Protecting yourself and your comfort should come before following undefined expectations.
Everything should be internally communicated
Only communicate within established work parameters. Do not exchange phone numbers unless you’ve agreed to breach work relations and move the relationship into a friendship. All work communications should only be done on approved organization devices for YOUR protection.
But I inherited my team groupchat… Congrats on the promotion but it’s time to progress business relations. Create a professional communications group within Teams, Slack, or any other app that can/should only be accessed while on business property. A good example of this is making a non-cell phone IM group associated with each colleagues’ work email that can only be accessed from computers that are onsite.
Following this, create the expectation and ALLOW THE TIME for team members to transition to reading their daily tasks/news before starting their morning routine.
Establish your voice from the beginning
Work narcissists and ill-suited supervisors are always on the lookout for their next victim. Should I feel uncomfortable with a regular conversation? It feels like they’re asking invisible weighted questions using a casual tone and sharing personal experiences in hopes that I “take my turn” next… Absolutely not.
If it’s not work-related, don’t share it. But they asked about… Nope. Not worth engaging with. Pivot the conversation by asking, “Hey, actually I had a question about this…” or if your boss would take a sentence like that as you not being prepared, use a sentence like, “Hey, how do you feel about reorganizing the office? I think the sunlight would hit my desk better this other way…”
Take advantage of email correspondence
CC everything to your own work email so you can have a daily record of your tasks and communications.
Check your settings that the email you’re set to use wasn’t set to “Auto-delete emails after 30 days” by the administrators before hiring you. After you bring up this weird setting that is grayed out because you don’t have sufficient permissions and your work asks you, Can’t you just untoggle that setting? Why did you do that? Smile through it as they figure out how to use their own computer.
If you are asked to complete a strange request, state your actions conversationally. Example: “Hey, Accounting! I shared the spreadsheet for the event we hosted two months ago. As Supervisor stated, these were supposed to be filed with the summer invoices, different from when I sent them out originally. I am just checking in to see if there has been an update.”
Write down vocal instructions so your boss doesn’t forget what they said
It’s funny the weird or illegal comments they will state and not remember.
Document, document, document and follow up everything with a light note
Is your important email not being answered? “Put me on speaker” is not a professional way to address issues between departments.
Write down important meetings and notes in your personal agenda. After you’re let go for pointing out the disorganization within and putting out fires as they throw leña on, you can reflect on how good of a soldier you were.
“Thank you for meeting with me today about my concerns regarding ____. I hope the plan we made to take the necessary steps to improve ___ can be a permanent protocol following the experiment’s success.”
Have fun at your 4:30 meeting and remember to print your timesheet out.
Genuinely, please, have a great work day! You are valuable and belong where you are wanted and will thrive.
