Workplace stress levels seem to be at all time highs. With budgets slashed and staffing levels cut; many people have too much to do and not enough time to get it all done.

When stress levels go up, teamwork often heads in the other direction. Stress affects us in a variety of ways. It saps our energy, changes our moods, and messes with our concentration. Instead of supporting each other, we start snapping at our teammates. Bad behavior wears on relationships.

While stress does create a lot of problems in organizations, it doesn’t necessarily have to. How do I know? Because there are plenty examples where two people can be in the exact same circumstances, one deals with it while the other melts down. This same phenomenon shows up when examining whole departments and even organizations. Some remain effective during tough times and others don’t.

Learning to manage our stress and applying what we learn is part of being an effective team member. One might also say it’s part of being an adult. I do a lot of stress management workshops, and share with people the same strategies that others before me have shared. The information isn’t new. The problem is that we don’t apply it. Which of these strategies might you make use of in your team?

• Use diversion. If you aren’t thinking about the stressors in your life, they won’t affect you. So one popular and relatively easy strategy is to distract yourself by watching a movie, playing with your kids, or diving into your favorite hobby. Taking your mind off the problem for awhile isn’t a long term fix, but it’s a great way to give your body and mind a break.
• Straighten out your thinking. Stress isn’t a result of what happens to us; it’s a result of the story we tell ourselves about what happens to us. Sometimes those stories are pretty incredible. They don’t represent reality and aren’t helpful. Make sure the stories you tell yourself make sense. The power of positive thinking really is…well…powerful.
• Solve the problem. Most of the things that cause stress in our lives can be defined as problems. The best way I know to remove stress is to solve the problem that’s creating it. Life is full of problems. Instead of worrying about them, why not take action? Think about those times where you gave more energy to worrying about the problem than you gave to actually solving it. That’s what I call wasted energy.

Stress really can mess up our relationships and teamwork. If you notice it taking a toll on yours, revisit the three strategies and put one or more of them to work for you.

People accomplish amazing feats when working in teams. They also experience intense frustration. Teams are not the end all to every organizational challenge, but they can be quite useful.

Ask people what they love about working in teams, and they will tell you…

• Teams create energy and enthusiasm.
• The mix of perspectives leads to new ideas.
• When the right people are involved, the solutions they develop are more widely accepted than if created by one person.
• Teams help people feel connected to the organization.

Others hate working on teams. They complain that…

• The mix of opinions leads to watered-down solutions.
• Building a consensus takes too long.
• Petty resentments build when team members don’t do their fair share of the work.
• You can’t be yourself because you have to “get along.”

Whether you love or hate them, see them as effective or ineffective, or think that they should always or never be used; teams are and will continue to be part of organizational life. Just as people have their individual preferences, teams have their strengths and weaknesses.

So what can you do to make teams work better for you and your organization? Here are three simple suggestions.

• Know when and when not to use teams to accomplish work.
• Capitalize on the advantages of teamwork.
• Have a plan for managing and minimizing the negative aspects of teams.

Become more aware of your own feelings and skills relating to teamwork and use that knowledge to increase your personal teamwork effectiveness.

Meetings have the bad wrap of not leading to any meaningful action. So what can you do to make sure your meetings don’t earn a similar reputation? An effective strategy is to make sure that all your meetings have an action-oriented purpose.

Take the typical weekly staff meeting. Many would argue these often don’t seem to have any purpose. Others would say their purpose is to “Make sure everyone is updated on all the important things going on within the department or organization.”

While this purpose might have value, it isn’t very action-oriented. It implies that the meeting will be filled with reporting information to each other. It doesn’t say anything about how that information will be used.

The next time you are going to have one of these “update” type of staff meetings, consider making the following your purpose. “The goal of this meeting is to re-prioritize departmental activities for the coming week.” This purpose implies that people will be doing something different based on the outcome of the meeting.

How about a project meeting that is set up to “Discuss the upcoming trade-show in New York”? Again, if you want action, consider creating a meeting purpose statement that leads to action. Try this one, “Develop a detailed work-plan that we can use as we prepare for the New York trade-show.”

The best way to ensure action is to be specific about the type of action that you want. Once you know what it is, put it down in the meeting purpose and make sure everyone attending knows what it is.

Not that you need any more to do, but I’m going to suggest something anyway. Analyze your to-do list. The analysis is a simple one.

Start by prioritizing each item on your list. If yours is already prioritized, you’re one third complete. For everyone else, use any system you want. Rating each item as high, medium, or low should do the trick.

Now for step 2. Look at each item on the list and place it into one of the following two categories:

1. Goals/actions I will personally accomplish. Examples include:  Develop presentation, generate report, complete expense reports, hire new employee, etc.
2. Things I can do to help my employees complete a specific goal or action. Examples include:  Provide feedback, discuss project hurdles, set goals, deal with conflict on the team, etc.

Ready for the last step? Determine which list has more items and the higher ranked items. You’ll probably be able to eye-ball it, but if not, convert your rating system to numbers and do the math.

What’s your result? More importantly, what’s your result mean?

My sense is that most managers put the stuff they are personally on the hook for at the top of the list. Items from the second category often don’t make the list and if they do, they are usually low  priority. The problem with this is that a manager’s leverage is maximized through the efforts of the people he/she supervises. Focusing on your own actions completely misses this opportunity.

If your job is to increase the productivity of others, then your to-do list should reflect this.  Does yours?

Photo by gfesdmin

Interested in doing a workshop or webinar on this topic for your organization? Contact me and we’ll figure out the approach that will work best for you.

Was I productive today?

Imagine reflecting upon that simple question at the end of each day and then making adjustments to affect the next day’s outcome.

Most of us will typically answer the question “Yes” if we equate productivity with being busy. Whether we are truly busy or not, people get so used to telling others how busy they are that they end up convincing themselves of the same thing.

But what if we equate productivity with making significant progress towards meaningful goals? When that’s the definition of productive, it usually is much harder to answer the question “Yes.”

Now for the hard work.  On those days that you find yourself answering “No,” it’s time to do some problem solving. Figure out why you didn’t do what you had wanted to do. Take responsibility for that which was within your control. Accept that which was not within your control. Figure out what changes you need to make tomorrow. Find the courage to make the change.

It’s as simple as that. Start with the question, and be honest with the way you answer it. No need to beat yourself up if it’s the wrong answer. Accept that it is what it is and move forward.