How do you approach a manager...

[Chilliplantbox]

About changing your responsibilities?

The last few weeks have been a nightmare in terms of admin tasks which I'm not supposed to do. I was recruited to work on planning, but my predecessor got fired partly for rocking the boat when she tried to implement ways of making the department more efficient. As far as I can see, all staff are already maxed out in terms of how much work they have on, so delegating doesn't seem to be an option.

At the same time, I'm keen to make a good impression and deliver actual meaningful work which will benefit the company. I can only do that by working to my actual job spec, not doing these small urgent tasks which are constantly cropping up and are passed to me every day, because everyone else is too busy or don't know how to do it.

Has anyone got any advice about how to best approach this issue with my manager?

Do you have one to one meetings/supervisions? Maybe you could request one? I'd start by asking for clarification of your role, explain that you feel it's changed since you started and finish by outlining what you think your role should be and emphasise how that would best support your department. Go into the meeting prepared and take a list of bullet points if you think it'll help keep you on track.

It hasn't really changed since I started, because I thought it was useful to learn all the admin-type things to understand the processes as part of the planning, but now it seems to be ALL process-driven work.

Thanks, I should organise what is in my mind on paper, and ask for help.

Are you the sort of person who is comfortable with the idea of keeping a tally of time spent on different categories of tasks? The evidence might be a useful starting point for a discussion with your manager.