Is Your Manager Unreasonable?

One of the biggest causes of stress at work is feeling that your workload is unrealistic and unachievable, given to you by a manager you find unapproachable and unreasonable.

-- Notice all the ‘uns’ in that sentence? Let’s try it again, without them:

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One of the biggest causes of <YOU FILL IN THE BLANK> at work is feeling that your workload is realistic and achievable, given to you by a manager you find approachable and reasonable.

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This would be much better to aim for. But how can you get there?

In order for your workload to become realistic and achievable (assuming you are proficient at your job), you need to feel able to have honest, frank conversations with your manager. So, the RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN YOU is the most important factor here.

It is important to point out the key words in the first sentence: “…by a manager YOU FIND unapproachable and unreasonable…” It doesn’t mean they are an entirely unapproachable / unreasonable person. It means that YOU experience them in this way, in a professional context. A professional relationship works both ways. Perhaps the working relationship between you could be improved if you tried approaching your own communication style in a different way?

The topic of ‘managing up’ is a complex one, with many dimensions. Being able to talk through the situation with an impartial, objective 3rd party can be a healthy way to explore how you relate to your manager and why you might experience them as unreasonable. There may be a variety of reasons why you don’t feel you can talk to them to address your workload.

From there, you might be able to look at different ways of communicating with them, including the way you prepare for meetings, the way you present information to them, whether you could change the tone of your e-mails to them, and more.

If you can relate to the statement above, and it is causing you more and more stress, then Purpose sessions could be a great way to work through the problem and come up with effective strategies to address it. Please get in touch for a confidential discussion!