To ask if I handled this correctly?

[Monique679]

I’m around three years into a finance grad scheme, so not quite junior any more but sometimes still feel stumped re how to deal with simple interactions!

Eg given work by a senior colleague just before 4pm, had a catch up coffee with another colleague booked in. Message said colleague to say “forgot to mention earlier, I’ve got a quick catch up booked in with Helen now, is it ok to head to that? Won’t be long”. He said it was fine...

I’m sure I’m overthinking but feel like I’m being overly deferential by “asking permission”! It’s more just if a task is urgent I don’t want people to think I’m taking ages on it. Anyone know what I mean?

I think you should be moving towards just letting people know now. So "I'm having a meeting with Helen now...just wanted to let you know in case you wondered."

I think you can decide if you have time for the catch up AND get the work done by the deadline. If you haven't postpone the catch up.

Was it urgent? What was their deadline? What did they say? Couldn't you have said, 'I can do this by X day/time.'

It was more a case of do this analysis and come back when you’re done so we can discuss it - was letting him know so he wouldn’t think it would take me ages

Task probably supposed to take an hour max? I still did it in that time but just wanted to flag. You’re right, I should be looking to let people know more than asking permission. Feel quite childish!

If you'd already agreed to the work it was polite to ask, he was unlikely to say no, but saying oh yes I'll get right onto that and then just swanning off for coffee could be misinterpreted.

Is this a reflection of how you are being managed - i.e. are your seniors monitoring the time you take to complete work in great detail? If that's the case, you're right to respond to it in the short term, but I'd be looking to see how you can move to a greater level of independence - perhaps suggest a weekly check-in rather than a check in after each piece of work.

If they are not micro-managing you in this way, I think you're right to suggest you are overthinking things. You don't really need to alert them to meetings etc. unless they'll actually mean you miss a deadline - and it would be best to focus on prioritising your workload/replanning if needed to avoid that happening, so you don't have to explain yourself.

I would just tell him when to expect it yes. People just want you to get shit done. 'I've got a meeting now but I'll do it by 6pm' or whatever. Takes practise!

Thanks that was my thought process, so more just flagging it to let him know I would get the work done shortly but that I was going to be away

How would you suggest phrasing?! I know it’s minor and petty but I waste brain space over thinking these things and just need to have the confidence to calmly announce/tell rather than ask!

Has anyone ever felt the same? What helped you?

It does sound like you're asking permission - what if he said no?

Perhaps aim to phrase things more like:

"Just to let you know, I have a meeting with Helen @ 16:00. I'll have x done by y time"

Or, dependant on if your meeting can be rearranged // you're not sure if it's as important

"Can this wait until after I meet Helen at 16:00, or do I need to push my meeting back?" // "I have a meeting with Helen at 16:00 - can this be done after, or do you need to me to hand this on?"

I get though, its easy to write the above phrases and not so easy to actually say them....

Good point re micromanaging.

Hmm not really but my work is project based and often collaborative. We also work to tight deadlines. So someone might give me some ad hoc analysis then say come back when you’re done (or more likely I’ll suggest this, it’s more efficient in the long run) - this could happen several times in a day. Obviously I don’t want to be the bottleneck, I want to keep things moving. But come to think of it the majority of my work is to quite short deadlines, I feel like that’s a reflection of the role rather than me though

If he’d said no would have been fine! Catch up with helen was an informal session and she is very relaxed. I would have explained I had a deadline and could we rearrange. You’re right - tough in practice though! I think next time I’ll stick with “I have a short meeting at 4 but I’ll be back at my desk in 15 mins”

I am the worst for overthinking things but sometimes you just have to go with your gut. ( not easy I know )

In that particular situation I would of said I have a meeting with Helen that we arranged xx days ago . I will get back to as soon as I can .
That way you show that you have the organizational skills to make sure that you can plan your work / time .
They know that you have acknowledged them and are thinking about what they have asked you to do.
Don't commit yourself to a set time that you will get back to them , as been late in your response wont look good,
so instead of saying i will get back to you at 1pm say I will get back to you after lunch time , it also benefits them as they are not waiting by their PC for your response at five past one

Also if you are given a project ask straight away how much leeway you have re budgets / time frame / man hours that way you can build the project up without having to go back to the boss for every decision.

Good luck

As you get experienced you should be get better at judging for yourself how urgent a given task is - ie does it make an impact if you fit it around other activities. I work in management consulting and it is a bugbear when people wander off for a catch up / coffee when there is urgent work to be done but at the same time completely recognize that the networking / coffee side of the job has its place too.
If you don’t feel sure about the context of a particular task I.e. is it urgent or not, fine to ask your boss for more context.

I'm in a similar situation and think you did the correct thing. Letting them know so they don't think you're an imbecile while still agreeing to the work

Thanks all.

Feel like I’m shit at these interactions especially given the fact I’m not a new graduate, I’ve been around a few years now!

Did you ask him when he needed it by?

If I had been giving you the work, I would have expected you to confirm with me about urgency and timescales if you were uncertain, and for you to tell me when you expected to work on it and turn it around. And also that you'd make me aware of how it fitted into the rest of your workload and how you were prioritising, eg if you had urgent work on for other people or this was going to overload you. It should be a dialogue.

Do you just drop everything whenever somebody gives you something?

Do you tell people if you've got something else to do first that's a greater priority?

This is just my impression from the little you've posted, but it sounds like you're not very independent about managing your own work or negotiating with people about when it happens, and managing people's expectations. Have I got this wrong?

If I gave a 3rd year graduate a piece of work that didn't need to be turned around in the next hour I'd be a bit bemused to receive a message asking if it was ok to attend a pre-booked meeting.

How do you prioritise or do you have lots of down time in between these tasks? Are you spoon fed work or do you manage your own workload?

If you're worrying a lot about people thinking you're spending ages on tasks, do you actually ask how long it should take or how long they want you to give it before you catch up with them? Do you ask when they want it by and what kind of debrief they want?

You sound really anxious. Are you normally?

If at 4pm you could ask if expected by cop or would tomorrow be sufficient.

If not clear in the ask I will check deadline, drivers and audience etc to make sure it is on time and positioned correctly.

Thanks thetimekeeper

Yes I am very anxious but have to mask it at work, of course.

Normally I’m very independent about my workload. Typically I always ask how long a task should take/ more commonly estimate how long I think it should take and give them an estimation. Ironically I have recently stopped doing this in an effort to be more “managerial” (wrong word) as in not to hold myself to a deadline - I trust myself and they trust me to get it done.

I am currently only working with these people after a short holiday so don’t have competing pieces of work. Normally I’m up to the gills so this is a welcome break! From memory I ended the conversation with him saying, let me work on it now, I’ll see what I can do and pop over when I’m done. Then we can discuss.

It was only after we had spoken that I thought I don’t want to wander away from my desk for ages now after I’ve just has that convo! Hence the message: it was more to do with perception and I thought it would look a bit stupid if I just wandered off!

I’m partly asking because I’ve not worked for him before so want to make a good impression. But partly asking because I think so much of it is to do with phrasing and how people perceive you/how you say it rather than what you say