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[hegemony]

It is also true that the most competent and conscientious get the big jobs.  Because people know they'll get them done, even if they have to work 14-hour days.  Part of the solution is not to bungle things exactly, but to be less conscientious.  Depending on your position, you should indicate some of that, as LarryC notes.  "If I take that on, it will take X hours per week. I'll have to just rubber-stamp the Y without reading it thoroughly.  Or did you have a preference as to which one you want done at length?"  The two big skills are saying No and streamlining everything you can't say no to.  You should be aiming for 8-hour days, as a matter of urgency. 

[mingus]

Crumpet, in your original post you hint that you are on the verge of quitting. If that is really the case, you could try first to jettison some of your duties. "Look, boss, I am working 16 hours a day and can't keep it up. I have to give up either A and B, or C. Which should it be? Or do you want me to choose?"

This is only a good strategy if you really are willing to walk away.

Unless the job is largely an admin one, he/she is in no danger of losing it on the basis of admin incompetence.  He/she is probably getting overloaded because he/she takes such things seriously and tries to do the best job possible.   Time of offload it to some of the bums :-)

[crumpet]

Crumpet, in your original post you hint that you are on the verge of quitting. If that is really the case, you could try first to jettison some of your duties. "Look, boss, I am working 16 hours a day and can't keep it up. I have to give up either A and B, or C. Which should it be? Or do you want me to choose?"

This is only a good strategy if you really are willing to walk away.

Unless the job is largely an admin one, he/she is in no danger of losing it on the basis of admin incompetence.  He/she is probably getting overloaded because he/she takes such things seriously and tries to do the best job possible.   Time of offload it to some of the bums :-)

Thanks both. I am feeling like I'll leave my current post if this work load doesn't stop. I can't (and won't) continue to live like this.

I've succeeded in some level of offloading but more needs to happen (especially given some onloading yesterday!). I'm going to try out being Hard, No-Saying Crumpet and see how it goes.

Larryc, you also give excellent advice about how to phrase things. I'll give that a whorl and see how it goes.

[scotia]

The job that really scares me is HoD.  My own HoD keeps encouraging me to apply for promotion (to professor), but even if I had any reasonable chance for this (I don't) I wouldn't go for it -- it would mean becoming HoD in pretty short order, and I'd rather pluck my own eyeballs out. 

At my place they have a solution to that - they appoint SLs as HoDs. Six months and 15 days to freedom......

I can only agree that the competence trap is a very deep one, particularly in departments with few staff where one incompetent can cause a disproportionate rise in work for those who have to pick up the pieces.

Just bungle one or two of those admin jobs.   They'll leave you alone after that.   

This is (of course) terrible advice.  It's true that they might leave you alone.  But there will also be resentment and disappointment. 

I am aware of places where you will not even be left alone. Where budgets are tight, unless they are untouchable because of major research grants, incompetents and those who shirk service tasks will find themselves being subject to things like 'performance management' and regular reviews.

[qrypt]

The job that really scares me is HoD.  My own HoD keeps encouraging me to apply for promotion (to professor), but even if I had any reasonable chance for this (I don't) I wouldn't go for it -- it would mean becoming HoD in pretty short order, and I'd rather pluck my own eyeballs out. 

At my place they have a solution to that - they appoint SLs as HoDs. Six months and 15 days to freedom......

I can only agree that the competence trap is a very deep one, particularly in departments with few staff where one incompetent can cause a disproportionate rise in work for those who have to pick up the pieces.

Just bungle one or two of those admin jobs.   They'll leave you alone after that.   

This is (of course) terrible advice.  It's true that they might leave you alone.  But there will also be resentment and disappointment. 

I am aware of places where you will not even be left alone. Where budgets are tight, unless they are untouchable because of major research grants, incompetents and those who shirk service tasks will find themselves being subject to things like 'performance management' and regular reviews.

Oh, if I wanted to do it then being a mere SL wouldn't be an obstacle.  The difference is that I can actually decline it, while professors aren't allowed to do that, it can be foisted on them.

Since we have more than our fair share of incompetents in my department (some were born that way, others are just pretending), I've been hoping to see more of this "performance management"... 

[crumpet]

We had a completely incompetent HoD in post for two years, which is one of (probably THE) major reasons why I am in the present predicament. The infuriating thing is that s/he now has some time off because s/he was so incompetent. Why to they reward these people?

[scotia]

We had a completely incompetent HoD in post for two years, which is one of (probably THE) major reasons why I am in the present predicament. The infuriating thing is that s/he now has some time off because s/he was so incompetent. Why to they reward these people?

A question I have asked myself. I have a former head of something big in my department who was given a yearlong sabbatical after being ousted/stepping down (depending on who you talk to). The sabbatical was supposedly so he could get his research back on track. At the moment, and more than two years after this leave, he seems to have nothing REFable, and yet whenever I need him to do something he claims to be doing something for some research project or other. I am not clear why he did not take a retirement package when the university offered it, except that he seems to be paid a prof's salary for being semi-retired now (in his defence, he is a conscientious teacher, but his hours are not exacting).

And to be clear, my place does not yet seem to be implementing performance management (like qrypt, I would welcome it) but I know one of my friends is enjoying watching some of her less conscientious colleagues come under pressure.

[babbinacara]

We had a completely incompetent HoD in post for two years, which is one of (probably THE) major reasons why I am in the present predicament. The infuriating thing is that s/he now has some time off because s/he was so incompetent. Why to they reward these people?

Because the opposite of the competence trap is the incompetence balloon.

I am currently "organising" a committee that is heavily populated by professors, one of whom is the actual chair. I'm mid-career but still the youngest person on this ctte by about a decade. This one I am actually enjoying, since I care about the eventual outcome of what we are doing and know the most about it, so I get to push the profs around like little toy cars. It would not be so bad if all admin were all like this.

[snape]

The reward for good work is more work. It may be that your colleagues do not know how much work you are doing.

Are you overworking with your admin tasks? Sometimes these things need to be done rather than done well.

[alleyoxenfree]

The reward for good work is more work. It may be that your colleagues do not know how much work you are doing.

Are you overworking with your admin tasks? Sometimes these things need to be done rather than done well.

I agree about learning how to do things, rather than doing them well.  The latter is absolutely default mode for many of us and has to be actively resisted, like an addiction.  Learn to finish up, not to achieve on inessential things.

Rather than thinking of the rest as learning to say no, learn to say yes - to 1 out of 3 things.  As others have said upthread, say, "I'd be happy to do one of those, which is all I have time for.  Which of them do you think would be most valuable or important right now, given my particular skills?"  Get them thinking about the fact that you have skills more important that you should have time for, you're cooperative and a 'yes' person, but a real, finite person nonetheless.  How would they best like to deploy you at this very moment?  Maybe later you can switch to a different task.

In the meantime, they can assign someone else or they can table things.  It is astonishing what things can be put off.  I also find it astonishing the way that many academics cannot master the 1-minute meeting concept.  Really, an hour to decide on the seminar topic for next year?  Take a piece of paper, write down three things, everyone gets 30 seconds to lobby, secret vote, boom, you're done.

[crumpet]

The reward for good work is more work. It may be that your colleagues do not know how much work you are doing.

Are you overworking with your admin tasks? Sometimes these things need to be done rather than done well.

I'm not too perfectionist about my admin tasks (I think!) but I'm going to try to dial it back even more. I realize I need to just stop the madness on my own since my department won't help.

I think people kind of know how much work I'm doing but tend to down-play it. Its a bit infuriating at times, especially because those who downplay it tend to be doing less work than others...sighs...

[mangrove]

Nothing of substance to add, but lots of support and empathy for you.

mg.

[observer3]

If you need some help saying no, talk to your GP.

It is possible to get a letter from your GP (at a small cost) that is addressed to your line manager and says that because you are being treated for something the doctor has recommended that your workload be discussed.

I got one of these and it made me feel a lot better. I didn't end up using it because some of the more chaotic stuff passed. But I got the letter when I was about where you are. Having it in the drawer, ready to whip out as protection, made me feel safe. Because this is the country of health and safety, I think they would have backed down on giving me more work if I brandished that letter. We would then be in HR territory.

Of course, it is likely a bit better to just learn to say no. I found this easier when I felt I had some written backup from my GP.

[crumpet]

If you need some help saying no, talk to your GP.

It is possible to get a letter from your GP (at a small cost) that is addressed to your line manager and says that because you are being treated for something the doctor has recommended that your workload be discussed.

I got one of these and it made me feel a lot better. I didn't end up using it because some of the more chaotic stuff passed. But I got the letter when I was about where you are. Having it in the drawer, ready to whip out as protection, made me feel safe. Because this is the country of health and safety, I think they would have backed down on giving me more work if I brandished that letter. We would then be in HR territory.

Of course, it is likely a bit better to just learn to say no. I found this easier when I felt I had some written backup from my GP.

Wow! I really like this idea. I think that this would work well for me, actually. Feeling like I have legitimate reasons to say 'no' in the form of a doctor's note might help me learn how to do that better.

Thanks for the idea. I may give that a try as I have to go to my GP soon anyway (and have been putting it off due to work -- no more!).

[totoro]

Sadly, I figured I would have a few kindred over-admined people out there.

I'm trying to practice saying no. Its difficult.

Are you all new-ish hires as well? I wonder if this is hitting us particularly hard because of that...

I think you need to go to your head of department and discuss reallocation of part of your admin load to others. The usual rule is to give lecturers/assistant profs fairly minimal admin loads to let them build their research profile. But I have heard of lecturers in the UK complaining about high admin loads...