Liz Strauss

Are you looking for a low-stress job role? Have you thought about how stress relates to job interactions? Where do most of your tasks fit on this hierarchy? That might explain the level of stress that you experience when you are working.

Lowest Stress

• I work with paper and complete a task on my own. I gather my own inputs. I alone am responsible for my entire output. My output is your input. I never see my output again.
• I gather my own inputs. I am part of a team responsible for my output. My output is your input. I never see my output again.
• I gather my first input. I am part of a team responsible for my output. My output is your input. You are an individual. Your output is my next input.
• I gather my first input. I am part of a team responsible for my output. My output is your input. You are part of a team. Your output is my next input.
• I gather my first input. I am part of a team responsible for my output. My output is your input. You are part of a team. Your output is my next input. This process repeats before the project is complete.
• I have this relationship with more than one team: I gather my first input. I am part of a team responsible for my output. My output is your input. You are part of a team. Your output is my next input. This process repeats before the project is complete.

Highest Stress

Where is your job on this continuum? How do you manage the interactions to get the highest benefit with the lowest effects of stress?

Interaction is only one factor that contributes.

Behind every Successful business there is an Outstanding manager. — Perfect Virtual Manager

Liz Strauss

When we delegate the most crucial point is when the work is assigned to the person who will execute what needs doing. The way we assign it can have considerable impact on how well the work is completed.

Often when we delegate work, we don’t take the time to explain the value of what we are delegating. We forget to offer the person taking on the work an explanation of where the task fits in the big picture, why the work is important or necessary. The way we hand over work seems to say, “Please do this. I don’t have time for this work — it’s trivial.”

A measureable difference in the quality of delegated work can be seen if we do a few things when we assign it.

• Tell the person taking the work, what it is, where it fits in the big picture, and why the work is being delegated.
• Explain what skills led you to offer this work to him or her specifically, and communicate that you are counting on not needing to redo the work when it comes in.
• Spend time defining the task completely, even if you think the delegatee knows what it is. That projects your sense of importance about the task.
• Ask for a small sample within a day or two of the meeting. This sample will uncover any miscommunication that might have occurred.

These delegation routines are not hard to do, but they are easier to bypass. Unfortunately, when we leave them out, the work suffers.

Behind every Successful business there is an Outstanding manager. –Perfect Virtual Manager

Liz Strauss