to get wound up by disorganised boss?

[propolythenecarpets]

Just that really. My boss (who is the CEO) is the most profoundly disorganised person I have ever worked with. We're a charity and she'll work on a massive funding bid on her own for ages and ages and you won't even know she's doing it, and then all of a sudden she suddenly needs loads of very important things from you which you absolutely need to do immediately and drop everything else for. Last week I had to basically pull a 3 year budget out of thin air in about three hours because she needed one by 5pm for the bid.

Now on Monday I need to drop everything to help her with something else even though I have board papers due and I'd planned my workload accordingly.

I totally understand the nature of my job means I do sometimes have to take things on at the last minute and that's unavoidable. This, however, is avoidable. If she had properly planned, I could have worked it into my schedule.

AIBU?

I am with you my manager does the same thing. She has messaged when I have been at a Tribunal with a client asking for a break down of figures I already provided in a different format. This is at 11am and her bid had to be in by 2pm. Appreciate pressure boss is clearly under but a bit more forward planning and a bit less last minute seat of your pants stuff goes a long way

Drives me crackers!!! It's not like she didn't know it was coming!

Do you have one-to-one meetings with your boss @propolythenecarpets? Irrespective of whether they are the CEO or someone in middle management, you should be having meetings on a regular basis to discuss the day to day workload and give updates on that and the bigger project workload coming down the road and how you're all working towards the same goal.

Perhaps you could begin to have those meetings if you're not already having them and give examples about how you schedule your time based on the information you have to hand at the time and landing large bodies of work on you with very short notice may not always work. That you want to be able to facilitate the bidding process to the best of your ability but if you had been given sufficient notice that 3 years worth of budgets would have been required, you would have been able to work that into your schedule accordingly and not have to slap it together in a haphazard fashion. It doesn't reflect well on the business etc. etc. etc.

Start a conversation and see how you get on.

Good luck!

How regularly do you and she discuss work planning?

Would it help to schedule a weekly chat (15 mins) to discuss "top 3" priorities for the week?

I've always thought of line management as a two-way process - you have to manage your line manager too

We are meant to have quarterly meetings where issues are raised. Sadly in the four years I have been there this has happened two or three times tops. Boss is lovely until she is under pressure then everything else is not important and must be dropped to make time for her needs.Frustrating

Mine is like this too. Funnily enough, some emails don't get seen in time.

Do you have one-to-one meetings with your boss @propolythenecarpets**

In theory yes. In practice she often cancels them to do other things.

Chilling 19 that is genius. If I don't see it until it's too late I can't deal with it
Thankyou I feel liberated ready.