You can learn a lot from a bottle of soda when it comes to stress in the office. If things are too relaxed, it may be a like pop that has gone flat. Ideally you need a little bit of “fizz.” Deadlines and urgency are good for making sure that your team gets things done.
As a manager, you want their best results. While you may push your team, demands are understood and can be accomplished.
But too often, a team starts to become like a bottle of pop that’s been shaken. When you open the bottle to fill a glass, all of the pressure inside causes the soda to spray everywhere. Suddenly you’ve got a mess to clean up.
It’s not necessarily one incident that created so much tension inside the office. Stress accumulates over time and if people hold onto too much of it, the “pressure” created will eventually affect your organization. As a leader you need to be aware if this is making your team less productive, more likely to lose focus on your big picture goals, and force you to referee lots of arguments.
To reduce stress in the workplace, consider these three communication techniques:
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Do people understand the goals of the organization and why they might be asked to do more? People hate the unknown. Accountants understand that as they get closer to April 15th, they’ll be a lot busier.
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Is information about the company withheld as a form of control? You may not want to share everything but hiding too much can lead to an avalanche of gossip. Does time spent talking or worrying about, “what might be,” ever result in higher productivity?
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Is there a lack of face to face communication? Are people relying too much on email to deliver instructions? Does this result in a lack of understanding. Confusion leads to mistakes, which means it takes longer to get things done. Instructions are best conveyed in person.
Perhaps you enjoy an overly carbonated workplace. But can you afford to have your team not focused on being as productive as possible?
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