{"id":775298,"date":"2025-03-06T08:43:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T08:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=775298"},"modified":"2025-03-06T09:02:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T09:02:40","slug":"the-coach-how-can-i-figure-out-whats-really-going-on-workload-wise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/opinion\/the-coach-how-can-i-figure-out-whats-really-going-on-workload-wise","title":{"rendered":"The Coach: How can I figure out what\u2019s really going on, workload-wise?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I manage someone in our practice who is telling me their workload is too much. Though I am not directly in charge of all his activity, I am not quite so sure that the workload isn\u2019t manageable, but he is insisting. How can I figure out what\u2019s really going on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I suggest paying attention to what you are able to confidently assess. If you know from those projects that he has a strong work ethic, works efficiently, has good judgment, and is resourceful in solving problems, you can probably extrapolate from that knowledge to trust his judgment on the rest of his work. On the other hand, if this part of the workload seems off, it\u2019s reasonable to conclude that the rest may be, too.<\/p>\n

However, don\u2019t jump to conclusions. Sit down with your colleague and really dig into what the workload looks like. How long does each type of task that he\u2019s responsible for take? Why? How is his time getting allocated? What roadblocks is he running into? By asking these types of questions, you might discover that work is taking much longer because he is dependent on another team member (and then you might be able to address that with them). Or that there are excellent and unavoidable reasons that projects take longer than you thought they would; you may glean any number of other insights.<\/p>\n

In this conversation you\u2019ll get the best results if you don\u2019t put your colleague on the defensive. Make sure to convey that you want to collaboratively problem-solve; you are not trying to catch him out.<\/p>\n

Make a point of asking whether there are trade-offs that could allow work to be accomplished more quickly. For example, you might find out that 85 per cent of a particular project is fine but the other 15 per cent takes much longer, and it might be reasonable to handle that 15 per cent differently (streamlining it, pushing it back, or even cutting it entirely).<\/p>\n

Or you might find that there are other shortcuts your colleague could be taking, or that \u2018good enough\u2019 would be sufficient and perfection isn\u2019t necessary, but that he didn\u2019t realise that would be okay with you. Managers often assume that employees will point out potential shortcuts or ways to streamline a project on their own, but colleagues can think that if those shortcuts were an option, you would have said so earlier.<\/p>\n

If you do the above, you\u2019ll have significantly more information to inform your thinking, and you should be much better positioned to assess whether your backlogged colleague is indeed facing an unrealistic workload or whether there are other issues to resolve, such as a need for better systems, more training. Or, of course, you may find there may be a performance problem at the root of this.<\/p>\n

AJ Coach Matthew Turner is an architect and careers consultant who runs the Building on Architecture consultancy. Email him in confidence at <\/i>hello@buildingonarchitecture.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I manage someone in our practice who is telling me their workload is too much. Though I am not directly in charge of all his activity, I am not quite so sure that the workload isn\u2019t manageable, but he is insisting. How can I figure out what\u2019s really going on? 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