By CATHY BUSSEWITZ, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — When Nikelle Inman started a new job coaching first-generation college students, she looked forward to meeting with them one-on-one to talk about how to surmount obstacles and find resources to succeed.

Instead, she and her fellow success coaches at a community college in North Carolina spent a year mired in paperwork, tasked with reviewing applications from aspiring undergraduates. They never did get to meet with students.

“Admissions work kind of took over what we were supposed to do,” Inman, 34, said. “I felt disengaged with the position, more so because I just didn’t feel valued.”

It’s disorienting when a job turns out to be completely different than advertised or morphs into something we didn’t expect. But more U.S. workers have reported feeling disconnected from their organization’s purpose and unclear on how to meet expectations since the coronavirus pandemic changed the way we work, according to a new Gallup analysis.

Just under half of U.S. employees who participated in a Gallup survey in November “strongly agreed” that they know what is expected of them at work, which is one of the factors the polling firm uses to measure employee engagement. In January 2020, the figure stood at 56%.

The new survey showed that new employees, younger employees, people in white-collar industries like technology, insurance and finance, and those in hybrid work arrangements were especially likely to report that expectations for their roles weren’t clear.

The findings make intuitive sense. Managers and employees have bushwhacked their way through disruptive changes since COVID-19 first upended public life five years ago. In late 2024, about one-quarter of employees with the ability to work remotely were doing so exclusively, up from around 1 in 10 in 2019, Gallup found. Another 55% were working in the office some days and remotely the rest, according to the 2024 data, up from about one-third in 2019.

More recently, layoffs at tech companies and in the government and other sectors have left organizations with fewer people to handle the load, and expectations aren’t always adjusted to the new realities.

“With all the rounds of layoffs, people’s scope and responsibilities are shifting constantly,” said Jeremy Guttenplan, an executive leadership trainer and coach based in New York. “You think about the ones left behind and the work is just getting piled on them.”

Here are some strategies for eliminating confusion when the scope and responsibilities of a job are ambiguous.

Establish expectations early

Spell out or make sure you understand what a new role or project entails — along with any relevant deadlines or performance markers — from the beginning so everyone agrees on what’s realistic and wanted. Writing it down in a shared document can help prevent future misunderstandings.

Related Articles

‘Just too trusting’: North metro woman shares bank scam story in hopes of sparing others

Working Strategies: Finding a part-time job requires a plan

Nearly one-third of American adults now trust social media for financial advice: Why that’s a terrible idea

Could the Gold Line spur economic development? Some say it already has.

Legal experts say Trump official broke law by saying ‘Buy Tesla’ stock but don’t expect a crackdown

When a successful real estate developer asked Amber Krasinski to film and produce 85 TikTok videos in three hours, she thought hard about whether she really wanted to take him on as a client. The job might be good exposure for her communications agency, IvyHill Stategies, but Krasinski knew it would be impossible to complete in so little time. She turned it down.

Krasinski regularly gives her client progress updates and tries to make a practice of asking clarifying questions before taking on new projects.

“Any time I have a conversation with a prospective client, I have that in the back of my mind,” Krasinski said. “Avoiding that people-pleasing side that says, ‘You can figure it out, you can do it.’ You don’t want to let anybody down, but you also need to set yourself up for success.”

Seek frequent feedback

No one wants to spend all day in meetings. But more frequent check-ins with a manager or supervisor may help staff members who are unsure if they are prioritizing their time appropriately or don’t know what they are supposed to be doing.

Organizations can explore different ways of building connection between employees and providing more opportunities for feedback, which can result in better understanding of workplace expectations. Brian Smith, founder and managing partner of IA Business Advisors, said his company hosts gratitude sessions for 30 minutes each week.

The first 20 minutes are led by a coach who advises attendees on issues such as how to effectively manage time or deal with challenging customers. Highlighting specific problems and strategies can help workers understand what’s expected of them. At the end of the session, participants have an opportunity to share what they’re grateful for.

Start the conversation

Workers don’t have to wait for a supervisor to seek feedback or clarify expectations. You can suggest a quick check-in at any point, if you’re unsure how to prioritize long-term goals or short-term deadlines,

“Managing upwards is going to make your life easier,” said Dale Whelehan, founder of 4 Day World, a think tank that explores new models of work. “Don’t assume that management has all the answers. They’re probably just as lost.”

However, in hierarchical organizations where questioning management may be viewed negatively, it’s important to be delicate, he said.

To initiate a feedback discussion, you can ask to meet with a manager about a current project. Whelehan outlined how to approach the conversation if the meeting gets scheduled. Start by sharing what you understand your assignment to be. Then request the manager’s confirmation or clarification by saying something such as, “I just want to make sure that there’s alignment here,” he advised.

Ask about anything else you need to clarify and close out the conversation by saying, “From what I understand from this conversation, my role is this. … Have I understood that correctly?” Follow up with an email restating what you agreed to, Whelehan said.

Trust your instincts

With workplaces experiencing so many changes, employees can find themselves jumping from one assignment to the other, distracted by new responsibilities picked up after colleagues were laid off, or adjusting to spending more time physically in the office.

If it all feels too chaotic, take a moment to pause. Revisit your priorities. And then work on the most important task.

“If something doesn’t feel right, don’t just accept it,” Inman said. “Whatever that avenue is, if it’s staying and trying to make it better or leaving, just don’t give up on what you know is right.”

Have you overcome an obstacle or made a profound change in your work? Send your questions and story ideas to cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well.

Binoculars never get enough credit when it comes to stargazing. They don’t have as much light-gathering ability and magnification as telescopes do, but binoculars have definite advantages.

For one thing, if you’re interested in stargazing but not sure you want to invest in a telescope quite yet, start out with binoculars. Make them your “first telescope.” Binoculars for the most part are less expensive than telescopes and much easier to use. There’s little or no setup time and you can easily bring them with you anywhere. They certainly don’t take up nearly as much space as telescopes.

Optically the best thing binoculars have going for them is that you have a much larger field of view. That allows you to see a much more significant chunk of the night sky at one time than is possible with most telescopes. That can be a real help when you’re trying to get to know your way around constellations and find celestial treasures within them. There are also many astronomical targets that are seen better with binoculars, especially gorgeous star clusters. Many of these clusters take up such large areas of the sky that there’s no way you can fit them into the field of view of a telescope. A good example is the beautiful Pleiades star cluster currently shining away in the early evening western sky. I’ll list some other great celestial treasures for binoculars at the end of this column.

When purchasing binoculars, two sets of numbers tell you about their ability. The first number is the magnification power, which tells you how many times closer anything will appear through them. The other set is the diameter in millimeters of the objective lenses, where light enters your binoculars. The larger the diameter, the more light that is gathered into your binoculars, making for better resolution and more extensive field width — how much of the sky you can see at one time.

For example, a decent pair of starter binoculars would be 7×35’s. That means seven power magnification and the diameters of the objective lenses are 35mm. You could make good use of them and have a lot of fun. You could get a pair of 10×50’s for more money, which will give you better performance, but they’ll be heavier and more burdensome.

I think 7×35’s are a better way to go for your first pair of binoculars because you can hold them more steadily without the arm strain of larger ones. Some are much larger and more expensive binoculars and require that you mount them on a tripod, unless you’re Charles Atlas.

As far as where to purchase them and what brand to choose, that’s ultimately up to you. I don’t consider myself a binoculars expert, but I know some people who are. My go-to place for telescopes, binoculars, accessories and great advice is Starizona, located in Tucson. They have a great website at starizona.com.

Here are some of their specific recommendations;

For beginners, a nice, very inexpensive pair is Ricoh Pentax 8.5×21 Papilio Binoculars, $149.00

Nature DX 10×42 Roof Binoculars by Celestron, $179.00

Nature DX 12X56MM Roof Binoculars by Celestron, $269.95

Here are some great celestial treasures you can see with binoculars. Many of the star clusters and nebula are known by their nicknames, but formally they’re known by catalog numbers. Two of the most used catalogs are the Messier catalog or the M numbers, and the New General Catalog or the NGC numbers.

(Mike Lynch)

The moon. You can spend hours and hours perusing the mountains, craters, valleys, and more. The terminator, the changing line that separates the sunlit part from the darker part of the moon’s disk, is especially fun to check out with all the shadows.

(Mike Lynch)

The planets. See the phases of Venus and Mercury, the moons around Jupiter, and much more.

M45, The Pleiades Star Cluster. This is another open cluster of hundreds of relatively young stars about 100 million years old in the constellation Taurus. It resembles a miniature Big Dipper. It’s over 400 light-years away.

M42, The Orion Nebula. It’s a giant emission nebula of excited hydrogen gas lit up like a fluorescent light by new stars forming within it. The Orion Nebula stretches over 40 light-years across and is over 1500 light-years away. It’s wonderful!

NGC 884 and 869, The Perseus Double Cluster. This is an absolutely gorgeous twin cluster of young stars less than 20 million years old in the constellation Perseus. Both clusters are about 7,000 light-years away.

M35. Another wonderful open cluster of relatively new stars in the constellation Gemini. It’s more than 2,800 light-years away and about 12 light-years in diameter.

M44, The Beehive Cluster. Yet another beautiful open star cluster in the faint constellation Cancer. It’s similar in size in our skies to the Pleiades but not as bright. The Beehive is about 25 light-years in diameter and is about 600 light-years away.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and retired broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul. He is the author of “Stars: a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations,” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and adventurepublications.net. Mike is available for private star parties. You can contact him at mikewlynch@comcast.net.

Starwatch programs

Thursday, March 27, 8-10 p.m., River Bend Nature Center in Faribault. For more information and reservations, call Faribault Parks and Recreation at 507-334-2064 or visit www.ci.faribault.mn.us/219/City-Enrichment-Programs.

Friday, March 28, 8-10 p.m., through the City of Ramsey Parks and Recreation. For more information, location and reservations, call 763-443-9883 or visit www.ci.ramsey.mn.us/269/Parks-and-Recreation.

Saturday, March 29, 8-10 p.m., Prairie Woods Environmental Center in New London-Spicer, Minn., through Willmar, New London-Spicer Community Education. Reservations required. Call 320 231-8490 or visit www.cewillmarmn.com.

Related Articles

Skywatch: Last chance to catch the little ram

Skywatch: A daylight saving time blood moon

Skywatch: Grand finale for great winter constellations

Skywatch: Absolute perfection

Skywatch: A stellar baby factory