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- Reducing Job Stress
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Reducing Job Stress
Job stress has a number of negative implications including lower quality, missed deadlines, and employee burnout. Everyone feels some job related stress. Credit professionals may experience more stress than most workers because:
- The decisions they make can have a direct effect on the company's profitability, and
- Any errors made are visible to anyone who cares to look for them
What can credit managers do to lower their work related stress? Here are some ideas:
- Make sure you know what your boss expects; misunderstandings lead to job stress;
- Make certain that you have the resources you require to meet management's expections, and if you do not then ask for them now rather than later;
- Be realistic about what you can achieve, or about what improvements can be made and how quickly;
- Conversely, do not be overly optimistic since that establishes expectations that you may be unable to meet;
- Inform your manager in advance if you are not going to be able to meet a goal or a deadline, but at the same time make certain that you are taking advantage of the resources available to you by delegating when doing so is a realistic option;
- Make certain the goals established for you and for your department are achievable and relevant;
- Set priorities so that you can handle work in terms of its importance as well as urgency
- Try to establish a Must Do list rather than a To Do list;
- Delegate work to your subordinates to give you the time you need to concentrate on high priority tasks and be certain to provide them with timely and honest feedback about their work;
- Keep a record of your achievements because employers often do a great job of documenting what went wrong but spend less time documenting what went right;
- Send a quarterly summary to your manager outlining your accomplishments;
- Count to ten before responding in a stressful situation;
- Don't stress over issues and problems that are beyond your control.
© 2010 by Michael C. Dennis, author of "1001 Collection Tools and Tips." All Rights Reserved