A reader writes:
My desk is (shamefully) extraordinarily messy, each with crumbs and stray papers. I clear it as soon as every week, however I’m not a naturally neat individual. Nonetheless, my direct report, Lauren, could be very neat and loves bodily media. If I ship her a Slack message, she’ll present up at my desk with a Put up-It word. She retains placing issues on my desk for me to overview, anticipating that I’ll get them carried out because it’s on my desk.
Final month, Lauren let herself into my workplace whereas I used to be out at lunch with our office-wide key and put a Put up-It word on my desk with an replace for a venture. I didn’t see the word, after which in our assembly I requested her for an replace, to which she responded she’d put it on my desk. This made me really feel I needed to scramble to overview it on my messy desk. I then requested her to not put stuff on my desk, or if she did, to ship me a Slack message so I might look out for it. Since then, she’s put a number of papers and notes on my desk for me to overview, no Slack message accompanying them. She even gave me a written-out schedule earlier than my workplace transfer and requested for it again when my provides had been in packing containers, and I needed to cease and discover it for her since she hadn’t saved the knowledge anyplace else.
This week, I returned from a sick day to see that Lauren had let herself in my workplace once more to place papers on my desk with a word for me to overview earlier than our assembly later that day. There’s not a ton of context within the papers themselves to overview them — it might make extra sense to me for us to simply go over them collectively in a gathering. Then, she despatched me a file hyperlink for a shared drive for my overview earlier than our assembly yesterday by means of Slack. I requested her if she might simply print it and convey it to our assembly later that day so we are able to look over it collectively, because it’s not an extended file (1-2 pages) and the content material would make sense to simply look at in our assembly. As an alternative of doing that, she let herself in my workplace once more and put the printed copy on my desk, I assume for my overview earlier than our assembly.
Was I flawed to ask her to not put stuff on my desk? How can I ask her to cease assuming I at all times have time earlier than our conferences to go over paperwork? Am I being too bizarre about my personal-ish workplace house, or ought to I simply be neater?
No, it’s fully cheap to ask somebody to not put stuff in your desk. That’s a fairly widespread choice — even amongst individuals with out terribly messy desks — and also you’re not being bizarre or unreasonable by asking for it.
On the contrary, Lauren is the one being bizarre by insisting on doing it after you’ve requested her to not.
Since you did ask her to not, and he or she’s persevering with to do it anyway! That’s an issue, identical to in the event you stated, “Please electronic mail me as a substitute of calling me about X” and he or she stored calling you about X, or in the event you stated, “Please ship these information electronically moderately than printing out 50-page tomes” and he or she insisted on printing them out each time anyway. Hell, it’s the identical type of drawback as something the place you, as her supervisor, informed her to do X moderately than Y however she ignored you.
It’s time to ask why she’s nonetheless doing it! Sit down along with her and say, “I’ve requested you a number of instances now to not put something I must see on my desk however you retain doing it. How come?”
Possibly she’ll have some rationalization that is sensible, though I’m hard-pressed to think about what it’s. Do you by no means see emails both? Do you have got her blocked on Slack? Did she fully mishear you and listen to, “Please do proceed placing issues on my desk — I adore it”? Who is aware of what she’ll say, however it’s helpful to ask what’s occurring on her finish of this.
However then it’s cheap to say, “I wish to be actually clear: Going ahead, please don’t put something on my desk.” Additionally, don’t water this down with “until you message me on Slack to say it’s there.” You’ve tried that, it didn’t work, and at this level it’s best to depart no wiggle room.
Equally, with the factor about her dropping off paperwork so that you can overview earlier than a gathering while you’ve explicitly requested her to deliver it to the assembly to take a look at collectively, that’s in all probability a case of needing to be extra specific too: “After I’ve requested you to deliver one thing to our assembly so we are able to take a look at it collectively, that’s what I would like you to do. Generally you’ve printed it out and left it for me as a substitute — however my schedule is packed and I typically don’t have time to overview these paperwork earlier than we meet. So once I ask you to have it prepared for us to look over collectively, I would like you to take that actually and convey it to our assembly. If that causes points in your finish, I in fact wish to hear that, however in any other case please assume that’s the plan.”
Additionally, do you need her persevering with to unlock your workplace while you’re not there? It feels like it might be helpful to inform her to cease doing that too.
I feel at some degree you’re questioning in the event you’ve introduced this on your self by not being neater — and perhaps are having some Messy Particular person Guilt? — however that is actually about an worker who’s ignoring clear and particular instructions from her supervisor, and that’s how it’s best to method it. In case your desk set-up works for you, then it’s actually nobody else’s enterprise (assuming you’re not creating a hearth or well being hazard, and assuming individuals can discover what they want while you’re out if they’ve standing to go searching, and assuming your individual boss doesn’t have an objection to it — none of which feels like the issue right here).