It IS a problem!

Working on a team as a Financial Business Analyst during a Software Implementation Project, we were charged with providing Analytical reports on a monthly basis. These reports were then used to brief executives and assist in their quarterly business strategy meetings.

One particular month, as the team was completing the monthly version of the report, that would be used in the quarterly meeting the following day, our manager stopped by on his way out, to tell the team that we would be responsible for presenting all the analysis to the executives. And if that wasn't enough, we also needed to construct the presentation according to a rather cumbersome template.

Our group was stunned. Not only had we never built or given this presentation - but to tell us about it at the end of the day...we were livid! We suspected our manager was making us do the presentation because, our data, as of late, was not too complimentary of the current business strategies and, he was probably fed up dodging the arrows from the executives. Nevertheless, we rallied as a team, put our Powerpoint Rangers uniforms on, and got to work.

The group decided that I would be the presenter and the whole presentation went about as well as we could have hope for, given the late notice. At the conclusion of the presentation, the CIO came up to me, shook my hand and then the following conversation went down:

CIO: great presentation, thanks for putting this together!

ME: absolutely, no problem

....don't get ahead of me but you know what's coming...

CIO: oh, in that case, why don't we have you just present during each meeting

The moment the words came out of my mouth, I had this sinking feeling. I fully recognized that having this amount of exposure to the executives could only be a positive thing for me and the team, but what was causing me so much angst was the phrase, "no problem".

What the CIO didn't know and what our manager could have apparently cared less about (eye rolling) was, putting this presentation together, actually was a problem...a huge problem.

When our manager told us about the presentation, a lot of our frustration was rooted in the personal plans we had to change, childcare arrangements we had to make, and the general annoyance of the late notice. We stayed until 9:30 pm building the presentation and I stayed even longer to practice.

For employees - this scenario is a perfect opportunity to ensure that management is aware of the amount of effort involved in order to meet their requests. This isn't an opportunity to complain, but rather it's more about fostering communication and teamwork. Instead of saying, "no problem", a better response would have been to let the CIO know how the team rallied together, in order to put together such a high-quality briefing.

For management - this scenario is a great opportunity to flex your emotional intelligence muscles and be aware of the gravity of what you are asking your people to do. Rather than throwing the proverbial "grenade" of tasks at the team and then walking out, listen to your team and come up with the best plan that mitigates all concerns and accomplishes the goal.

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About the Author Rolondo Talbott, PMP, United States Air Force veteran turned consultant, entrepreneur and now an Entertainment Marketing Technology Manager. He is also an award-winning author and blogger for LinkedIn, Babble, TheGoodMenProject and other online and print publications. His recent appearances in The Hollywood Reporter and NBC News has made him a voice in veteran's affairs, while his passion for Leadership and Management development in young professionals has made him a highly sought out resource. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.