#3 Learning to Love Reporting

While it may feel like reporting to your boss is just an opportunity to be criticised and micro-managed, reporting is actually a great opportunity for you to position yourself and get ahead. Listen to this episode if reporting is currently a chore for you and learn some insights into why it is so important for you and how to make it easier on yourself.

Transcript

Hi! This is Anita from the Wise Women’s Workplace podcast and Facebook group. Today we are going to talk about reporting and why it is something that you absolutely should learn to love (or at least master!) in order to help you advance in the workplace.  

Backstory (Desires internal and external)

-    I used to hate reporting. But I have learned over time that reporting is so important!  It’s the way your boss knows that you are working on things – important things!

-    And you may be thinking: What else does the boss think I’m doing???? Of course, I’m working!” I know, it can be irritating.

Wall (journey)

-    I wasn’t always asked to report when I was a junior. And I didn’t realize that this was an issue until I started being challenged when I asked for additional resources – like an assistant.

-    I was shocked – I mean I was working hard and doing my best and never rocked the boat. I couldn’t believe my boss was asking me to justify that I needed some extra help to handle the growing workload.

Epiphany (New opportunity)

-    And that’s when I discovered the problem in not reporting. I was a good worker bee – I didn’t cause problems, I did my work well – and I just kind of happily chugged along with things. And even though my boss was really happy with my work, I didn’t get why he didn’t want to give me an assistant.

-    There is no denying that bosses love worker bees – they love it when everything is going along super smoothly and they don’t need to get involved in the daily detailed operations. But – as I discovered - there is a big danger in this for you – I call it the Office Gnomes Fallacy.  You know, when you are thinking “why does my boss keep giving me more to do?!?!?! Who does she think does all of the extra work in addition to my regular workload?” The Office Gnomes are what I call those extra employees that are doing all of the work that you keep accepting in your effort to show you can do it all. Do the office gnomes exist? No! They are just you putting in the extra effort and hours and leading you to burn out. And your boss probably has no idea. And you can’t really blame your boss for that – because your boss may not have a good idea of what else you are working on or what it entails if you aren’t reporting regularly. They just know that you are someone who takes on more and more and magically seems to get things done in addition to all of your usual work. And then when you lose patience or your work quality suffers, your boss suddenly thinks there is something wrong with you. 

The Plan

-    How can you solve this? By better reporting. Or by starting to report if you don’t usually do so already.

The Conflict

-    I know, some people really dread reporting, but it is actually an opportunity if done the right way.

-    Maybe it has happened to you that when the boss asks about what you’re doing, it may feel like they’re micro-managing you, or doubting your competency, just waiting to criticize what you are doing -  Or maybe you think they are going to want to “discuss” every single thing you include on your list as a method of controlling your every move. I get it – especially if your boss is a control freak.

-    But often your boss really needs to have information: both on how things are going and because they need to be able to report it further up-line.

-    If you feel like you are being judged like a kid in school, you may need to think critically about how you’re reporting.  You need to give some thought about how to make your reporting effective and useful.

Achievement

-    This episode is about the benefits of reporting and so I am only going to highlight how you can start looking at things differently. But there will be a future episode about reporting up and will give some specific examples – even if you are in a job where your tasks are very repetitive.

-    I want to tell you these three things about reporting:

1) The truth is that the boss probably doesn’t know as much about the details as you think, even if your boss was promoted through the system and was intimately familiar with the ins-and-outs of the job. As they manage more work and their attention is spent on other things, they lose touch with the details of the tasks that you are carrying out and things evolve over time so your boss needs regular reassurance that things are going well. This doesn’t mean they are doubting you, but it could mean they don’t feel totally secure about what needs to be done and if it is indeed getting done correctly.

-    In fact, sometimes a worker is so good at what they do, that the boss can’t notice what’s going on because things are running well and very little is being reported. That is not a great idea- because we are back to the office gnomes scenario. And it is likely that higher up people don’t know what you or your team are working on.

-    When it isn’t reported, it’s like it wasn’t done. I know – that is perhaps an exaggeration – but if you think about it a little more you may see what I mean. You are making sure things run smoothly but all of that effort somehow becomes a vague information about what you are doing.  You know, like “it’s on track” is used to describe all of the tasks that fill your days to make something work?

2) Reporting allows you to talk – OK bragg just a little – about what you are doing and in a way which is totally acceptable!

- Reporting allows you to highlight work accomplished, bring up potential issues that are arising, and to remind your boss of all of the regular work that you are doing in addition to the special projects that you are working on together.

- There should be no friction with colleagues when you report if you don’t overexaggerate or try to show anyone else up. In fact, you may find others start to report in a similar way. And this is a good thing – in your team you’ll understand better what everyone is doing and why. And if you have someone who exaggerates their numbers or the reach of what they do – the boss will likely notice it.

- And if you do have a micromanaging boss, regular reporting will likely get them off your back! Just try it.

3) You have to look at it from the boss’s perspective.

-    When you take the time to think about how your work contributes to your organization’s success, and then you report on it that way, this will show you understand why you’re doing what you are doing.

-    This helps your boss report higher up about what you are doing and how you and your department are contributing to the success of the organization. The details of your work are no longer a black box and your results become very tangible.

Transformation

-    If you are listening to this podcast, you are likely trying to improve yourself at work. Make sure to respect all of your effort and the work that you do – the contribution you make to your organization’s success – by using reporting as a way to demonstrate what you are doing.

-    It will go a long way in showing others why the work that you do is important. Believe me, higher ups will recognize that you are one to watch going forward.

So, here are three things to keep in mind about reporting:

1) The work done by “worker bees” often goes unnoticed – not intentionally but because your boss may not know in detail what you do on a daily basis.

2) Reporting allows you to set the work that you do in the best light and validates the effort you are putting into your tasks every day.

3) When you report with authority about how you are contributing to the success of the organization, your boss will see the work that you do with more concrete value.   

I hope this helps you look at reporting in a positive light and allows you to see how reporting is a fantastic tool to help you show how you are helping your organization. It may even help you see even more how the work that you do is important. You spend a significant amount of time and energy at work and I hope that you respect that contribution that you make!

As I mentioned, there will be a future episode dedicated to techniques on reporting up – so if you aren’t sure the best way to implement this, make sure to check that out.

-    Also, I invite you to join the Wise Women’s Workplace Facebook Group to be part of a free - but valuable community of women helping each other in the workplace.

-    And finally, remember to subscribe to the podcast if you want to be informed when more podcasts are available with more tips on how to become a sought-after employee. There are many more helpful tips on the way. In the meantime, take care of yourself and be wise!