Submitted by Tariquen on
in
Forums
Hello everyone,
I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on how to help a colleague.
She works ridiculous hours 7am - 9pm on some days and understandably from that is very negative about her workload, role and the company. She is a very hard worker, lovely person and very experienced and skilled but this situation is crazy and her negativity affects other people's opinions of her.
I'm fairly certain she is a high C and I have gently suggested that maybe some things aren't a priority (she writes a lot of long, unecessary emails and writes up documents in extensive detail) but she says that it is the workload that is the problem and she does not want to work in a less thorough way because that isn't good work. I agree that our workload is very high (we're short staffed at the moment) but I'm just not sure it needs to be this bad.
On a more selfish note I also feel that if I am not working crazy hours with her I am adding to her workload or not working hard enough.
What can I do or say to help her and our team?
nothing
The first thing that hit me was mark's phrase - when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
It sounds like your colleague is not interested in your advice or assistance. You might try peer feedback to get her to knock off the negativity, although I suspect that her "woe is me" approach is a fuel for her own self-validation.
Every definition of a successful life includes service to others - President George H.W. Bush
7-1-2-4
Agree
You should offer some advice, assistance, feedback, coaching, or mentoring. I know lots of people whom I have taught who were working 14 to 15 hour days. Most were giving excuses about the work being done right, some were about waiting out bad traffic, but in the end the people I worked with just needed to hear from someone else that they should work smarter and not harder.
Once upon a time...
I worked with two men in their upper forties...
They listened to music all day and couldn't control their email inbox, working 14 hours a day, and expected me to do the same. But their time wasn't well spent, while mine was. They were my bosses, so no feedback coming from my side of the table.
Moral: Some people don't want to listen. Better to leave it alone.
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DISC 5-2-4-9
"Public opinion is a weak tyrant to that of private thought." HD