"Management" workload

[twinmomma]

How do you guys account for the time you spend managing folks, mentoring team members, answering their questions, etc... in your workloads? I need to have a discussion with my boss about it, since I am getting so many projects assigned to me (that I can't delegate due to the nature of the work) that I barely have time in my day to say hi to my team members, never mind interact with them in any meaningful way. Right now all I'm doing is triaging issues as they pop up.  I'm trying to figure out how to explain to him that "managing a team" actually does take up a chunk of hours each day and I need to be allotted the appropriate time to do that. Keep in mind, this is the same guy who doesn't understand that project management takes hours too. He just sees that the final product gets done and can't wrap his head around the process leading up to it. Any suggestions? 

[k3am]

I am.. not a manager. I have support staff, and "managing" and training/reviewing their work them probably takes up few hours a day, but is required to ensure my workload is managed.

Managers here are actually forced to give up their portfolios. They manage. Entirely. I'm sure this varies industry by industry, but without doing that here, there would be no managing.

[frozenpeas]

The people I manage also manage teams, and I have items related to this written into their objectives. Since their annual performance reviews are based on the objectives, they & I both know that managing/mentoring is something they are expected to focus on, in addition to their other work.

Do you have a yearly review & can you lobby for which items should be included? I'd make a list of everything I spend my time on, present it to my boss and suggest they either all be included in my objectives or he should strike the things he no longer wants me to focus on. I might even note the amount of time each day spent on each. He might need to see on paper that the nature of your job has been changing. Maybe seeing it laid out like that will help him realize that managing isn't an extra-curricular activity for you & might actually be a full-time job itself.

[2chatter]

Here it is cyclical - sometimes my allocation permits me time to manage. Others, I am forced to be reactive. Right now I have three new consultants, and mention weekly that management of their work is taking exponentially more time as I also have to train them as I go. In cycles like this I try to not just issue orders, but provide value so I don't have to have to issue the same orders next time. It's not the most effective solution but it is a step in the right direction to always explain the why, detail the background and fill in the gaps for people and it really doesn't take that much more time.

[ericalee27]

We operate on an hours sold basis based on project work. Managers are all given hours each month that are accounted for in their total hours sold - so if I have 160 hours available in a month, I *should* (in theory) only be sold for 144 project hours with 16 hours open for management. It doesn't work that way all the time, but at least the effort is there to try and carve out some time for managers. Are your project assignments based on a certain level of effort?

[twinmomma]

I have no yearly review. Although, I've been in my new position for about a year now, so I wanted to recap and mention that not a lot has been shifted off my plate, I"ve just been given new responsibilities to pile on. I essentially do two jobs now, because appropriate back up was never figured out, despite me raising concerns over it. I think I just need to have a heart to heart about the hours I'm spending on stuff so he can see how little time I have left over for other things, like overseeing a team of 8-9 people.

[frozenpeas]

So, I realize this is unsolicited advice, but I'd suggest going into the heart-to-heart with a good idea of what you'd prefer to keep on your plate & what you'd like to lose, & maybe who to transition things to. I could be wrong, but I suspect your boss isn't the type who would come up with good suggestions on the fly. This should also help improve your chances of keeping the more appealing responsibilities (assuming you're able to offload any at all).

And, I should admit that I'm a hypocrite, b/c my boss doesn't do an annual review for me, either, & I find myself facing similar issues! Good luck.

[twinmomma]

Feb 20, 2015 12:46:14 GMT -5 frozenpeas said:

So, I realize this is unsolicited advice, but I'd suggest going into the heart-to-heart with a good idea of what you'd prefer to keep on your plate & what you'd like to lose, & maybe who to transition things to. I could be wrong, but I suspect your boss isn't the type who would come up with good suggestions on the fly. This should also help improve your chances of keeping the more appealing responsibilities (assuming you're able to offload any at all).

And, I should admit that I'm a hypocrite, b/c my boss doesn't do an annual review for me, either, & I find myself facing similar issues! Good luck.

Ya... unfortunately, this is exactly what I did a year ago when he "promoted" me. So I don't really hold out much hope for it working this time either. But I figure if I can at least be the squeaky wheel about it, he can't get too mad when I don't complete tasks on time. 

[mommyatty]

Spend a week or so tracking your time. Then you have solid numbers to share. I oversee 2 different programs. And I do a very substantive legal job. So I spent 2 weeks tracking my time (8-8:30, approve expense reports, 8:30-9:15 meeting on x project, 9:15-10:00 coaching of Employee A). Then took it to my boss to justify requesting added staff. It was much more effective than using generalities and wasn't too time-consuming.

[dashofreality]

We track all of our time (.1 hours) and we have different utilization goals. A non-manager generally will have a 90-95% goal, understanding that there will training, and a few other non-direct charges. Managers are expected to have 60% utilization, so about 30% of their time managing, 60% direct project work and 10% other. Sr. Manager are 10-40%.

[billybumbler]

Based on PPs I would say it would be helpful to talk to your boss and have a percentage of managing time figured out to tell him.

[Deleted]

Feb 20, 2015 14:01:01 GMT -5 mommyatty said:

Spend a week or so tracking your time. Then you have solid numbers to share. I oversee 2 different programs. And I do a very substantive legal job. So I spent 2 weeks tracking my time (8-8:30, approve expense reports, 8:30-9:15 meeting on x project, 9:15-10:00 coaching of Employee A). Then took it to my boss to justify requesting added staff. It was much more effective than using generalities and wasn't too time-consuming.

this is exactly what I was going to type. Give facts in a clear and concise format. Can't argue with facts.