Boss is overwhelmed but won't delegate.

[Anonymous]

OP, I think you are working for my former boss! Some people just can't delegate and/or won't take the time to train anyone to do the processes that could lighten their load, because they have to have control over how everything is done and they really thrive on the drama of saying "I'm so busy! I'm so overwhelmed!".

Get out now and don't waste your career thinking that you're going to move up there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you are working for my former boss! Some people just can't delegate and/or won't take the time to train anyone to do the processes that could lighten their load, because they have to have control over how everything is done and they really thrive on the drama of saying "I'm so busy! I'm so overwhelmed!".

Get out now and don't waste your career thinking that you're going to move up there.

This probably applies to some people I'm sure. But it's not this simple in my case. My job is not a series of "processes" that can be explained. Knowledge is required, the job is complex. I'm not stacking rocks here. Training requires a ton of time. If I had assistants with knowledge, training wouldn't the an issue. It drives me crazy when my own assistant assumes I can train her to do my job like its a process like a recipe. In order for me to train her she would need about five years of industry knowledge to understand what I do. And trust me I'd love her if she had it and I would delegate away. But for now, she is doing administrative tasks that I'm sure bore her silly.
I guess my point is, don't make the mistake of assuming your boss' job is so easy that you could do it and help with a simple explanation and a little training. It comes off as offensive. Just try to learn as much as you can so that you are useful. Do things on your own, proactively, to learn about the big picture (your industry, your department, etc). When you show you are knowledgeable any boss will be willing to hand over work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you are working for my former boss! Some people just can't delegate and/or won't take the time to train anyone to do the processes that could lighten their load, because they have to have control over how everything is done and they really thrive on the drama of saying "I'm so busy! I'm so overwhelmed!".

Get out now and don't waste your career thinking that you're going to move up there.

This probably applies to some people I'm sure. But it's not this simple in my case. My job is not a series of "processes" that can be explained. Knowledge is required, the job is complex. I'm not stacking rocks here. Training requires a ton of time. If I had assistants with knowledge, training wouldn't the an issue. It drives me crazy when my own assistant assumes I can train her to do my job like its a process like a recipe. In order for me to train her she would need about five years of industry knowledge to understand what I do. And trust me I'd love her if she had it and I would delegate away. But for now, she is doing administrative tasks that I'm sure bore her silly.
I guess my point is, don't make the mistake of assuming your boss' job is so easy that you could do it and help with a simple explanation and a little training. It comes off as offensive. Just try to learn as much as you can so that you are useful. Do things on your own, proactively, to learn about the big picture (your industry, your department, etc). When you show you are knowledgeable any boss will be willing to hand over work.

wow. I guarantee you are not as indispensable as you think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you are working for my former boss! Some people just can't delegate and/or won't take the time to train anyone to do the processes that could lighten their load, because they have to have control over how everything is done and they really thrive on the drama of saying "I'm so busy! I'm so overwhelmed!".

Get out now and don't waste your career thinking that you're going to move up there.

This probably applies to some people I'm sure. But it's not this simple in my case. My job is not a series of "processes" that can be explained. Knowledge is required, the job is complex. I'm not stacking rocks here. Training requires a ton of time. If I had assistants with knowledge, training wouldn't the an issue. It drives me crazy when my own assistant assumes I can train her to do my job like its a process like a recipe. In order for me to train her she would need about five years of industry knowledge to understand what I do. And trust me I'd love her if she had it and I would delegate away. But for now, she is doing administrative tasks that I'm sure bore her silly.
I guess my point is, don't make the mistake of assuming your boss' job is so easy that you could do it and help with a simple explanation and a little training. It comes off as offensive. Just try to learn as much as you can so that you are useful. Do things on your own, proactively, to learn about the big picture (your industry, your department, etc). When you show you are knowledgeable any boss will be willing to hand over work.

wow. I guarantee you are not as indispensable as you think you are.

EXACTLY ...my thoughts exactly..

also wanted to +100 that I could have written OPs post down to the 'superstar'!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I have been on the other side of this scenario... as the overwhelmed boss.

I often felt like it would take me more time to explain how to do something than to just do it myself - or to explain all of the pieces of the puzzle.

Two strategies - insert yourself into situations where you can learn more about what's going on and, therefore, be more useful. One thing I learned was to let my assistant sit in on lots of meetings, because then he understands the context, what's going on, etc., and it's easier to hand things off to him. Second strategy - suggest concrete things and describe how you'll do them. (I'd be less interested in your analysis of how it will help me -- what your former boss described -- and more interested in you convincing me that you know what you're doing)

I had an assistant who would stand in my office and NOT LEAVE until I had given her something to do. I loved her.

Ditto on this.
I'm in the exact spot. I am totally overwhelmed and have an assistant who keeps asking for work.
However she has no knowledge of the complexities of the things I need to do. Training her is something I don't have time to do.
So I give her the admin tasks I can but otherwise she's pretty useless to me.
I'd like it if she would get aggressive about learning about what I do, our products and customers and processes and procedures and really dig into my department and our organization. I'd feel much more comfortable delegating.
She definitely pulls the "give me some work and it's going to do xyz for you" but I find it annoying that she thinks my work is so simple that it's a matter of easily handing her a task. It's not.

And not indispensable also applies to this post - you clearly hired the wrong person or need to let go a little bit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, I have been on the other side of this scenario... as the overwhelmed boss.

I often felt like it would take me more time to explain how to do something than to just do it myself - or to explain all of the pieces of the puzzle.

Two strategies - insert yourself into situations where you can learn more about what's going on and, therefore, be more useful. One thing I learned was to let my assistant sit in on lots of meetings, because then he understands the context, what's going on, etc., and it's easier to hand things off to him. Second strategy - suggest concrete things and describe how you'll do them. (I'd be less interested in your analysis of how it will help me -- what your former boss described -- and more interested in you convincing me that you know what you're doing)

I had an assistant who would stand in my office and NOT LEAVE until I had given her something to do. I loved her.

Ditto on this.
I'm in the exact spot. I am totally overwhelmed and have an assistant who keeps asking for work.
However she has no knowledge of the complexities of the things I need to do. Training her is something I don't have time to do.
So I give her the admin tasks I can but otherwise she's pretty useless to me.
I'd like it if she would get aggressive about learning about what I do, our products and customers and processes and procedures and really dig into my department and our organization. I'd feel much more comfortable delegating.
She definitely pulls the "give me some work and it's going to do xyz for you" but I find it annoying that she thinks my work is so simple that it's a matter of easily handing her a task. It's not.

And not indispensable also applies to this post - you clearly hired the wrong person or need to let go a little bit

Exactly, how will people learn if they dont get assignments?? The trick as any good manager knows is to give them tasks that are not in the critical path that can be used as training exercises.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I think you are working for my former boss! Some people just can't delegate and/or won't take the time to train anyone to do the processes that could lighten their load, because they have to have control over how everything is done and they really thrive on the drama of saying "I'm so busy! I'm so overwhelmed!".

Get out now and don't waste your career thinking that you're going to move up there.

This probably applies to some people I'm sure. But it's not this simple in my case. My job is not a series of "processes" that can be explained. Knowledge is required, the job is complex. I'm not stacking rocks here. Training requires a ton of time. If I had assistants with knowledge, training wouldn't the an issue. It drives me crazy when my own assistant assumes I can train her to do my job like its a process like a recipe. In order for me to train her she would need about five years of industry knowledge to understand what I do. And trust me I'd love her if she had it and I would delegate away. But for now, she is doing administrative tasks that I'm sure bore her silly.
I guess my point is, don't make the mistake of assuming your boss' job is so easy that you could do it and help with a simple explanation and a little training. It comes off as offensive. Just try to learn as much as you can so that you are useful. Do things on your own, proactively, to learn about the big picture (your industry, your department, etc). When you show you are knowledgeable any boss will be willing to hand over work.

wow. I guarantee you are not as indispensable as you think you are.

I totally actually think I am completely dispensable. Anyone in any position, even the very top person at any firm, is totally dispensable. Theres not a single person in a single job who is not.
That said, they'd need to find someone with my skill set to replace me. And they certainly couldn't use someone who didn't know anything or have similar experience. Plenty of them out there-but assistants aren't them.

[Anonymous]

I'm another with a boss who whines over and over and over about how overwhelmed she is--and not only does she do a terrible job of delegating, she's also very likely to do the tasks that her employees were hired to do while still whining about not having the time to do the tasks that truly are hers. You cannot get this woman to just back the frick off and do her own job.

Sometimes I feel like I'm dealing with my mother--the martyr syndrome gets so old. Either delegate the damn work (the stuff that you have REPEATEDLY said you want people to take on, but then you never respond when we say "give it to us! we'll do it!") or stop whining and moaning about how overworked you are.

She is also one of those who can be found answering e-mails from 6 am to 2 am seven days a week. I have zero sympathy at this point. I've tried my darndest to do what I can to help, but I'm now done with that. She's happy with my work, and will never fix her scary control issues, and so I have stopped being sucked into her martyrdom-guilt vortex.