Chapter 4: Reduce stress & increase resilience
Stress can be caused when you’re out of alignment with your manager.
When your manager is asking for status on a project you haven’t even started, you’re out of alignment with your manager. It’s important to know your manager’s priorities and your priorities, so you’re aligned with your manager’s success.
Exercise:
Talk with your manager about their priorities. What are they focused on this quarter, next quarter, this year? And, how can you contribute to those priorities? As a result, what are your priorities? Take notes or record the meeting, so you can reference it regularly.
Some more detailed questions you may ask:
What are your priorities this week, quarter, year?
How would you like me to support those priorities?
What’s the impact of this support and these priorities?
What’s the order of the priorities? Is one more important than the other? Why?
What does success like for the support I provide?
How would you like to be kept updated on my progress? Updates during our 1:1’s, email updates, other?
Once you’re clear on your priorities and how they align to your managers, you can focus your time on those priorities. This reduces potential stress. This reduces the chances of your manager asking you about projects you thought were a lower priority and are not even started. This reduces the chance that you’ll work on priorities that have lower impact for your organization. It increases the likelihood that you’ll work on more impactful priorities that support both your and your manager’s success.