Can we have a 'Help me do my job' thread?

[CraftMaker]

The idea is that people post things such as, 'How do I do such and such in Excel?', 'What do people think of this template design?', 'Is this outfit OK for a work presentation?', etc. Basically anything that people need advice on for their job.

We had a thread like this on a Middle East Expat forum I was on and it ran for years! There are so many people on Mumsnet in a variety of professions and just people with an opinion.

Does anybody think this is a good idea?

I use excel for to do lists so I can use the different tabs for different projects and sort for prioritising etc.

But I'm currently thinking about looking at Kanban or Onenote.

How do I ... help a workforce that's emotionally overwhelmed by life? We don't have an especially stressful sector (not health, no sales roles either) but people are just exhausted from "life" and it's making them emotional and frazzled. As they spend a fair chunk of time at work, we want to play a decent part in supporting them.

Any ideas for:

• increasing the low-key opportunities for people to talk (remote working has meant communication has become transactional)?
• other stuff that might help?

We have an EAP and it's well publicised so that's a start.

This is a great idea for a thread thanks OP. I'm already researching Kanban and Eat The Frog.

My question is I have been tasked with training and mentoring our new starter who is fresh out of college and this is her very first admin job. She's a lovely and bright girl and slowly picking things up. I think her main issue is gaining confidence in her role which will come, but she's also only used Outlook/Excel in a very basic way before too.

I've never really mentored anyone before. My manager is looking to move me to a more senior role so this is a kind of a bit of a test for me. How do I best go about training her successfully and making sure she's learning well while also managing my own workload?

@CraftMaker thank you. I'm thinking maybe I should individually message my team and alternate, rather than message our group team. The trouble is, since I've been gone all the teams got moved around so I've never met anyone here and I think that makes it harder, they don't know me, so they don't like or dislike me, but all they know is I am a burden

But! I will try your tips thanks

@MustDust I use the Trello app. It's free and is basically a kanban board. Everything goes on there.

@DivingBoardInGuernsey

How do I ... help a workforce that's emotionally overwhelmed by life? We don't have an especially stressful sector (not health, no sales roles either) but people are just exhausted from "life" and it's making them emotional and frazzled. As they spend a fair chunk of time at work, we want to play a decent part in supporting them.

Any ideas for:

• increasing the low-key opportunities for people to talk (remote working has meant communication has become transactional)?
• other stuff that might help?

We have an EAP and it's well publicised so that's a start.

We have volunteer 'well-being ambassadors' (terrible term imho but stick with me...)

We each take a handful of people, and just call for a catch up every so often. Some of our WA are more formal and structured and keep the conversation about well-being, personally I kept it very much as, this is your time we can talk about anything even if you just want to moan about the boss, Moab about homeschooling or tell me about the chicken coop you just built it is safe to do so here.

@MustDust

What's the best 'to do' list? I feel like I should be using outlook but I like the different column styles on planner as my job is made of several tasks and queries for different managers, however I don't want to share a plan, it's just for me.

I also use OneNote. A different page for each project, venue etc. I can type notes in meeting then tag them as questions, to do etc. then one nite helpfully pulls out all the to-dos into a list at the side for me to tick off.

@Passthecake30 write your notes on upside down post its and stick along the top of your monitor around the camera. Not only can you quickly remind yourself of a talking point, but it looks as though your maintaining eye contact rather than looking down at the screen faces.

I find that people on zoom/teams calls make more non verbal cues than in person interviews, lots of nodding etc. Focus on the person on the panel who is giving out the most nods. You’ll know you’re on the right track or at least feel more relaxed as you can see them agreeing.

@TheWeeDonkey If she has some training time set aside and is willing, Udemy do free courses in excel etc. Some are just short reviews of specific skills others are longer covering all the basics but can be dipped in and out of. I use them as a refresher and they’re very clear.

Alternatively, if you can ask her where she feels the gaps in her knowledge are or if she’d like to learn how to do something you can have regular but short sessions on each specific topic. E.g. if she hasn’t set up recurring meetings in Outlook and would like to be able to make an excel graph. You could set aside 2x 30 min slots in a week to show her . If you record your screen (if virtually working) she can look back on them as a first port of call if it comes up again.

@MustDust i use Monday.com for to do lists/general planning of projects

@DivingBoardInGuernsey

How do I ... help a workforce that's emotionally overwhelmed by life? We don't have an especially stressful sector (not health, no sales roles either) but people are just exhausted from "life" and it's making them emotional and frazzled. As they spend a fair chunk of time at work, we want to play a decent part in supporting them.

Any ideas for:

• increasing the low-key opportunities for people to talk (remote working has meant communication has become transactional)?
• other stuff that might help?

We have an EAP and it's well publicised so that's a start.

Look up Coffee Roulette for increasing opportunities for people to talk. Works really well.

@MustDust

What's the best 'to do' list? I feel like I should be using outlook but I like the different column styles on planner as my job is made of several tasks and queries for different managers, however I don't want to share a plan, it's just for me.

I use OneNote. You can set up different sections and pages within sections. You can also tag things so that you can pull all the bits related to that tag together regardless of where they're stored in the notebook.

You can also share individual pages on meeting invites etc so if you're collaborating with a group, you can give them access to just that page. If you're working on lots of projects, you can share a whole notebook with a group and it's easy to just flick between them.

This is a really good idea for a thread. I'm trying to get used to Excel, I cannot stand it! Not the software itself it's just that I'm not even a little bit mathematically minded.

I find trello is brilliant.

I don't want to ruin your thread but all that comes to mind is how do I continue to work my dream job when after only a few months dh, house and kids seem to be falling apart from dh having to juggle his work and all 4 kids including multiple pick ups, running to make childcare before closing and school work when my hours can't be changed and after years out of the workforce I was lucky to get the job?

@stayathomer look at the item that would make the biggest difference to the rest. Do you have any leeway anywhere? Have you asked your job if there's any leeway in your hours for example? They might not say no.

Can your kids step up at all? Can everyone be 100% ready the night before? Can you put a load of washing on at night for example. Can you cook more at weekends.

Can you get up earlier to sort stuff?

Sometimes the only thing you can do is have a better system.

@stayathomer

Can you buy in help with either drop offs and pick ups, wrap around care, childminder to do the school runs etc?

Cleaner to keep on top of the housework?

Ruthless decluttering and systems/organisation?

Can DH flex his hours?

How old are the DC and can they do some of the cooking and be co-operative with not making your life harder by making a mess and endless washing. If they're secondary age they can cook simple meals once a week each, be in charge of washing up/dishwasher, or possibly do some of their own laundry.

Thanks for this thread.

I have recently started a new job and I love the work itself. However the workload is unmanageable, partly as I am being given a lot of extra tasks to cover a staff member who has resigned.

I know I need to say 'no' to some of the work, but in practice I am finding this difficult. My manager gives me tasks and says that they will only take a short time, but in practice they take me hours (partly because I am unfamiliar with the work) .

I often end up working into the evening to complete my own work. I have small children so I have to do this after they have gone to bed, and it is exhausting. I had covid a month ago and have been feeling fatigued ever since, and all of this extra work is making it worse.

My own role has an unpredictable workload, as it depends on how many cases come in on the day. So it often looks like I may have space in my diary, but in practice I know that extra work will almost certainly come in that needs to be completed that day.

I suppose my question is when it is best to tell my manager that I can't do certain tasks? Do I say 'no' when they are assigned (which is difficult because I don't really know exactly how long they will take, and how many cases will come in for my own role), or do I wait until the point when I am actually struggling to complete everything, by which time it may be too late to ask someone else to do the work?

@VladmirsPoutine

This is a really good idea for a thread. I'm trying to get used to Excel, I cannot stand it! Not the software itself it's just that I'm not even a little bit mathematically minded.

I'm terrible at maths but I love excel. If it's possible to put something in a spreadsheet I will!

Would it help to reframe it in your mind and, rather than thinking about it as formulas and equations, imagine that it's puzzle pieces and you're telling excel which pieces you need to make the picture?

@stayathomer that sounds tough.

Are you both full time? Can either of you reduce your hours, or work flexibly? For example dp and I each work a mix of long and short days, so we share school drop offs and pickups. Definitely get a cleaner if you can. I also highly recommend a robovac

@stayathomer depending on the age of the kids a good Childminder is a godsend. Plus it takes time for everyone to adjust and start to pick up the slack rather than just assume “mum will do it” because maybe you always have. It does feel never ending no matter what age they are at times!

@ElephantandGrasshopper a good shareable ‘to do list’ like one of the online tools mentioned here that you ca assign time against estimated and actual can help track and then be shared with your manager to ask what shall I prioritise/what do I not do if I’m going to do X. Unless you put clear boundaries up front you do just drown (I experienced it for 2 long years nearly broke me before I changed roles)

@Twistedrainbow and @Snoopsnoggysnog thank you, those are really helpful!

[quote MrsLeclerc]@TheWeeDonkey If she has some training time set aside and is willing, Udemy do free courses in excel etc. Some are just short reviews of specific skills others are longer covering all the basics but can be dipped in and out of. I use them as a refresher and they’re very clear.

Alternatively, if you can ask her where she feels the gaps in her knowledge are or if she’d like to learn how to do something you can have regular but short sessions on each specific topic. E.g. if she hasn’t set up recurring meetings in Outlook and would like to be able to make an excel graph. You could set aside 2x 30 min slots in a week to show her . If you record your screen (if virtually working) she can look back on them as a first port of call if it comes up again.[/quote]
Thanks MrsLeclerc. Lots of great ideas I can use.

How to tackle impostor syndrome?

Thanks @SkiRun0077 I will try using one of those apps. I've always used outlook task manager which works well for me to organise my own tasks and set reminders, but perhaps something which helps me to allocate time to particular tasks would also help.