New to the Job: How Do I Politely Encourage Senior Executives to Meet Deadlines?

I have recently joined a reputed organization wherein, as a part of my job description, I am expected to interact with VPs and other senior-level people and also urge them to complete certain tasks for themselves and their subordinates, which in turn has to be assessed by the HR department.

How to Urge Senior-Level Executives to Complete Tasks

My question is: As a new joiner, how am I supposed to urge them to complete these tasks on time without sounding arrogant and nosy?

Regards,
Rubina

What is your designation? Are you also a VP? Why are you required to "urge" the VP to complete certain tasks? The Vice President is a sufficiently senior-level position. Why is prodding required at this level as well? Why are they not self-starters? To whom do these people report, the CEO or some Director? In that case, why is that person not handling this activity, but you, as a newly joined employee, are told to do this? Do your CEO or Director want to shift the responsibility to you by keeping a gun on your shoulder?

Collaboration and Documentation

Ideally, a Google Doc could have been created, and all concerned parties could have been made collaborators. Regardless of their location in the world, all that is needed is an internet connection to update this document.

Approach for Task Management

If you are indeed required to perform this task, please be sensitive. You may use the term "follow up" to inquire about the status of any activity. Secondly, how do you plan to "assess" this activity? Will you measure the delay?

Thanks,
Dinesh V Divekar

Approaching Senior Executives for Task Completion

It is a delicate situation and an anxious moment for a new joiner to remind a VP about the work to be cleared by him. Though I have never encountered such a situation, some suggestions that occur to me are:

• You can request him: "Sir, I know you are busy today, but can you squeeze some time to attend to some important work today?" or
• "Sir, is it the proper time for me to discuss some important tasks?" or
• "Sir, can I have your appointment to discuss some important work with you?"

The same request can be sent by way of a note also if that practice is followed in your office.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & Labour Law Advisor

Like Dinesh mentioned, what is your locus standi/role in the whole matter? In the limited information you provided, the 'keyword' seems to be "for themselves," which is quite baffling—at the level of VPs, it's usually taken for granted that they will be self-starters [only the grade varying].

Provide More Details

I suggest giving more details about the company (size, sector, locational aspects, etc.)—this will enable the members to suggest with better focus. However, in general, there's always a factor of resistance to change in any organization—and especially so when the cause for the change is perceived to be a new joiner. Like B. Saikumar mentioned, such situations are always tricky and delicate, irrespective of whether you are a new joiner or an old-hat in the company, when your objective is to initiate changes. And more so, when it involves mindsets rather than procedures/processes.

Regards,
TS

I understand your problem. Each person, even a VP, has their own priorities for work. The way to make them give attention to the jobs mentioned by you is to have them set their priorities accordingly. If you are a lady, you have a natural advantage in talking nicely to the persons concerned. You can offer to sit with them to help in completing the tasks—the tedium of doing a routine job may be boring to them, and they may be putting it off. You can also mention very casually that there is pressure from above to have the job completed, and you are feeling stressed. By doing this, you can easily generate sympathy, which would help.

The most important thing is that you have to do this very diplomatically and in a very pleasing way.

Regards,
R Ramamurthy

I agree with the earlier comments, and I also understand that you are aware of the situation—"how to ask VPs and seniors to complete certain tasks for themselves and their subordinates, which in turn have to be assessed by the HR department."

Clarifying the Tasks

Now, what are those "CERTAIN TASKS"? You must elaborate on the nature of these tasks and how they are to be assessed by the HR department.

To help you out, if these tasks are related to the HR department such as leaves, performance appraisals, interviews, and assessments, then it's fine, and you can pursue and follow up on these. Mr. B Saikumar has already given excellent tips on these.

However, if these concerns matter outside the purview and scope of the HR department, then it's best that you leave such matters to their own reporting officers/bosses. Interfering in such matters would be out of bounds for you.

Warm regards.