How to Deal with Last Minute Requests at Work

It’s happened to the best of us. You have great intentions for the week. You’ve set your weekly goals. You’ve laid out your plans. The schedule is busy but you should be able to get everything done.

Then it comes at you, probably on Wednesday around lunchtime.

That work task that you didn’t learn about until the middle of the week and absolutely MUST be done by Friday. Sometimes these things happen and there’s just no getting around it.

This happened to me just last week. I was already pretty busy when I saw the email. 

I’ll admit, I was annoyed at first. I had a list of things to get done and this assignment was going to take me hours to complete. On top of that, I had a two hour meeting on Friday afternoon to review the work.

Then I took a deep breath. This is what planning is for. It’s not just laying out the knowns that stretch before you. It’s also about being flexible, about rolling with the punches. Planning helps you prioritize with intention – especially when the decisions get tough.

How to Deal with Last Minute Requests at Work

Ask Yourself: How Does this Emergency Request Fit with My Other Priorities?

Before you start moving mountains, ask yourself if it’s really an emergency. Is this request truly critical to a project, deliverable, or urgent meeting? Who is it coming from? Are you able to accomplish the task in the time frame requested if you do replan? 

This is by far the most important step of the process. It’s SO easy to just drop what you’re doing and move mountains trying to accomplish an emergency task. Instead, you should slow down and ask important questions like:

• When does this need to be done? Why?
• Is it possible to complete this task in the requested time period? Why or why not?
• Am I the right person to complete this task? Should I get help with part or all of it? 

Context and priorities are so important. When in doubt: ask. If the request comes from your manager, ask her what to prioritize. Sometimes your boss just doesn’t know exactly what you have on your plate. It always helps to clearly lay out the tasks you have in flight and ask how this new item fits in. 

Move Other tasks

Let’s assume you (and your boss) decided that this new thing is, in fact, an emergency. A big new task in the middle of the week can really throw you off if you let it. Try not to get ruffled. Instead, think back to your planning process at the beginning of the week. I’ll just bet there were some tasks that didn’t make the cut for the week. You decided that you couldn’t do everything. Then you prioritized your weekly to-do list based on priority level and time available.

You can do the same thing mid-week. In this case, you have one task that’s absolutely a given. The good news is, you’ve probably also completed some of the week’s tasks before this new one dropped in your lap.

Take this opportunity to sharpen the pencil. Is there anything that really doesn’t need to be done this week? Be realistic about the difference between things you really want to do and things that you absolutely need to do.

When you move something off your week’s list, transfer it straight over to next week’s to-do list. That way you don’t have to worry about remembering it. There’s no complicated system. 

Re-prioritizing and clearing tasks that were on your original plan for the week will make space for the new work.

Rearrange your calendar

Once you have reviewed and reprioritized your tasks, do the same thing with your schedule. If you have a task that requires a big chunk of work time, don’t count on finding those hours in the day. 

Instead, review your schedule and decide if there are meetings you can skip or reschedule. Take action immediately. Here are a few things you could do:

• Reschedule the meeting for another time
• Ask someone else to attend the meeting in your place
• Decline the meeting and cite a conflict

It’s up to you to decide how to handle meetings based on each meeting topic and attendee list. But don’t try to fit new work into the old time available. It simply won’t happen and you’ll end up being stressed when you could have reprioritized.

Delegate things that can’t move

Every single week, I have to force myself to review the to-do list and ask myself whether I can delegate some things. I don’t know why this isn’t my first thought! At least twice a week, go over your list and mark the items you can delegate to someone else. 

When you’re thinking about items to delegate, don’t assume that other people are too busy to help. Instead, ask if your colleague can assist and be open to their response. I always let people make their own decision about whether they can help with a task or not. 

When you do delegate something, leave it on your to-do list and mark it as delegated. That way you don’t lose track of it and can follow up if you don’t see an update. 

Practice grace & intention

Some people get really upset when their week doesn’t go as planned. If you struggle with this, I suggest starting your week with a few practices that can help.

First, make sure you build margin into your weekly plan. Choose weekly tasks that will take up about 50% of the time you have available. That seems crazy, but I promise it isn’t. Many people underestimate how long things will take them. This margin leaves room for both that underestimation AND new things to pop up.

Second, start your week recognizing that things may not go as planned. Realistically assess how likely it is that you’ll get emergency tasks mid-week. For example, I know that when a board meeting is coming up I should expect plenty of last-minute requests. I can plan my week accordingly. Expecting these last-minute items also prepares me mentally for them. When they come, I can take it in stride. 

You Can Definitely Handle Last Minute Requests at Work

When you have a last minute request – don’t panic! You can absolutely handle this. Prioritize, rearrange and – most of all – give yourself some grace. If you don’t finish everything that was on your list on Monday morning that is completely fine. You’ll know that you made the right call for yourself and your company once you’ve thought everything through.