I've always had weird issues with my job that are very frustrating to live with. I have two managers, each responsible for managing 50% of my time.
One of them gives me more or less clear objectives (although they're never SMART, I more or less know what I need to do. Imagine being told, "Carve all the cherry wood that arrives in the way it needs carving "as an objective. When, exactly what, and the deadlines aren't clear fromt the start but I get on with it). I'd prefer more clarity, but at least I have a steady stream of work and I'm more or less left alone to get on with things. He also has an annoying habit of giving me projects as a stop gap and then hiring someone to do them without telling me that I'm only running them temporarily, which just makes me feel taken for granted and weirdly insecure because it feels like anything I'm doing can just be reallocated at any time.
The other one refuses and I basically have to ask for work each week, try to guess how long it'll take me, and ask for more work as/when I have time. I always have to try to think 1-2 weeks ahead, because for boring reasons it's not clear how long tasks will take, and she only delegates tasks as and when they land on her desk. She's always pushing me to ask the rest of her team for work. I do so as and when I'm free, but generally I get given very little by them. She doesn't manage the rest of her team like that, instead they have clear objectives and deadlines.
I hate this. I really do. I hate the uncertainty, I hate having to ask for work week after bloody week. I find it very wearing not to have clear objectives. I hate having to guess how long things will take. Sometimes I get it wrong and have too much work. Sometimes too little and I'm twiddling my thumbs.
I'm on mat leave and planning to return to work in November. I had a return to work meeting. I asked to be part of one team or another, not split across two and was told no. I then asked if I could have clear objectives for 100% of my time. The problem line manager said she didn't understand, and I said objectives like the other line manager give i.e. clear area of responsibility. She said her team didn't work like that. I said ok, please could I have a steady pipeline of work. She sort of agreed.
I'm very worried that the status quo is just going to prevail. I'm looking for other jobs right now in fact.
Any managers on here have any idea how to handle this? I feel like I need to create a diary of when I ask for work and how much I get in return. I think she'd pay attention if I gave her hard data to work with but part of me feels it'd come across as really pedantic and petty. But also I've asked for change, and it has been rejected so no idea how to handle it apart from leave.