I wish I liked doing paperwork.

strebalicious

Or could at least stand doing it. I hate the stuff. I would much rather be working on gear. Unfortunately, as I rise through the ranks of leadership, I know I'm going to have to do even more of the stuff. There's only so much I can pass down to my guys to do, much to my chagrin.

Anyone got tips or tricks they use to motivate themselves into doing this crap? For example, I have three performance evals (for lack of a better term) to do that will determine what size bonus these guys will get. They were due yesterday to my bosses' bosses' boss or someone. I know all this, and yet I have still to even open up the forms to fill them out.

I only have this problem with paperwork. When actual work, such as broken equipment troubleshooting or modifying configuration of equipment, I never waste a heart beat jumping into doing it.

ceres

It would be enough for me to know that those guys' pay depends on me, and whatever I might do with MY stuff, it's not right to dick them over because I'm lazy. And I am terribly lazy with my own stuff sometimes, but if someone else is actually relying on it, you just gotta get it done.

strebalicious

I got it done, eventually. Don't know why they wanted me to turn it in on a Saturday, anyway. I mean, the bonuses are pretty minute to begin with. Not that that justifies it, but I still feel bad about taking so long.

Too bad most all my paperwork (at least the stuff I have to do myself) affects someone else in some way, shape, or form.

Perpetual

You gotta do what you gotta do, even if you cannot find the motivation for it.

eternalbl

Personally, I set goals with semi-rewards.

First of all, don't set your goals unrealistically harsh. In fact, set them fairly lax. What it seems to do for me is get me going when I'm in a rut. Once I've gotten started though, I'll steamroll through a pile of work in no time.

My goals are usually complete X, Y, and Z before I can go for lunch and same for before I can leave at the end of the day.

And if I finish something more substantial maybe I'll treat myself to something after work like a couple beers or buy myself a new game or something.

Corvus

I would say, just get over it and suck it up.

Everyone works a job where there are certain aspects they don't enjoy. Dealing with them in a prompt and professional manner regardless of whether or not you enjoy them is going to do you and your career a lot of good. It is also the mark of an adult.

If you're seen a as a good worker, but not someone who pays attention or deals with the back-office administrative sort of thing, that is going to hurt your career and your reputation. Especially if the admin work in question affects the size of your employees' pay-cheques.

Seriously, what effect on your employee's morale and productivity do you think it is going to have if you are seen by them to be sloppy or tardy in completing necessary paper work that puts money in their pocket? What respect level for your employees would such an action imply? The amount or size of the bonus doesn't matter.

I've worked places where people had supervisors who didn't take care of this stuff, and those supervisors were pretty much universally regarded as not giving a shit about their employees, and their employees morale was pretty poor.

Looks like you got it all done, but these are just some points you might want to think about next time you don't feel like doing the paperwork that is part and parcel of supervising employees.

jedikuonji

strebalicious wrote: »

Anyone got tips or tricks they use to motivate themselves into doing this crap? For example, I have three performance evals (for lack of a better term) to do that will determine what size bonus these guys will get. They were due yesterday to my bosses' bosses' boss or someone. I know all this, and yet I have still to even open up the forms to fill them out.

Right now you just need to sit down and hammer it out. Keep in mind how you'd feel if someone was sitting on paperwork that could put money in your pocket. And none of this "Oh man, I'd be totally pissed, but paperwork is sooooooooo haaaarrrrrrd and I don't wannaaaaaaaaaa" crap. Part of being an adult is putting on your big boy pants and getting your work done. You want some outside motivation: go tell your boss you don't feel like doing your employees bonus paperwork. I'm sure he can get you moving.

For myself, I enjoy paperwork, but I don't enjoy ALL paperwork. So for the stuff I don't enjoy, I do it all in one block as early in the day as possible. Just get it done and then I don't have to worry about it. Plus, as a bonus, I can get onto work that I enjoy, regardless of what that work might be.

Something you might try for evals in the future is to hand the eval form to the person being evaluated and ask them to fill it out. I've done this in the past and had good results as the individual tends to be harsher and score themselves lower then I would. Having a rough draft from the person makes putting together the final draft much easier. If you don't want to go that route, you should at least ask each person to write up a list of accomplishments and achievements so that you have a starting point.

strebalicious

Most paperwork I hesitate on is inconsequential stuff. Like turning in old equipment into DRMO so we can get rid of it. I got a stack of old radios that are just sitting in our garage for a few months now. When it comes to a career-affecting type deal, I don't normally have a problem (other than maybe waiting till the last few days before a deadline). I guess maybe it's because it was the first time I ever had to do this type of paperwork and I had to precedence to go off.

But yeah, performance evals, counseling chits, awards, things like that I can usually knock out fairly effortlessly. Maybe I just overreacted to having a problem with that set of paperwork, combined with a little bleed over from my personal life. I tend to have a crappy work ethic if I'm not at a decent amount of happiness.

darkmayo

I'm not a big fan of paperwork either but it is a big part of my job, as I have to track work, parts, and labour reimbursements for all the repair work we do. It can take a long time in some situations but it NEEDS to be done and done right.

Its just one of those pains in the ass that yes will increase as you rise up the leadership chain but doing it right and on time makes you shine in the eyes of your boss and your minions.

Zeon

eternalbl wrote: »

Personally, I set goals with semi-rewards.

First of all, don't set your goals unrealistically harsh. In fact, set them fairly lax. What it seems to do for me is get me going when I'm in a rut. Once I've gotten started though, I'll steamroll through a pile of work in no time.

My goals are usually complete X, Y, and Z before I can go for lunch and same for before I can leave at the end of the day.

And if I finish something more substantial maybe I'll treat myself to something after work like a couple beers or buy myself a new game or something.

Yeah, this is what i do. I mean, it also helps if you actually have time to do the stuff where no one will bother you. I also hate doing paperwork, but usually when im doing it, i can tell everyone to leave me alone until i get it done and i wont get interrupted with other things to do. I dont want to miss my lunch break, and i definately dont wanna stay late, so that usually motivates me to get it done in the time ive set aside.

Tastyfish

If you can, chances are you can elminate about 30-50% of it. If you're a problem solver, solve this problem. You hate this bit of the job, and surely there is no need for you to do it (this is the future for God's sake, what isn't connected to a computer and/or recorded for metrics?). You might even find out your simple spreadsheet is easily converted to other departments and get yourself recognised for improving something that everyone hates. Plus at the bare minimum, each hour of work you save at the national average is going to be about $30 - few of those spread amongst a few people and you're talking some serious efficiency savings and a decent rep as a troubleshooter (which sounds like what you want to do anyway, alongside being a specialist). Gets you out of more paperwork ironically.

Failing that, get a nice tea pot and take it home if you can (the work, the tea pot should already be at home). It'll take at least twice as long, so plan accordingly but if it's the right sort of work you can fit it into your chores and almost do it to unwind infront of the TV.

If you're anything like me, completely ignore all the 'set yourself rewards' advice. I'm totally the sort of person to bribe myself with half of the reward to look the other way whilst I sneak it without completing the task. You've then got to set another reward and then Oh look! Turns out this night of work has ended up better than a night without any rewards would have done and the work is still not done.

r4dr3z

Do the drudge work for 30 minutes then do something fun for 30 minutes. Failing that, convince yourself that this is a task you want to do because it has purpose, allows for you to master something, and/or allows for you to do it your own way. The mastery part sounds like it's hard, but maybe you could make a simple game out of it like see how fast you can get one report done, then try to beat your time for the next report. As another poster alluded, if you can instead find a way to have technology help you completethe task, that is also a form of mastery.

PaperPritt

I'm a professional paperworker! Seriously it's all i do. Here's my tip : stop thinking about doing it. No, seriously. See all this time you're keeping stuff in a drawer? it's because you're actually projecting yourself doing something that is not , by any standard, fun.

So, stop thinking, pull up the papers, and just start. Once you're on them, just focus your attention on what you're doing.

Also, know that it's not a problem that only you have. No one, i repeat , no one, likes dealing with back-office issues. And i work in accounting / finance. Still, i assure you that someone that keeps a good grip on the administrative part of things is extremly appreciated.

*edit because i should read my messages before posting them.