yes, eyeroll.)
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What was fascinating about that experience was my team made the work look easy and flawless.? To others, they saw fantastic finished products, so they thought they were making a simple ask.
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What they didn't see was the hours and hours behind the scenes that went into building and facilitating an impactful training.
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I immediately started a manage up and across campaign.
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First, I sought to educate in a non-condescending, informative way.
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It sounded like this:
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“I just saw your request come through.? Very exciting that you're moving quickly on this and my team is more than happy to play a role in helping it succeed!? [This is strategically a Yes, and… tactic at play.]
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I do want to express concern about the timeline.
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For what you're wanting delivered, I'd love to pull back the curtain and share what that deliverable is going to entail.? [Now you're strengthening partnership and mutual respect because who doesn't love to feel special by getting behind the scenes info?!]
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To get the end result of the training, we're going to need to do X, Y, and Z.? And given we're heading into the weekend and X and Y have dependencies on A and B, I'd like to propose a Thursday morning deliverable.”? [We're still moving quickly, and the difference of 2 business days is huge to my team and minimally impactful on the larger initiative.]
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Do you want to know the honest to goodness response I got back?
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“Wow, I had no idea!? Yes, Thursday morning definitely works!”
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As my team got to work, I continued my campaign to minimize this happening again.
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My second step was managing up to influence clarity in communication.
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Our COO happened to also be in town and I stole a few minutes of his time.
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The 4pm Friday request was a brainchild of his, so I wanted to better understand.
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This was effectively what I said:
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“My team is excited to support this initiative for Ops.??
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I would love your perspective and insight on the timing.
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We received this as an urgent, P0, drop everything at 4pm last Friday with a request to get everything built and delivered in basically 1 business day.
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Knowing how thoughtful you are about how and where you drive the business, I'd love to better understand the strategic urgency.”
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What did he literally say to me?
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“Oh, no, I just thought it would be great if it could get looked into in the next 3-4 weeks.”
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My internal reaction: “What The Actual F*#k?!”
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A fire drill for my team was created because no one bothered to ask the COO what timeline he had in mind.
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Leaders often forget that when they make an ask, their people perceive it as urgent.
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Which after this, along with many, many other similar experiences, solidified my 3rd tactic:
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Recommending the priority order.
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When my leader comes to me and asks me to take something on, here's what typically comes out of my mouth:
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“Yes, we can certainly take that on.
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What did you have in mind for timeline?”
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[Typically it conflicts with something already in flight]
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“We can hit that, and it will mean some tradeoffs.
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We already have X, Y, and Z in flight, all due to be wrapped up Thurs/Friday.
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What I'd propose is picking this up first thing Monday so we can execute with the highest quality and not drop the ball on these others.
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Does that work for you?”
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85% of the time, the answer is Yes.
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15% of the time, it needed to be tackled, in which case, I'd say:
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“Fair enough.??
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Let's do this.? I'm going to drop Z back to next week so we create the bandwidth to take this on.
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That feels like the right tradeoff to ensure we're not compromising the quality of our results.? Sound good?”
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When I began consistently implementing these steps, do you want to know what happened?
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I received fewer urgent requests.
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Our partners began pulling us into processes earlier so we had more foresight and the benefit of planning ahead.
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And when there was something that was a fast turn, our partners began to apologize, letting us know they realized the tough spot they're putting us in.
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What's your core take away?
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This is hard stuff.? Hit DM or comment with any follow up thoughts/questions!