Multi-bossing
Laut einer Umfrage in der britischen Zeitung The Guardian arbeitet nur jede siebte Assistentin ausschließlich für einen Chef. Und dreifünftel aller Sekretärinnen haben drei oder mehr Vorgesetzte. Lesen Sie, wie Sie mit mehreren Chefs klar kommen.
In the good old days, life in the office was much clearer. You worked for one boss. But more and more companies have been forced to make huge cuts in middle management and in ground-level staff, which includes PAs and secretaries. As a result, many now find themselves multi-bossing – working for more than one boss.
Multi-bossing has its advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages: You are the central contact for many managers and functions.
Disadvantage: You have to juggle the priorities of your several bosses.
For 54 per cent of secretaries, deciding which task takes priority is the biggest challenge of working for more than one boss. Some say they have to split their personalities to work with them.
If you are having difficulties making priorities, try this trick: Keep a logbook open on your desk. Every time one of your bosses asks you to do something, write the task in capital letters in the book. Separate the tasks with a line.
If you are in the middle of writing a report for one boss and another comes in and says “Can you check through these figures, please?”, you write that job down in big letters in your logbook.
But you don’t do it until you have finished the job you’re working on.
Of course, you can also computerise this system, but writing everything down in a book has its advantages.
If one of your bosses calls you into his office to ask about a job, you can take the logbook with you and show him exactly where his job is on the list.