Not delivering request at work

[sofasunday]

I recently joined a new team as a senior manager. I manage a team and also have technical duties. The team I manage have major HR issues, the sort that take the majority of your day dealing with. We’re also in a staff deficiency, and resources are tight.

With that in mind, I am falling behind on my personal technical deliverables. My team will meet their deadlines - I’ve made sure they’re okay.

A v senior manager wants me to create a high level PowerPoint and present it to the executive team. It stresses me out every month cause I’m only given a few days to do it. There’s 2 aspects to why I’m falling behind on it. I haven’t had much time to learn the technical side from scratch due to focusing on the HR issues & recruitment. My team therefore supply the data/narrative I need, but of course it’s a tight turnaround due to their conflicting priorities and low resources. They haven’t given me the data yet and the meeting is on Thursday so what can I realistically do?

Aibu to not have delivered this work? I feel like the meeting will go on without me?

I think I'd be inclined to say that your team aren't actually meeting their deadlines if they haven't performed the task requested (AKA supplying the data you need). Depending on the reason (e.g. genuine lack of resource vs late communication) I might call management tomorrow and see if they can go without the presentation... but in your shoes (new role, first impressions count) I think I'd try to push for what you need and deliver it, then figure out how you can achieve it in a less stressful way next time. In future, I'd try to make obtaining data for management meetings, plus your own training, a much higher priority as those things are crucial for your own role and development.

I would tell your team you need the data by 12 today so you can finalise for the report tomorrow - you’re the manager so tell them what you need them to deliver

You’re their manager. Yesterday would have been the time to say I want the data for the ppt by noon tomorrow.
Email/message them all now.

A PowerPoint slide deck isn’t difficult or time consuming - if it’s the same presentation each time with up to date data, create a template to be populated when you get the data you need. Of all the things to let slip, a PowerPoint presentation is pretty easy to deliver.

is it the same data every month?

then put in a stand up meeting with the team the week before delivery and give clear instructions and their deadline.

if you yourself are lacking you need either training, reading the manual(s), or shadowing of the people (or all of the above).

The team must meet the deadline so that you can deliver the PP presentation

I think that's the way I'd tackle it

Chat GPT is your friend here.

But that aside, you need to better manage your team and give them deadlines which still allow you to complete your own work in time.

I received 1/3 components so far, awaiting the rest. Been given indication of noon. I’ll
probably work on it through the night.

I think for me it’s difficult to understand what the v senior manager wants eg am I asking the right questions as sometimes what he wants isn’t feasible with the datasets we have access to. It’s not always the same requests either, but I have a template for the slides.

The presentation is intended to be high level eg what our existing products don’t show, going into a deep dive on trends etc. it’s frustrating for me that I can’t get on with it independently, as you say a PowerPoint shouldn’t be difficult! It’s just not a subject I have expertise in yet so feels like a shot in the dark! Thanks for the tips

You're new to the job - you chose to take it on - and your employer expects you as a "senior manager" to suck it up, HR issues and-all.

It sounds like you need to step up to the mark - work the extra hours and get things done. No use moaning on MN about it.

What a shitty Victorian attitude to work.

it's fine to ask for help. or at least to ask for pointers in a better direction.

ask for a 1:1 with your manager about expectations.
ask for training on your company's systems so that you can run reports yourself

set your staff tasks if you need input from them so that you can include it on their planned workload.

Can you make yourself a template then every month just dump in the new figures and have the reports self update? Then you can just review what the data is telling you use that to drive the presentation.

The caveat to that is there is no training provided, you learn the context on the job, but I’m being asked to report on things to a very detailed level and to upskill others in an area I’m getting up to speed in. I can’t quite get on with it if I don’t have the right tools!

I’m in a matrix management structure so my actual line manager has less experience in the subject than I do. It’s a winging it set up.

I have a slide template. But since I joined, it’s a different set of requests each month. EG last time might be totals vs last year, financial metrics. This time it’s a spotlight on certain digital systems and the demographics. Can’t quite automate or utilise a template! But I’m learning what I can do better for next time.