Working World

I work a small business with four employees, and I’m the one everyone goes to when problems arise. This leaves me tired and behind on my work. One night I slept badly and was extremely irritable the next morning. I took this state of mind into work with me and ended up making all my coworkers angry. How can I avoid this happening again?

The bonus of having such a small staff means that you all probably know each other better than people working in a big corporation. As such, you should feel comfortable just being honest with them.

In the future, call your staff together and say you had a bad night’s sleep and you’re cranky and that there’s nothing wrong with your health, your life or even your pets; you’re simply tired.

Set up some boundaries for the day and tell them you’re going to keep your door closed so you can focus on your own deadlines, and if they have any questions come up that don’t need immediate or face-to-face attention they can email them to you so you can answer them when you’re ready. This way you can at least focus on your own work and temporarily leave your problem-solving duties on the backburner.

As for always being Mr. Reliable, set some parameters about who’s the backstop for what. Assign some supervisory authority to the employee who’s been there the longest. Give her the right to make decisions about things she knows well, with instructions to come to you if she needs help.

Regarding the current remediation, a peace offering of muffins, fruit or chocolate usually works!   


Your Jewish Fairy Godmother is available to anyone with a question about coping with contemporary life. She's clever. She's wise. She's relentless. She cares. And she's on your side. Everybody needs one.

1 COMMENTS

• Catherine Rhodes

  Supervisors don't need to feel they are always on call for their staff. Establishing boundaries is an important part of being an effective manager.

  Aug 25, 2009