Whose Job is it Anyway?

Ever feel like you’re stuck in a never-ending cycle of to-do lists, doing everything for everyone, and wondering where your own tasks have gone? Jane Taylor talks about this all-too-familiar situation

We all have parts of our jobs that need interaction with others.  You know – the orders, invoices, students – in fact most of it! But there are the times when you need to do something in order that another person can get on and do their part. There are other times, when someone asks you to do something that is not really your job, but you just do it. Either to get it done, make them happy, see the team is busy or just because. It reminded me of the poem – Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

This is a little story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody.
There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.
Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.
Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.
Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.
It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done

Is There Light at the End of the Tunnel?

This took me down a little rabbit warren.

We all have our own to-do-lists that are never ending. We think that there is a light at the end of tunnel and keep ticking them off in the hope that we will get to the end.  But it’s all a mirage, in fact it really is just quicksand. No matter how much you do the to do list will always be there. Plus, the more we do for others we only add to our to do list. In the end we are not only taking on more and more, but we end up feeling like we are achieving less.

We all have our own job descriptions, what is expected of us and what we are measured (performance management) against. These could be seen as our overarching to do list or really the main objectives. The day-to-day to-do-list is therefore just action points to get the job description done. The to-do-list is just eating that elephant chunk by chunk because no one can eat a whole elephant in one go.

Let Go of the Little Extras

So instead of taking on the ‘little extras’ we need to stop and think about what is needed. We need to ensure that we know whose job it is. We need to find what has already been done, or what is planned and when. We need to offer support or direction if needed. We need to delegate if appropriate. We need to ensure completion.

Most of us usually work as part of a team and we all have our roles to play. If we continue to just take on more and more, we are not providing our teams with opportunities to learn and grow. If we continue to just get on with it, then we risk demoralising others and destabilising our own mental wellbeing. We are usually very quick to offer words of wisdom and encouragement to others – but do we take the time to think and reflect and take our own medicine?

At the end of the day, you need to be true to you.  Remember, you cannot be everyone’s cup of tea, or else you’d be a mug.