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Unreasonable boss
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Hi Pixiebean
I just wanted to say that I do sympathise with your predicament. I had a past boss, who, although I was not in fact hired to be his PA, treated me as such. He also was so totally absorbed in his own workload and responsibilities that he had no comprehension, or indeed interest, in other people's workload or responsibilities. As in your situation, he would often ask me to start a task at 3.30pm and expect it to be finished that day. Often it would be 3-4 hours worth of work, but because he had no interest in 'how' you did things he had no understanding that what he was asking was not a 2 hour job. If you pointed out to him 'but it will take at least 4 hours to complete and it's 3.30 now so I can't finish it before end of day' he would reply and say 'well just start it and do what you can' but often these tasks would be the sort that are better tackled in one go, otherwise it actually ends up double work. Like you, despite gentle reminders he just never got it.
So I absolutely get it when you say the softly softly approach won't work.
However, I do think you are making things more difficult for your self in your choice of approach. I don't say this to be critical, just to advise. I also understand that you are understandably frustrated by your boss, and this of course affects how you respond.
Just from my point of view a few things that did help:
I became proactive. Each Monday I would ask my boss (or email him if he was not in the office) and give him a quick summary of my tasks for the week and how they were priortised - i.e things with a deadline. I would then ask him to reply with any known issues to be factored in for the week. This did not stop him dropping things on me last minute, but it did significantly reduce it happening. Also it was a paper trail to cover my own arse should it ever be an issue. I also insisted on a reply from him with a list of things to be done - even if they were only provisional. That way I would have at least a half idea of what jobs were waiting and what length of time they took (although he would have no concept of this as he thought every admin task took 30 mins!) I know in the environment OP works in this is not always possible, but I also think that a big part of the problem are not 'last minute' tasks but are tasks that are left until the last minute, which are very different.
I insisted on a fortnightly admin meeting (I wanted weekly but he was having none of it he wanted monthly, so fortnightly was the compromise). At this meeting again we would discuss generally what projects were coming up, due for completion etc and that gave me the chance to explain to him that certain tasks would probably take X amount of time (i.e not 30 mins). I would then draft a brief email confirming everything straight afterwards.
On days when I had to leave at a certain time, I would remind him of this in the morning, and sometimes again at lunchtime. In the morning it would be in the format of 'just reminding you, I'm off at 5.30 today'. He would often mumble, 'oh yeah, sure' but it was in one ear, out the other. I would then go to him at lunch and just say 'if there is anything you need doing can you let me know now as I can't stay late tonight'.
If I knew it was a busy period coming up, I would give him a list of nights I could not work late. End of. He would be given this list in plenty of notice.
To limit the number of nights I 'could' work late I enrolled in an evening course. I also started getting the bus more often as this limited how late I could stay. I did these things as my own work ethic would be such that I hate leaving a job unfinished and in the beginning I often stayed late to finish something, but got no extra thanks or even TOIL for it. By having a firm reason and also one that was regular it meant that he finally got the message that Monday and Wednesday nights I was gone on time. Funnily enough on Monday and wednesday he always managed to get work to me earlier than the rest of the week :rolleyes: Even if you don't have an evening course or something, then why not fib? I understand you wanting to keep your personal life private, and there is legitimacy in the argument 'why should my boss deem some appointments neccessary and others not'. But regardless of right or wrong, bosses like yours will respond better if you give a reason. So if you don't want to give personal info, tell her you have enrolled in an evening course or something and are unavailable on X and Y night for the foreseeable future. Sometimes you just have to play along, even if it means telling fibs.
I know all this managing up is in itself is time consuming, and I would say that 30% of my time was spent managing my manager, but it was better than spending 100% of my time playing catch up and working extra hours.
As a PA, a big part of your job is not just assisting your boss, but it is actually organising them and directing their time as necessary. In a way the PA is the person managing the manager and making sure they allocate enough time to the tasks at hand. The ability to basically keep your boss on track and keep their schedule balancing is a really tough skill, but it is the most vital of all skills a PA has. This is why I know I could never do the job. After 18 mths with the boss I mentioned, and having to be his PA and manage-up so much, and basically nag at him (although disguised as something else
) I had enough. Some bosses need a VERY firm hand to knock them into shape and there are not many people able to deal with such people. In some cases you need to accept defeat and move on. And while you wait for your opportunity to move on, all you can do in the meantime is manage-upwards, and lead by example. At least that way, even if they don't get the hint, they won't have any opportunity to discipline you for their own shortcomings.
These are just some of my thoughts on the matter - how useful you find them I don't know. But if I were you I would be asking myself if a move out of the PA area would be a good move? Of all the PA's I know, they have all had at least one if not more boss who was not unlike yours and took a firm hand to keep in line. If the thoughts of that fills you with dread (as it does me) then a move into more general admin might be better. It might be a drop in money, but the level of stress would also be lower.0 -
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Little Ted wrote: »Just from my point of view a few things that did help:
I became proactive. Each Monday I would ask my boss (or email him if he was not in the office) and give him a quick summary of my tasks for the week and how they were priortised - i.e things with a deadline. I would then ask him to reply with any known issues to be factored in for the week. This did not stop him dropping things on me last minute, but it did significantly reduce it happening. Also it was a paper trail to cover my own arse should it ever be an issue. I also insisted on a reply from him with a list of things to be done - even if they were only provisional. That way I would have at least a half idea of what jobs were waiting and what length of time they took (although he would have no concept of this as he thought every admin task took 30 mins!) I know in the environment OP works in this is not always possible, but I also think that a big part of the problem are not 'last minute' tasks but are tasks that are left until the last minute, which are very different.
I insisted on a fortnightly admin meeting (I wanted weekly but he was having none of it he wanted monthly, so fortnightly was the compromise). At this meeting again we would discuss generally what projects were coming up, due for completion etc and that gave me the chance to explain to him that certain tasks would probably take X amount of time (i.e not 30 mins). I would then draft a brief email confirming everything straight afterwards.
On days when I had to leave at a certain time, I would remind him of this in the morning, and sometimes again at lunchtime. In the morning it would be in the format of 'just reminding you, I'm off at 5.30 today'. He would often mumble, 'oh yeah, sure' but it was in one ear, out the other. I would then go to him at lunch and just say 'if there is anything you need doing can you let me know now as I can't stay late tonight'.
If I knew it was a busy period coming up, I would give him a list of nights I could not work late. End of. He would be given this list in plenty of notice.
To limit the number of nights I 'could' work late I enrolled in an evening course. I also started getting the bus more often as this limited how late I could stay. I did these things as my own work ethic would be such that I hate leaving a job unfinished and in the beginning I often stayed late to finish something, but got no extra thanks or even TOIL for it. By having a firm reason and also one that was regular it meant that he finally got the message that Monday and Wednesday nights I was gone on time. Funnily enough on Monday and wednesday he always managed to get work to me earlier than the rest of the week :rolleyes: Even if you don't have an evening course or something, then why not fib? I understand you wanting to keep your personal life private, and there is legitimacy in the argument 'why should my boss deem some appointments neccessary and others not'. But regardless of right or wrong, bosses like yours will respond better if you give a reason. So if you don't want to give personal info, tell her you have enrolled in an evening course or something and are unavailable on X and Y night for the foreseeable future. Sometimes you just have to play along, even if it means telling fibs.
I know all this managing up is in itself is time consuming, and I would say that 30% of my time was spent managing my manager, but it was better than spending 100% of my time playing catch up and working extra hours.
As a PA, a big part of your job is not just assisting your boss, but it is actually organising them and directing their time as necessary. In a way the PA is the person managing the manager and making sure they allocate enough time to the tasks at hand. The ability to basically keep your boss on track and keep their schedule balancing is a really tough skill, but it is the most vital of all skills a PA has. This is why I know I could never do the job. After 18 mths with the boss I mentioned, and having to be his PA and manage-up so much, and basically nag at him (although disguised as something else ) I had enough. Some bosses need a VERY firm hand to knock them into shape and there are not many people able to deal with such people. In some cases you need to accept defeat and move on. And while you wait for your opportunity to move on, all you can do in the meantime is manage-upwards, and lead by example. At least that way, even if they don't get the hint, they won't have any opportunity to discipline you for their own shortcomings.
These are just some of my thoughts on the matter - how useful you find them I don't know. But if I were you I would be asking myself if a move out of the PA area would be a good move? Of all the PA's I know, they have all had at least one if not more boss who was not unlike yours and took a firm hand to keep in line. If the thoughts of that fills you with dread (as it does me) then a move into more general admin might be better. It might be a drop in money, but the level of stress would also be lower.
In relation to your first paragraph, while helpful, it is something I already do. I think every P.A. undertakes these tasks, I know I have in every job I've had. Everyday I e-mail my boss with a full list of our upcoming important dates (statute dates, court dates etc.), once a week I e-mail her my "to do" list and her "to do" list I also advise her of any threatened motions etc. (i.e. work that can be done on the backburner) and I e-mail her everyone's task list so she knows exactly what is going on and what has to be done and what everybody in the office is doing. Once a week we go through all the above and add anything new and put everything in order of priority.
In relation to your second paragraph, see above, we meet once a week to discuss everything in the office.
Believe me, I am a very organised P.A. and have worked for far busier people than her very successfully.
In relation to your third paragraph, I have provided examples of situations when I have told her I have to leave by x time and she still insists on keeping me late, the evening she kept me 45 minutes late, when I had a train to catch and she knew I had a train to catch, being a perfect example.
I handle the calendar for the entire office, this means that I am aware of every court date ahead of time, those are our busy periods. I always make myself available for court, obviously, it's a huge part of my job, I am not allowed to take time off during the provincial high court sessions for example. However, I cannot preempt everything.
In 2011 I applied for and was accepted onto the legal studies course in WIT. This is an evening course, 2 nights a week. It did not run because of insufficient numbers. Unfortunately, it did run last year but I was not in a position to enrol as I was still out of work and on crutches due to my accident and taking on anything else at the time was completely out of my reach. I fully intend to apply again this year and hope that the course does run.
I've worked as a P.A. for 8 years now. Everything that you have outlined in your post are things that I already undertake to ensure that the office runs as smoothly as possible, any glitches in the matrix are certainly not down to me. Unfortunately, this woman just does not want to be organised.
Finally, as I have said numerous times now, of course a different job (in the same field, I'm very good at what I do) would be the ideal solution but unfortunately, with only one person in my house working (the other in college) leaving this job is not an option at the moment.0 -
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This discussion has been closed.
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