Have you ever had a workmate who always feels that every task should be done right away. Those people who just do everything so fast that they expect you to do the same. It can be very stressful especially if their task is tied with yours. Especially so when they start bugging you “are you done with this yet?”, “This is urgent, you should have finished this yesterday”, “I can’t wait any longer, can you finish it now?”, “I’ll check back in 15 minutes”. Sure, these people can be very productive and are often the most committed to their work, but it’s important that they understand that not everyone has the same pace in finishing a certain task. So here’s how you can professionally handle this sticky situation
Check the urgency of the task
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When a task is handed to you, always check if the task is really urgent, or if it’s important but can wait. There are many companies, wherein everything is considered “urgent”, but believe me, there are tasks that are always more of a priority than the others.
Speed is always good, but organization is more important. Rushing won’t give you the best results and can make you prone to mistakes–and in the engineering industry, this can cause you a lot of money.
If your crazy colleague forces you to put his/her task ahead of others, study the task at hand first check the priority. If their task is indeed most urgent, then take a moment to collect your thoughts and plan how you can make things run smoother and then get into action. If it isn’t that urgent, explain to your colleague that you have more urgent matters to fix, and that you’ll do their requested task once you’ve finished your more urgent ones.
Talk to your colleague
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Sometimes, these energy-brimming teammates don’t understand that not everyone has their kind of level of energy towards work. They don’t intend to stress you, but they are unconsciously. So if it’s going too overboard, then it’s time to talk to them about how their attitude is too stressful and that you can’t work with them poking pressure at you with their task.
Give them a timeline and update them
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Sometimes, people nag about tasks when their expectations aren’t managed. There are tasks wherein yours are tied with theirs. It’s those kinds of tasks wherein theirs only start when yours is done. In this case, be courteous enough to update them with your task from time to time, so that they will also be able to pace themselves with their schedule.
Learn to say NO
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This is one of the most difficult things employees should learn: when and when not to say “NO”. Always analyze the situation you are in when you are handed a task. If you are filled with urgent work that needs to be done and can’t handle any more, why should you accept another task? This is why it’s important to know the level of priority of all your daily tasks, this way you’ll be able to classify which tasks should be done ASAP and which could be rescheduled.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t help your colleague, maybe try to suggest a different person for the task, or negotiate with the schedule. If they ask for too much and you feel that you need to help them but you still have a lot of work to do, you can say that you can only do a part of t it, and give your own deadline. Always try to be nice, you’re all in this together after all.
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