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You’re performing brilliantly.🦸♀️🦸♂️ Aaand... you are rewarded with even more work.😵
When the reward for great work is more work, it can feel more like a punishment than a perk. Some call this “quiet promoting.”
Unfortunately, many leaders make the mistake of overloading and overworking great performers.
So how do you cope, set boundaries, or say no without undermining your career? Tracy Brower, PhD suggests some key strategies.
BE PROUD OF YOUR STRONG PERFORMANCE
Despite the narrative that work is all negative and nothing but a grind, it can be a perfectly healthy, positive, and productive way to express your skills, learn, grow, and contribute to those around you.
UNDERSTAND YOUR MANAGER’S INTENTIONS
Remind yourself that while too much work can feel terrible, it’s might be assigned with good intentions. Many leaders see a great performer and overestimate what they can accomplish—because great performers make things look easy.
Leaders also tend to assign additional projects as a (misguided) way to reward great performers. They might believe that giving workers bigger projects and opportunities will improve happiness and retention.
Of course, if their intentions aren’t positive, you may want to consider your options and begin searching for other roles inside or outside your organization.
HOW TO MANAGE PERFORMANCE PUNISHMENT
You can address the challenge of performance punishment in two ways.
💪Take on the work.
You may want to enhance your personal brand and hope that your hard work will lead to a promotion and pay off in the long run.
Or, there may be situations where it’s easier to do something yourself than to get someone else up to speed, wait for their work, and then need to edit it. 🤷♀️
To an extent, the extra work might be OK.
🤚Provide transparency.
If you would like to reject new work, make sure your (other) work is seen. Find ways to track your work so that your boss can see not only your results, but also the steps you took (without getting defensive or too deeply into the minutia). You may make your work look effortless, but you want to give transparency into your time and investments.
If your boss asks you to do an additional project, you also can clearly communicate the accommodations you will need to make. For instance, rather than saying “no” outright, let your boss know that you can’t get to the new item immediately but that you can address it in the future (for example, two weeks from now).
Prioritize work you care about.
Another way to handle performance punishment is to get ahead of the initiatives. Raise your hand to contribute to something that holds your interest and fill your plate with things of your choice.
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