My Manager Needs Too Many Reports - Help! (Ask Christa! S7E74)

Introduction

Hi everyone, and welcome to Ask Christa! where I answer listener questions about business challenges and workplace issues. I’m Christa Dhimo, and my show is a free resource to help people get through common day to day issues at work. I do this for my listeners, but you know how it helps to like and subscribe—and I THANK YOU for the support.

This is episode 74 in Season SEVEN, which continues to focus on Dealing with Bad Bosses. Remember: all my episodes offer additional resources, too, so check them out in the show notes.

Today’s episode is about what do to when your manager puts responsibility on YOU for THEIR knowledge and retention and recall of status, and asks you to run all kinds of reports… particularly when your manager is perfectly capable of running the same reports any time they want because the tools are so good.

Listener Question

Here’s the listener question, “I’m feeling overloaded at work. I’m a Senior Project Manager who works in a firm that values client-facing roles like no company I’ve ever experienced. They have some of the best tools I’ve ever used, and have designed the company so we can focus on clients and each other’s success, and not the administrative aspect of the work.

I don’t mind having a full workload, but my role has suddenly expanded because my new manager is asking for a constant stream of customized reports. I even built self-service versions for her, but she continues to ask me to rework and duplicate them in different formats even though the tools will do that for her if she took the time to learn the prompts.

Part of what I love about this company is that Project Manager roles focus on the leadership it takes to manage a matrixed team and the communication and commitment it takes to make a positive client impact. They’ve invested in tools to reduce administrative busywork, but with my new manager, it feels like I’ve gone backward. The work she’s asking for doesn’t improve the client experience or help the team—it seems to be about her getting up to speed.

It’s been almost a month since she came onboard, and I’m starting to feel stressed and undervalued, as though I’ve become her personal administrator rather than a client-focused leader. I have support coming from a mentor who’s addressing this behind the scenes, but what can I do in the meantime to manage the workload and handle this situation the right way?”

The Boss Who Needs White-Glove Service

This is a big question because it touches on a lot of workplace dynamics that so many of us struggle with: having a big role then a new boss comes in and doesn’t concern themselves with understanding or appreciating your role, being asked to provide an extra service to a new boss without an end in sight, being asked to do MORE for your boss than anyone else needs to do because there are tools that enable individuals at ALL levels to learn what is needed to ramp up, and of course, having such a disregard for a direct report’s workload and day to day responsibilities—ESPECIALLY when the direct report interfaces with clients and has their own portfolio of work.

In Episode 19, I talk about the structure of companies, and our listener’s company seems to be a matrixed organization where the project managers have a collection of talent from various teams pulled together to get work done for clients. Check out that episode to learn more about how these types of organizations work, because from where I sit and the work I do, there are two big risks this new manager is bringing into the organization. 

The first risk, as our listener points out, is how much time and attention our listener’s manager is taking away from client work, which is clearly a top priority for this organization—to the point where they have invested in and utilize top-notch tools so that, it seems, project managers and others interfacing with clients DO NOT HAVE TO DO the type of administrative work the new manager is asking of our listener. 

The second risk is the potential loss of our listener’s performance and engagement, and we can hear that directly from the question. I want to point out that our listener has all the best qualities you want to see in a project manager: a servant leader mindset, knowledge of how to leverage tools, an appreciation for what it takes to be successful, and an understanding toward those who are new to job. 

Further to that, and as a Senior Project Manager, I’m certain our listener already takes on a higher level of accountability while also serving as a role model for up and coming project managers and anyone who is on a project management track at their company. 

If our listener is to take on additional work, THAT is what it should be: leadership work, not running reports. I’m not knocking the importance of administrative tasks associated with projects, but clearly that’s not where this company wants attention to be, and the manager may be bringing in big assumptions about her past work instead of a fact-based understanding of how her new organization works—and what’s expected of her as a manager at her new workplace, not her former one.

I’m sure it also feels disrespectful if our listener is the only Senior Project Manager being asked to do this extra work—which feels more like white-glove service—for the new manager. I’m equally sure that our listener feels somewhat taken advantage of at this point. It’s one thing to help a new manager ramp-up and onboard; it’s quite another when it’s appears to become an expectation of their job.

Our listener has already done the right thing by going to a trusted mentor and getting some help, but yes, there are additional things to do in the meantime.

The Struggle is Real: Frustration, Disrespect, Untrained Managers

Our listener is right to feel frustrated and disrespected for the extra work their manager is asking them to do in support of their new manager’s onboarding. Yes—it’s important to support new people as they onboard in a new organization, but unless your job is to support your manager’s portfolio data and analysis, which is a legit role but doesn’t seem necessary given all the tools at everyone’s disposal, that cannot become an obligation, especially when that team member is critical talent for leading client initiatives in an organization that is clearly designed to enable the best client experience possible.

There are two dynamics that make this particularly challenging: one is how our listener has morphed into a support role for their new manager, and this cannot be understated. Running reports then tweaking the reports on the whims and needs of a manager is very clearly NOT in the job description of a Senior Project Manager—at least, not in this case, but as a licensed PMP myself, I’d argue it shouldn’t be in the job description of ANY Senior Project Manager. Gone are the days when PMs have to spend 10 hours a week doing work we ALL hate doing: entering data, running reports, analyzing… and anyone who’s been a project manager for longer than 10 years remembers the days before automation (which, let’s face it, is a lot of what AI still is these days), and remembers longing for a new world order where we could shine our lights brightly as leaders and dim or completely turn off the administrative aspects of the role. 

So the first dynamic IS that frustration and disrespect we would ALL feel if a new manager demonstrated such a clear misunderstanding of our role… then assigned us work that individually supported THEM, when it’s work they takes us away from the more critical work we need to attend to AND it’s work they could do… on their own… without… any… help….

The second dynamic goes back to a common theme in Season Six and now this season, Season Seven, as we explore ways to manage the inherent power dynamics that occur simply by way of having a boss. Most bosses are also overloaded, and many have bosses who aren’t great. Remember, most managers never receive management training, either, nor are there clear expectations from an organizational perspective for how to appropriately manage the right performance at the right time as a matter of achieving or exceeding goals. And then they’re thrust into positions where suddenly they have enormous control and influence on the trajectory of an employee’s career while in that company… and sometimes the next company, too.

Managing the Misaligned Manager

So what do you do when you’re in a situation where your manager keeps asking you to do tasks that aren’t a part of your job AND ALSO take you away from your job? Especially when they are more than capable and have to tools to do what they’re asking of you on their own?

First, check in with yourself. How did you get to a place where you’re doing this individually-centered work for your manager where you feel like her personal assistant? And this isn’t to place blame on you or even infer that you should have seen this coming—quite the opposite. It’s to have a greater understanding of what motivates you so that you can determine ways to constructively back out of a situation you probably got into for the sake of someone’s success.

Based on what our listener describes, and what so many of us have experienced, my guess is that our listener puts a lot of attention and energy into making sure others are setup for success. A Servant Leader style is a very common one for successful project managers, especially in highly matrixed organizations where your ability to lead is truly up to who you are. I’ll put some information about Servant Leadership in the show notes—and just so everyone knows, that type of leadership style tends to be the most admired, the most revered, and the most motivating, so take care not to misunderstand the term when someone says Servant Leadership. Even those types can and will be stern, firm, and able to manage poor performance and even fire someone when appropriate. 

So think about why you took on the work to help your new manager in the first place, because that acknowledgement will be what you say to your manager as the starter.

Second, why do you have to stop doing this extra work? Some of it will absolutely be because it simply isn’t your job and after a month or so, it’s time for the manager to take on some of what she’s responsible for doing on her own. But what I’m hearing from our listener is how the extra work of running so many reports is also digging into the time they need to spend with and manage client work. And that’s the second part of what you say to your manager—followed by a quick update of how things are going with your clients so you can model what you prefer your interactions look like.

What Do You Say To Get Back to Your Job?

It might sound like this, “Hi, Manager. How are you doing? You’ve been here for a few weeks now, and I’m glad I was part of your onboarding by providing you with the extra reports you requested.  I think you’ll find that leading in a way that supports goodwill and growth and success of others is a primary part of who I am as a leader, and part of why I love my job so much, leading teams and interfacing with some of our biggest clients. And with that, I’m going to refocus my time back to my client portfolio and provide you with the Helpdesk number, which will be a far better resource for you and any reports you need going forward. This will not only enable me to get back to my client work and meeting or exceeding my goals, but also will enable you to have a team of experts available for whatever you may need going forward.  And speaking of my clients, two of them recently gave our teams big kudos for some great work they did  that I’d like to share with you, and one client that’s up for renewal is asking for a revised proposal, which we’re on track to deliver in two weeks…” (or… whatever good-news-first-then-actual-work-second you can give her)

The structure is to first reiterate what motivated you to help her to begin with, followed by why it’s in the company’s and the client’s best interest to refocus your attention back to your ACTUAL job, who will replace you with the work you’ve been doing, then capped off with what’s going well and what your ACTUAL job looks like—before she can argue whether she still needs you to support her with reports.

What you’ve done is let her know who you are—with boundaries, that you are doing work beyond her world that is REALLY IMPORTANT to the organization (and to HER), who she should go to instead and what she needs to focus on, too: the work. Not the reports.

And of course, know your resources. Our listener is doing the right thing by going to a trusted source at work who can help, but for those of you who may not have that, there are other resources, including the ones I provide in all my shows.

And speaking of that…

Additional Resources

For your resources, located in the show notes, I’m offering four that each touch on a specific aspect of this question that I think will be most helpful:

The first is from Elizabeth Muenzen called, “5 Signs you’re being taken advantage of at work.” It was written in September 2021, and still really relevant. The third sign is what our listener is dealing with—juggling two jobs for the price of one. But the other four are… it’s a great article.

Next up, a brief, instructive, and insightful article by Alison Green called, “How to tell your boss, ‘that’s not my job,’” and she includes a script you can use, too, and this could be MOST helpful beyond what our listener is experiencing: how to clarify your job and responsibilities when you’re the one who consistently does the invisible, non-promotable work. 

I’ve also included an article about Servant Leadership called, “What Is Servant Leadership and How to Apply It,” written by Bethany VanBenschoten. It’s on The National Society of Leadership and Success website.

Last, I’ve included Episode 19 of Ask Christa!, which focuses on different organizational structures and why they each matter. There are times when new managers struggle to understand how flat and/or matrixed organizations operate, so if you find yourself in a situation where you feel your new manager is asking you to do things for them versus for the client and across different functions in support of client success, some of it could be they do not understand how different business structures work. It might seem geeky, but I’ve seen first-hand how different norms are confusing to new employees simply by way of how the organization is structured.

Wrap Up & Submitting Your Question

And there it is, Episode 74 from season seven focused on Dealing with Bad Bosses. Like and subscribe here, but also go to my site and send in YOUR question. It’s AskChrista.com, that’s Christa with a C-H. You’ll also see answers to other questions, listed by category and season, and every season has a theme. As always, thank you for your support. And remember, if you have a business challenge or a workplace issue—Ask Christa!