Delegate to Reduce Stress

DELEGATE TO REDUCE STRESS

 

DEVELOP INITIATIVE AMONG SUBORDINATES

 

By Dr. Sathya Menon

 

Stress is often described as a “state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. --” In today’s highly competitive world, stress at work is almost pandemic and comes with inevitable and fatal consequences.

 Management gurus are of the opinion that it is not always stress that kills us but our reaction to it and there are ways of handling stress at the workplace to create that idyllic state of “work life balance.” Consultants William Oncken Jr and Donald Wass used a metaphor “monkey on the back”, four decades ago, to describe stress and highlight the ways of differentiating and delegating work.

In a nustshell, if you are overwhelmed by work, prioritizing and delegating maybe the key to eliminating stress. The manager’s goal, say Oncken and Wass, is to minimize or eliminate subordinate-imposed work, get control of boss-and system-imposed work, and maximize discretionary time.

It is difficult to ignore tasks set by the manager without immediate consequences. Then there are system-imposed jobs that are imperative, though the penalties for not doing them immediately may not be that swift. Finally the self-imposed tasks are those that are discretionary but mostly imposed by subordinates,

In more cases than one, the monkey or stress starts as a joint problem but ends up on the manager’s back. The manager is overwhelmed by subordinate-imposed tasks that require follow-up.  He takes weeks to get to things, makes his family unhappy by working all weekend, and leaves subordinates spinning their wheels waiting for direction.

A wise manager will call each subordinate in, put the monkey on the table between them, and figure out together how the next move might conceivably be the subordinate’s.

The point, is to develop initiative in subordinates. There are the five degrees of initiative that people can exercise in an organization, from the lowest to the highest: Wait to be told what to do; ask what to do; recommend, then take appropriate action; act, but advise at once. Act on one’s own, then routinely report.

It’s important to remember to get control over the timing and content of what you do. Eliminate subordinate-imposed time. Use the new-found discretionary time to see to it that subordinates take the initiative.

(ENDS)

Handy Hints

·         Delegate tasks, reduce stress

·         Develop initiative among subordinates

·         Increase discretionary time