Alabama's Morning News with JT
Dr. Ella Washington thinks it could be a bad or a good idea to say no to extra work
This is not my regular job. Normally I'm the program director around here, but sometimes when people take off, I have to fill in. It's a little extra work that I do because it's important that we give you the best stuff we can. And you know, your job, sometimes you have to say yes to extra work, but is that a good idea or not? We're joined by our next guest. She's a work expert, Dr. Ella Washington. Dr. Washington, am I earning points by working late or am I just, you know, I don't know, beating myself to death? - Hey, good morning, everybody. You know, I love how you made that connection to you filling in today. It's one of those things, like you said, that we're all asked to do extra work sometimes. What I would tell you is, you know, first, is this a one-off, which it sounds like it is when someone maybe has to be out occasionally? Or is this every week a current, right? And so that's a differentiator that you want to evaluate. Is this really a favor that you're doing or something that you're stepping in to help the team? Or is this really something that's being added to your plate consistently for your job that maybe you don't want to take along consistently? - Well, there's a line in a lot of people's contracts that says other duties as assigned. So it kind of opens them up to, yeah, I signed up for this, but also we need you to do these things. And it's, in this day and age, it's one of the things, well, I want to keep my job. So I'm going to do all the other duties as assigned. But at the same time, are you, you know, short-changing yourself? Because if you give them, you know, they're essentially paying you to do one thing. You're doing seven at some point, you might say, you know what, I'm worth more. But can you make that argument and what happens? - Listen, I think it's about clear and transparent communication, right? And so when you notice scope creep or what we call changes in your job description, one is the opportunity to have a conversation with whoever your manager is. Like, hey, I've noticed lately that I've been consistently asked to fill in, right, on days off or something of that nature. Can we talk about how, is this something that's aligned with my role and what's expected me in the future? Or was this a certain season and period of time that maybe things will shift back? Beyond that, you want to think about your career strategically big picture, right? What are you looking to accomplish in this season of your career? And what type of activities and tasks support that? And what things may detract from that? Because we only have so many hours in the day. And so if you're being asked to do continuous efforts that are detracting from your overarching goals or those bottom line responsibilities that you'll be evaluated on at the end of the year, you want to be really clear with your management team and have a conversation about how these extra activities may be getting in the way of your actual goals in your role. - And Dr. Washington, that's so true. One of the things I think about is you know, you can be really, really good at one thing and known for doing this one thing really, really well. But then when you do it well, they give you six things to do. And now you're trying to do six things and you do six things poorly. And so now you get the reputation of, that guy can't do anything right. Where it used to be, you just did one thing, but you did it really well. So you have to be careful what that does to your brand as an employee if you try to take on too many things at once. - That's exactly right. You know, they say the reward for good work is more work, right? So while that may be the case, it's important for us to be in the driver's seat of our career and say, hey, I'm excited to take on more work, but I'd love to make sure that work is strategically aligned with these goals of X, Y, and Z that I have for this space in my career. So you're not saying, hey, I'm lazy, I don't wanna do work, but you are saying I wanna make sure my time is well spent and that my skills are being used in the best capacities to help the overall team as opposed to just doing grunt work that may not be leveraging my best skills and abilities. - Very good point. Dr. Ella Washington, thank you so much for joining us.