You are struggling with competing priorities
Example situation
On your team, your manager needs a customer analysis by Friday; another leader asks for a proposal by Thursday. Both need the time you planned for the analysis.
Our recommendation
Show your manager both requests, the work remaining, and the deadlines. Recommend what you can complete and what to reschedule. Your manager must agree on priorities with the other leader or ask their shared decision-maker.
If you are the team member
“The analysis needs another day, and the proposal needs two. I can finish the analysis Friday if the proposal moves to Monday. Can you agree that with Sam?” Include any dependency or uncertainty in your estimate.
Ask for a decision before you must change your work. While waiting, follow the last agreed priority and tell both requesters what you are doing. If an immediate safety or operational issue changes that choice, use the relevant escalation process.
Once the leaders decide, confirm the revised commitments with both recipients. Check that other work depending on yours has been adjusted too.
If you are the manager
Speak with the other leader yourself. Ask what each deadline enables and what happens if the work is delivered later or in a smaller form. Decide what takes priority within your authority; bring an unresolved conflict to your shared decision-maker with a recommendation.
Tell the team member which assignment to complete first and who will notify the affected people. When they show you a conflict before accepting more work, revise the plan during that conversation.
If competing requests recur, agree with the other leader how to accept new work. Update priorities when you add an assignment.
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