Control and Stress

I love driving and the open road, but as soon as there is congestion I’m stressed. I have to fight my “road rage” feelings that are triggered by minuscule errors and poor decisions of the drivers around me and remind myself that I have also made the same, or similar, indiscretions in the past.

Last week it occurred to me that when there is an open road ahead of me, I have total control. When someone is in front of me, I am controlled by their speed, their actions, and I have lost control of the situation.

In the workplace, the workforce are controlled by the leaders, who assign the work, often tell the workers when to do it, and with which colleague. The worker has very little control. How does that make them feel? Like a frustrated driver on a congested road? Their stress levels increase.

As a leader, we can reduce this frustration and stress by giving back some of the control to the worker. Let them have a say in how they work.

- Give them the Why the work needs to be done. The Purpose.

- Ask them How they think it could be achieved 

- Listen to their opinion.

- Implement the solution using their input (even if you have had to help them “come up” with the way that you wanted it done anyway).

Spending the time to involve them in the process of deciding how to do the work will be time well spent, as an employee who feels that they have some control in their work means that they have  a sense of belonging and the team is more productive as a consequence.