Most people have a manager. Nothing controversial about that statement. But often we have multiple people that manage our time and work. That can…cause problems. Last week over a discussion with a friend they talked about their new job and how they were juggling support for multiple executives across different business lines. Honestly it took 10 minutes to explain how each business line operated, what each executive expected, and how they were racing to keep up across each one.

Kind of an impossible situation.

Another way this trickiness can manifest itself is through skip level reporting. Maybe you have a direct manager but touch base with their manager regularly. And your manager’s manager is giving conflicting messages around operational execution or strategy. Who do you put first?!?

Kind of an impossible situation.

These challenges vertically manifest. These challenges horizontally manifest. It sucks. So how can we manage competing priorities and navigate the org chart politics?

Perhaps visualize your responsibilities and how they’re assigned against your “managers”. Draw it out. Or fine, put it on a slide if you’re less artistically inclined. You could even attempt to assign percentages of your time as a resource against each business or project area.

Share them first with your “real” manager. Then, with their blessing, socialize it with the rest of your informal manager portfolio so they’ve got a good feel how you as a resource are allocated. Ask for their feedback. Try to get tighter alignment on expectations for what you can deliver and what they can expect with the full context of your workload.

Shining a little sunlight on things helps. It won’t cure the multiple manager dilemma. But…it’ll at least animate it.