The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) recently published an article highlighting how the management structure of top-heavy companies can be challenging for employees and often leads to inefficiencies. For many workers having more than one boss causes frustration and confusion in the office.

The article supports this claim by citing results from a Gartner survey that indicates more than two-thirds of employees around the world say they have to consult with more than one boss to get their jobs done, and nearly as many waste significant amounts of time waiting for guidance from senior leaders.

Sometimes this is unavoidable due to the size of the company or the prominence of the project; however, I believe culture and leadership styles are the main drivers.

Handling workloads coming from multiple people can be tough. Here are some tips on how to proactively navigate the situation.

Manage up

With leaders spread so thin, it’s no surprise that Gartner reports that bosses now manage, on average, nine direct reports – up from five in 2008. Further, the report also highlights that only 35 percent of employees surveyed in the Gartner poll last year say their manager understands their day-to-day work.

The WSJ article cites a number of sources, including Brian Kropp, human-resources-practice leader at Gartner who notes, “managers are less likely to provide good feedback and coaching when they don’t understand what that employee’s workflow is.”

If the structure and process for collaboration and visibility is missing, you need to be your own advocate by driving that conversation and seeking feedback in a structured format on a regular basis from your manager. This could be as simple as scheduling a brief, weekly check-in with your manager that serves as a mechanism to facilitate an ongoing discussion.

Establish clear goals

Roxanne Allen, a former director of communications with American Express who runs her own strategy business in Minneapolis, said in the WSJ article that in today’s “do more” office environment, managers’ priorities are ever-changing, and their employees are expected to remain open to fast-changing roles and business needs. “To be perceived as anything else is a career killer,” she said.

That’s the root of a lot of frustration. “Managers should set clear goals, learn to clearly communicate their priorities, and know the work their employees are performing so that mindless ’never minds’ are unnecessary and overloading never happens,” Ms. Allen says. “Alignment starts at the top.”

While we all dread the annual review process, when taken seriously, it can serve as a valuable roadmap to guide activity and growth as well as a formal record of said goals. The level of commitment to the annual review process varies greatly by company, but if you’re struggling with defining goals I encourage you to fully embrace the procedure to ensure it drives meaningful action. In addition to the goals, identifying measurable KPI’s to demonstrate growth is a best practice and will further illustrate the progress you’re making towards those goals.

Set boundaries

As a greater emphasis on workplace collaboration has swept across offices, many people report they feel burdened by all the shared projects—along with the myriad meetings, conference calls and emails they require.

People with deeply rooted identities as high-performing workers are especially susceptible to collaborative overload, says Rob Cross in the WSJ article, a professor of leadership at Babson College. But he sees glimmers of hope in the cubiclescape.

The WSJ article highlights Cross’s takeaways from 160 interviews with men and women across 20 organizations—including software firms, manufacturers and government contractors—in which many workers told him that they had successfully said “enough,” and put up boundaries to reclaim control of their days.

“They did so with great trepidation, only to discover that the negative backlash they’d feared was nowhere to be found,” he says.

The WSJ article highlights how one man told Babson researchers that when he started saying “no” more, the reaction shocked him. “People adapted around me immediately. To be honest, it made me wonder why I didn’t do this a year ago,” he said. “It has made a big impact on my happiness.”

Can you really set boundaries with your boss? Cross says it must be done proactively rather than in the heat of the moment. He also suggests people who build a diverse network of colleagues across an organization tend to possess the confidence to draw the line, while siloed workers frequently feel helpless to stand up for themselves.

Learning to handle multiple managers is an essential skill in today’s complex organizations. There are no light switches you flip for immediate solutions but recognizing the challenges can help you identify ways to handle it.

I’ve experienced both sides first-hand, and while I’m truly not gunning for brownie points here, I feel fortunate to work for a boutique firm with clear strategic direction, firm grasp on efficiency, forward thinking approach to sustainable company growth and strong leadership. It’s hard to find.