6 ms·

As a team lead, one question I always ask in my 1-on-1's: On a scale of 1-5 (low good, high bad), what's your stress level since we last met? If my teammate s

As a team lead, one question I always ask in my 1-on-1's: On a scale of 1-5 (low good, high bad), what's your stress level since we last met? If my teammate says 4 or 5, I ask what we can do to bring it down to a 3. We also address this as part of the simple assessment we do in each sprint retrospective. My company struggles to define meaningful KPIs and OKRs. This is the one that's most important to me.

hluska 7y ago
You sound like an excellent team lead!
- mpfundstein 7y ago
  Asking that question is the simple part. I am more curious what he actually does afterwards to reduce the stress..
  - terrib1e 7y ago
    An inappropriate neck massage usually reduces the stress..
    - glenneroo 7y ago
      I actually had a boss who did this for me back in the 90s at a small startup... was definitely appreciated! Relatedly, I've heard that in Helsinki they have some mobile saunas which are parked in front of businesses which are available for stressed out employees... not sure how true it is.
  - appleiigs 7y ago
    I wouldn't dismiss the effect of simply asking the question. Often the boss can't do anything about it. But it's helpful for many employees to be at least heard.
    - lr 7y ago
      I find that, almost all the time, in all of the places I have worked, I feel worse when a higher-up tries to make myself or the group feel less stressed. They have always, almost universally, tried to make it sound like it is not bad. Or they say, "Take time off, and do not respond to emails." And if you do that, the rest of the team gets crushed, and then you have an insane amount of work when you get back, which pretty much wipes out the time off (in 2 days or less).
      - RankingMember 7y ago
        Why would you respond to emails on vacation? If the rest of the team gets crushed when someone takes their allotted time off, there are bigger issues at play.
        appleiigs 7y ago
        Yeah, being a hero can hide the real issues.
        filoleg 7y ago
        Exactly. Unless it is a temporary stressful time of the year (like a big ship date coming up), then coming back from vacation shouldn’t be resulting in the rest of the team getting crushed or you getting swamped on your first days back. In which case, i would personally postpone the vacation. I know that work shouldnt dictate personal vacation plans, but luckily it never feels this way for me, because big ship dates and crunch periods are so damn rare on my team. Worst case scenario i just postpone my vacation until the next month (my own choice), and then i go fully stress-free. It never feels like i have to plan my vacations around work, and my previous manager was very strictly insisting on no emails or comms while you were on vacation, and i loved how it actually worked out.
    - agumonkey 7y ago
      Totally. For most humans the feeling of being listened to is already a huge step.
jacknews 7y ago
This is great. But the real problem comes when the stress is caused by the team lead!
- teddyuk 7y ago
  at least they can do something about it!
  - alaithea 7y ago
    An honest answer to that question requires the employee having a high degree of trust in the team lead. If they won't answer, the lead can't fix it, and the employee may feel more stressed by having to gloss over their feelings. That said, it's a great question to be asking if the trust is established first.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
jLyrrad 7y ago
Really wished my lead would ask this. I might suggest it!
- gordon_freeman 7y ago
  Why don't you be proactive and suggest it anyway to your lead? I mean what's the downside!
  - heyoni 7y ago
    He goes from a 5 to a 6
JaumeGreen 7y ago
What if the stress is mostly from outside the job? Some of it could be "solvable" (better pay, better hours, ...), but some of it may not (family problems, health issues, ...). Is it taken into account or addressed?
- bradenb 7y ago
  If it is I imagine you do what you can to help offset it at work, but ultimately if there's nothing you can do officially I guess you just have to offer your support in whatever way they will accept.
- ptero 7y ago
  I think trying to solve personal (e.g., non work related) problems is a minefield. I would not, as a team lead, go there beyond a generic offer to talk. Most companies likely have standard policies for health and similar personal issues and trying to make your own policy on any serious issue there can backfire badly. But job-related stress is there and is often solvable (e.g., a developer may be stressed if he committed to a a week's worth of work done in 2 days, etc.). My 2c.
  - alkonaut 7y ago
    I was never stressed before becoming a parent. My job pressure is the same but the combined stress is what hurts. Flexible work hours, remote work and a strictly never-over-40-hours work week has been absolutely essential to be able to cope and still be a good parent (hockey practice weekdays at 4 twice a week for example).
- zamalek 7y ago
  One example of solving an unsolvable problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw#Personal_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw#Personal_life
- vertex-four 7y ago
  A friend had some issues with things outside their work that were impinging on their work, and this was eventually brought up in an HR meeting. HR mentioned that their health insurance provides a number of therapy sessions for free with no co-pay, so they accessed that, and found it really helped them. They also agreed a work-from-home scheme. A few weeks later, my friend was doing significantly better both in work and outside it. Trying to help with non-work-related things directly is a minefield, but ensuring that the employee has access to everything they need to succeed should be table stakes.
chrisdhoover 7y ago
I use a 1 to 5 scale and every time the respondent turns it into a 1 to 10. I always get 3.5 or 4.5. I dont get it, what is that 1 to 5 is not fine enough?
- Bootwizard 7y ago
  Are you trying to justify arguing that they're not actually at a high stress level? That doesn't seem very nice. 3.5 and 4.5 are perfectly within 1 to 5 so I'm not sure what you're getting at here.
  - currymj 7y ago
    1-5 with half increments has 9 possible scores which is basically the same as 1-10. I think this is what is meant, not "people say 4.5/5 but nobody is really that stressed, they must be thinking 4.5/10".
- joshstrange 7y ago
  Seems like an odd thing to complain about... I mean you are asking someone to boil down (often) and entire year into 1 of 5 numbers. I don't find it shocking that with such rough granularity people opt for smaller intervals than 1.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- AndrewDucker 7y ago
  Assuming that 3 is "meh" and 5 is "CATATONIC WITH AWFULNESS", that only really leaves 4 for what feels like quite a large continuum, if I feel at all below par. Having 4 options to fill the "below average" part of the scale, rather than 2 feels necessary to me.
  - thanatropism 7y ago
    It's the net promoter score all over again. I don't know if there are inventories for depression, but every time someone tells me I'm a bit talkative I take the Young Mania Ratings Scale. It's a wonderful, wonderful tool: https://psychology-tools.com/test/young-mania-rating-scale https://psychology-tools.com/test/young-mania-rating-scale
oiasdjfoiasd 7y ago
Only down to a 3? lol. That makes it sound like your goal is to always have some fire under them.
Haga 7y ago
I know burnout patients who until breakdown where " at 3". Hire a recruiter to ask them whether they are searching.. More honesty that way.
not_a_cop75 7y ago
You can also take this the other way. If they say 1, you can ask " What can we do to take it up to 3?". Or if you work for a company that puts life insurance on you to profit from your death: "What can we do to take that to a 6?"
hprotagonist 7y ago
"i'm going to answer 3 every time because if i say 4 or 5 i am worried and anxious that you're going to fire me." Welcome to impostor syndrome!
- benj111 7y ago
  It's not just imposter syndrome. Theres reasonable concern that a company doesn't want to have to deal with illness/someone that cant hack it. I personally wouldn't want to make myself an outlier with this question, so I too would answer 3.
  - chucksmash 7y ago
    I guess you could approach it that way. I definitely treat job interviews that way (e.g. try not to be negative about a previous employer, even if it is justified). If I were in a situation where I felt like I needed to approach interactions with my manager this way lest they try to screw me, I don't think I'd be interested in staying in that kind of environment. I guess some folks have overriding priorities where they are willing to endure antagonism and gotchas like that, but sheesh.
    - benj111 7y ago
      I wouldn't say it's antagonism or anything like that, just as you aren't antagonistic towards the gear in your alarm clock. Nevertheless if the gear started playing up, you'd get rid of it without a 2nd thought. Obviously this is filtered through (emotional) humans, and job roles have differing fungibility, but the corporation doesn't really care about you except perhaps where it benefits itself.
      - chucksmash 7y ago
        I don't grant the validity of that analogy. People aren't gears of a clock and, when you say they are to a corporation, you are giving them a pass that is built on assumptions of an agency which they lack. Maybe legally you cannot pierce the veil, but ethically and morally a corporation is just other people making decisions and doing things. If someone is treated this way, a whole cadre of other >people< had to be the ones to enact it. My previous statement stands - maybe there are overriding reasons to do business with people like that for some, but to me that's a hard pass. If you can't trust somebody to even be a decent human being, what can you trust them with?
tiborsaas 7y ago
Is 0 a red flag also? :)
- gimboland 7y ago
  On a scale of 1 to 5, 0 is definitely some color flag.
  - vinaypai 7y ago
    If 5 is red, 1 must be violet. So I guess 0 is an ultraviolet flag.
- leoc 7y ago
  Automatic drug test, no doubt.
rubicon33 7y ago
I get that this comes from a good place, but unless you have a lot of trust with your team then you might get a lot who will lie. If I didn't trust my lead to not potentially think less of me (consciously or not), or even worse, to use my answer against me somehow (toxic environment) ... then I definitely would answer "2 or 3" even if I was a 5.
- driverdan 7y ago
  If your team doesn't have enough trust to answer this question there are bigger problems in your company. That said, I've managed people who have mental health problems that results in high anxiety from answering these types of questions. As a manager / lead you have to know your employees and work with each of them as an individual.
  - reroute1 7y ago
    Is it a mental health problem or just human nature?
CalRobert 7y ago
In my 20's I would have told you the truth. Now I would lie to you, because I've worked in places that used this sort of thing against their employees. If it's a 1 or 2 I will assume you want to push it to 3 as well. It's not great, of course, but there is huge potential downside to being honest.
- alex_hitchins 7y ago
  Exactly. HR is never your friend. Join a union if you want peer support. Actually, just join a union.
- jart 7y ago
  It usually depends who you're being honest to. For example, it's usually a good idea to be honest with your manager, since you being successful makes them more successful. But anyone else who doesn't stand to gain from your fortune, you're right it's probably not a good idea to come across as vulnerable.
kraftman 7y ago
> If my teammate says 4 or 5, I ask what we can do to bring it down to a 3. Why not 1? Is the only way to work effectively to be moderately stressed?
- mccolin 7y ago
  Taking small steps to solve big (especially personally existential) problems can be significantly less daunting that solving the world in one go. Obviously, getting everyone's stress level down to 1 would be best, but improving even a bit to get it down to 3 is a (gigantic) first step.
  - kraftman 7y ago
    That makes sense. I guess I read it as '3 is the goal' rather than '3 is a step in the right direction.'
- Afton 7y ago
  Actually, yes. https://www.google.com/search?q=stress+productivity+curve https://www.google.com/search?q=stress+productivity+curve
par 7y ago
I understand your intentions, but you should try to be clear with your directs that the stress you are talking about is work related only, and even more specifically, work related stress not caused by you directly.
- vinaypai 7y ago
  Non-work stress can certainly intrude on work life, and you can help out with that as long as you tread very carefully. Years ago, I noticed one of my reports had been performing uncharacteristically poorly, often late to work, making sloppy mistakes etc. I dug into it a bit in one of our one-on-one meetings and turns out he had a lot of things going on in his personal life, his girlfriend had been laid off from her job, there was an illness in the family etc. All we did as a company was give him two weeks off work so he could focus on dealing with things, and he was back to normal, and went on to have a long and successful tenure at the company. This worked only because we were a very small company, and he and I had a pretty good personal relationship and hung out socially outside of work, so he felt comfortable enough to confide in me given the opportunity.
  - par 7y ago
    yes i agree but this same thing can cut both ways. Source: have spent many years building healthy teams with many directs and direct managers. There is a way to broach the subject of personal stress in a 1x1 but an internet comment box is not the right place to suggest it imho.
maxk42 7y ago
My company does this. Everyone's answer is always either 2 or 3. Anyone who answers 4 or 5 is going to get a talking-to and special attention and that's the last thing they want unless they're genuinely on the verge of quitting. It's not a meaningful KPI where I work, since everyone's basically bullshitting all the time to keep the number low.
- driverdan 7y ago
  That sounds like a terrible place to work. I'd be looking for a new job.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
iamnotacrook 7y ago
Surely everyone who ever gets asked these sorts of questions just says what they think the person asking wants to hear?
agumonkey 7y ago
Would it be ok for you to share : - common sources of stress - common tricks to solve them
- klenwell 7y ago
  I think other comments in this thread have done a great job of pointing to some common sources and their resolution. I'll mention a few things I've found interesting in discussing the question over the years: 1. I am often the source of unexpected stress. Sometimes it's something I said (or didn't say). It may be something that gets interpreted in a way I didn't expect. Simply clarifying what I meant or discussing the matter further usually resolves the more serious aspects of the issue. 2. It's frequently a great way to address issues that improve performance or productivity. This is not the point. But a lot of times I'll have a developer, especially a younger developer, say something like, "I'm really stressing out over this user story I'm working on." Then we have a higher level discussion on design or scope or something else that's blocking them. I also learn important business-related stuff I might not have known otherwise. "Wait, you're working on that? Why are we working on that?" Or, "Oh, cool, I didn't realize we we're doing that." And then we discuss that with the goal of taking the stress out of things. 3. Personal issues do come up. Occasionally my teammate will ask something like, "Are we talking about stuff here in the office or home, too?" I'll usually respond anything goes but note that my ability to help is largely constrained by things I can control here in the office. But that includes, as other have suggested, a more flexible schedule, days off, or referrals to others that may be better qualified to help. A manager's ability to assist is going to depend to a certain extent on the culture and policies of the organization. But as others have pointed out, sometimes the most important thing for the person you're talking to is just being heard out. I'm a little surprised by the level of skepticism exhibited in the response to my original comment. I mean I understand it. But if your response to your manager asking this question in a 1-on-1 is to immediately question your manager's motives, I'd recommend looking for another job. I'm not saying it will be easy to find one, especially one with an organization or supervisor who is necessarily any better. But as this thread shows, they are out there. And if that is your reaction and you're not exploring your options, I think you're ignoring a huge signal regarding your wellbeing. I'd also say if this is a question you think it would help to discuss with your manager and you're not sure how to bring it up, maybe ask them the question. Finally, my point in mentioning this is to hopefully encourage more leads and managers to ask this question or some variant of it and pay attention to the issues raised in this thread. If your reports are unduly stressed out, you're not getting your best performance out of them. You're not really doing your job. And to clarify this isn't an official metric in any sense. It's really just an icebreaker to get to underlying issues that may affect performance and wellbeing. 3 is a step on the way to 2. 2 is optimal in my view. But if someone is a 1 and they're getting their work done, all the better! I'm hoping it's a corrective to a lot of the braindead KPIs and metrics and just generally toxic practices that are out there. But, yes, something like that IT Crowd clip is a potential unintended consequence of this question in the wrong organization. To the extent you can make things better for yourself and others, please do so. If I can help anyone, you can probably guess my gmail address. Feel free to drop me an email.
yitchelle 7y ago
That is an interesting question. How do you check its plausibility? I was in a high pressured project for about 3 years and saw many engineers leave the project due to it. My fear that for the engineers still in it after 2nd year, their stress level of 4-5 has become the new stress level of 3. It has essentially masked the problem.
AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago
Maybe you could start by not framing the entire world in terms of numbers?

hluska 7y ago

You sound like an excellent team lead!

mpfundstein 7y ago
Asking that question is the simple part. I am more curious what he actually does afterwards to reduce the stress..
- terrib1e 7y ago
  An inappropriate neck massage usually reduces the stress..
  - glenneroo 7y ago
    I actually had a boss who did this for me back in the 90s at a small startup... was definitely appreciated! Relatedly, I've heard that in Helsinki they have some mobile saunas which are parked in front of businesses which are available for stressed out employees... not sure how true it is.
- appleiigs 7y ago
  I wouldn't dismiss the effect of simply asking the question. Often the boss can't do anything about it. But it's helpful for many employees to be at least heard.
  - lr 7y ago
    I find that, almost all the time, in all of the places I have worked, I feel worse when a higher-up tries to make myself or the group feel less stressed. They have always, almost universally, tried to make it sound like it is not bad. Or they say, "Take time off, and do not respond to emails." And if you do that, the rest of the team gets crushed, and then you have an insane amount of work when you get back, which pretty much wipes out the time off (in 2 days or less).
    - RankingMember 7y ago
      Why would you respond to emails on vacation? If the rest of the team gets crushed when someone takes their allotted time off, there are bigger issues at play.
      - appleiigs 7y ago
        Yeah, being a hero can hide the real issues.
      - filoleg 7y ago
        Exactly. Unless it is a temporary stressful time of the year (like a big ship date coming up), then coming back from vacation shouldn’t be resulting in the rest of the team getting crushed or you getting swamped on your first days back. In which case, i would personally postpone the vacation. I know that work shouldnt dictate personal vacation plans, but luckily it never feels this way for me, because big ship dates and crunch periods are so damn rare on my team. Worst case scenario i just postpone my vacation until the next month (my own choice), and then i go fully stress-free. It never feels like i have to plan my vacations around work, and my previous manager was very strictly insisting on no emails or comms while you were on vacation, and i loved how it actually worked out.
  - agumonkey 7y ago
    Totally. For most humans the feeling of being listened to is already a huge step.

jacknews 7y ago

This is great. But the real problem comes when the stress is caused by the team lead!

teddyuk 7y ago
at least they can do something about it!
- alaithea 7y ago
  An honest answer to that question requires the employee having a high degree of trust in the team lead. If they won't answer, the lead can't fix it, and the employee may feel more stressed by having to gloss over their feelings. That said, it's a great question to be asking if the trust is established first.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

jLyrrad 7y ago

Really wished my lead would ask this. I might suggest it!

gordon_freeman 7y ago
Why don't you be proactive and suggest it anyway to your lead? I mean what's the downside!
- heyoni 7y ago
  He goes from a 5 to a 6

JaumeGreen 7y ago

What if the stress is mostly from outside the job? Some of it could be "solvable" (better pay, better hours, ...), but some of it may not (family problems, health issues, ...). Is it taken into account or addressed?

bradenb 7y ago
If it is I imagine you do what you can to help offset it at work, but ultimately if there's nothing you can do officially I guess you just have to offer your support in whatever way they will accept.
ptero 7y ago
I think trying to solve personal (e.g., non work related) problems is a minefield. I would not, as a team lead, go there beyond a generic offer to talk. Most companies likely have standard policies for health and similar personal issues and trying to make your own policy on any serious issue there can backfire badly. But job-related stress is there and is often solvable (e.g., a developer may be stressed if he committed to a a week's worth of work done in 2 days, etc.). My 2c.
- alkonaut 7y ago
  I was never stressed before becoming a parent. My job pressure is the same but the combined stress is what hurts. Flexible work hours, remote work and a strictly never-over-40-hours work week has been absolutely essential to be able to cope and still be a good parent (hockey practice weekdays at 4 twice a week for example).
zamalek 7y ago
One example of solving an unsolvable problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw#Personal_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Wolpaw#Personal_life
vertex-four 7y ago
A friend had some issues with things outside their work that were impinging on their work, and this was eventually brought up in an HR meeting. HR mentioned that their health insurance provides a number of therapy sessions for free with no co-pay, so they accessed that, and found it really helped them. They also agreed a work-from-home scheme. A few weeks later, my friend was doing significantly better both in work and outside it. Trying to help with non-work-related things directly is a minefield, but ensuring that the employee has access to everything they need to succeed should be table stakes.

chrisdhoover 7y ago

I use a 1 to 5 scale and every time the respondent turns it into a 1 to 10. I always get 3.5 or 4.5. I dont get it, what is that 1 to 5 is not fine enough?

Bootwizard 7y ago
Are you trying to justify arguing that they're not actually at a high stress level? That doesn't seem very nice. 3.5 and 4.5 are perfectly within 1 to 5 so I'm not sure what you're getting at here.
- currymj 7y ago
  1-5 with half increments has 9 possible scores which is basically the same as 1-10. I think this is what is meant, not "people say 4.5/5 but nobody is really that stressed, they must be thinking 4.5/10".
joshstrange 7y ago
Seems like an odd thing to complain about... I mean you are asking someone to boil down (often) and entire year into 1 of 5 numbers. I don't find it shocking that with such rough granularity people opt for smaller intervals than 1.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
AndrewDucker 7y ago
Assuming that 3 is "meh" and 5 is "CATATONIC WITH AWFULNESS", that only really leaves 4 for what feels like quite a large continuum, if I feel at all below par. Having 4 options to fill the "below average" part of the scale, rather than 2 feels necessary to me.
- thanatropism 7y ago
  It's the net promoter score all over again. I don't know if there are inventories for depression, but every time someone tells me I'm a bit talkative I take the Young Mania Ratings Scale. It's a wonderful, wonderful tool: https://psychology-tools.com/test/young-mania-rating-scale https://psychology-tools.com/test/young-mania-rating-scale

oiasdjfoiasd 7y ago

Only down to a 3? lol. That makes it sound like your goal is to always have some fire under them.

Haga 7y ago

I know burnout patients who until breakdown where " at 3". Hire a recruiter to ask them whether they are searching.. More honesty that way.

not_a_cop75 7y ago

You can also take this the other way. If they say 1, you can ask " What can we do to take it up to 3?". Or if you work for a company that puts life insurance on you to profit from your death: "What can we do to take that to a 6?"

hprotagonist 7y ago

"i'm going to answer 3 every time because if i say 4 or 5 i am worried and anxious that you're going to fire me." Welcome to impostor syndrome!

benj111 7y ago
It's not just imposter syndrome. Theres reasonable concern that a company doesn't want to have to deal with illness/someone that cant hack it. I personally wouldn't want to make myself an outlier with this question, so I too would answer 3.
- chucksmash 7y ago
  I guess you could approach it that way. I definitely treat job interviews that way (e.g. try not to be negative about a previous employer, even if it is justified). If I were in a situation where I felt like I needed to approach interactions with my manager this way lest they try to screw me, I don't think I'd be interested in staying in that kind of environment. I guess some folks have overriding priorities where they are willing to endure antagonism and gotchas like that, but sheesh.
  - benj111 7y ago
    I wouldn't say it's antagonism or anything like that, just as you aren't antagonistic towards the gear in your alarm clock. Nevertheless if the gear started playing up, you'd get rid of it without a 2nd thought. Obviously this is filtered through (emotional) humans, and job roles have differing fungibility, but the corporation doesn't really care about you except perhaps where it benefits itself.
    - chucksmash 7y ago
      I don't grant the validity of that analogy. People aren't gears of a clock and, when you say they are to a corporation, you are giving them a pass that is built on assumptions of an agency which they lack. Maybe legally you cannot pierce the veil, but ethically and morally a corporation is just other people making decisions and doing things. If someone is treated this way, a whole cadre of other >people< had to be the ones to enact it. My previous statement stands - maybe there are overriding reasons to do business with people like that for some, but to me that's a hard pass. If you can't trust somebody to even be a decent human being, what can you trust them with?

tiborsaas 7y ago

Is 0 a red flag also? :)

gimboland 7y ago
On a scale of 1 to 5, 0 is definitely some color flag.
- vinaypai 7y ago
  If 5 is red, 1 must be violet. So I guess 0 is an ultraviolet flag.
leoc 7y ago
Automatic drug test, no doubt.

rubicon33 7y ago

I get that this comes from a good place, but unless you have a lot of trust with your team then you might get a lot who will lie. If I didn't trust my lead to not potentially think less of me (consciously or not), or even worse, to use my answer against me somehow (toxic environment) ... then I definitely would answer "2 or 3" even if I was a 5.

driverdan 7y ago
If your team doesn't have enough trust to answer this question there are bigger problems in your company. That said, I've managed people who have mental health problems that results in high anxiety from answering these types of questions. As a manager / lead you have to know your employees and work with each of them as an individual.
- reroute1 7y ago
  Is it a mental health problem or just human nature?

CalRobert 7y ago

In my 20's I would have told you the truth. Now I would lie to you, because I've worked in places that used this sort of thing against their employees. If it's a 1 or 2 I will assume you want to push it to 3 as well. It's not great, of course, but there is huge potential downside to being honest.

alex_hitchins 7y ago
Exactly. HR is never your friend. Join a union if you want peer support. Actually, just join a union.
jart 7y ago
It usually depends who you're being honest to. For example, it's usually a good idea to be honest with your manager, since you being successful makes them more successful. But anyone else who doesn't stand to gain from your fortune, you're right it's probably not a good idea to come across as vulnerable.

kraftman 7y ago

> If my teammate says 4 or 5, I ask what we can do to bring it down to a 3. Why not 1? Is the only way to work effectively to be moderately stressed?

mccolin 7y ago
Taking small steps to solve big (especially personally existential) problems can be significantly less daunting that solving the world in one go. Obviously, getting everyone's stress level down to 1 would be best, but improving even a bit to get it down to 3 is a (gigantic) first step.
- kraftman 7y ago
  That makes sense. I guess I read it as '3 is the goal' rather than '3 is a step in the right direction.'
Afton 7y ago
Actually, yes. https://www.google.com/search?q=stress+productivity+curve https://www.google.com/search?q=stress+productivity+curve

par 7y ago

I understand your intentions, but you should try to be clear with your directs that the stress you are talking about is work related only, and even more specifically, work related stress not caused by you directly.

vinaypai 7y ago
Non-work stress can certainly intrude on work life, and you can help out with that as long as you tread very carefully. Years ago, I noticed one of my reports had been performing uncharacteristically poorly, often late to work, making sloppy mistakes etc. I dug into it a bit in one of our one-on-one meetings and turns out he had a lot of things going on in his personal life, his girlfriend had been laid off from her job, there was an illness in the family etc. All we did as a company was give him two weeks off work so he could focus on dealing with things, and he was back to normal, and went on to have a long and successful tenure at the company. This worked only because we were a very small company, and he and I had a pretty good personal relationship and hung out socially outside of work, so he felt comfortable enough to confide in me given the opportunity.
- par 7y ago
  yes i agree but this same thing can cut both ways. Source: have spent many years building healthy teams with many directs and direct managers. There is a way to broach the subject of personal stress in a 1x1 but an internet comment box is not the right place to suggest it imho.

maxk42 7y ago

My company does this. Everyone's answer is always either 2 or 3. Anyone who answers 4 or 5 is going to get a talking-to and special attention and that's the last thing they want unless they're genuinely on the verge of quitting. It's not a meaningful KPI where I work, since everyone's basically bullshitting all the time to keep the number low.

driverdan 7y ago
That sounds like a terrible place to work. I'd be looking for a new job.

deleted 7y ago

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iamnotacrook 7y ago

Surely everyone who ever gets asked these sorts of questions just says what they think the person asking wants to hear?

agumonkey 7y ago

Would it be ok for you to share : - common sources of stress - common tricks to solve them

klenwell 7y ago
I think other comments in this thread have done a great job of pointing to some common sources and their resolution. I'll mention a few things I've found interesting in discussing the question over the years: 1. I am often the source of unexpected stress. Sometimes it's something I said (or didn't say). It may be something that gets interpreted in a way I didn't expect. Simply clarifying what I meant or discussing the matter further usually resolves the more serious aspects of the issue. 2. It's frequently a great way to address issues that improve performance or productivity. This is not the point. But a lot of times I'll have a developer, especially a younger developer, say something like, "I'm really stressing out over this user story I'm working on." Then we have a higher level discussion on design or scope or something else that's blocking them. I also learn important business-related stuff I might not have known otherwise. "Wait, you're working on that? Why are we working on that?" Or, "Oh, cool, I didn't realize we we're doing that." And then we discuss that with the goal of taking the stress out of things. 3. Personal issues do come up. Occasionally my teammate will ask something like, "Are we talking about stuff here in the office or home, too?" I'll usually respond anything goes but note that my ability to help is largely constrained by things I can control here in the office. But that includes, as other have suggested, a more flexible schedule, days off, or referrals to others that may be better qualified to help. A manager's ability to assist is going to depend to a certain extent on the culture and policies of the organization. But as others have pointed out, sometimes the most important thing for the person you're talking to is just being heard out. I'm a little surprised by the level of skepticism exhibited in the response to my original comment. I mean I understand it. But if your response to your manager asking this question in a 1-on-1 is to immediately question your manager's motives, I'd recommend looking for another job. I'm not saying it will be easy to find one, especially one with an organization or supervisor who is necessarily any better. But as this thread shows, they are out there. And if that is your reaction and you're not exploring your options, I think you're ignoring a huge signal regarding your wellbeing. I'd also say if this is a question you think it would help to discuss with your manager and you're not sure how to bring it up, maybe ask them the question. Finally, my point in mentioning this is to hopefully encourage more leads and managers to ask this question or some variant of it and pay attention to the issues raised in this thread. If your reports are unduly stressed out, you're not getting your best performance out of them. You're not really doing your job. And to clarify this isn't an official metric in any sense. It's really just an icebreaker to get to underlying issues that may affect performance and wellbeing. 3 is a step on the way to 2. 2 is optimal in my view. But if someone is a 1 and they're getting their work done, all the better! I'm hoping it's a corrective to a lot of the braindead KPIs and metrics and just generally toxic practices that are out there. But, yes, something like that IT Crowd clip is a potential unintended consequence of this question in the wrong organization. To the extent you can make things better for yourself and others, please do so. If I can help anyone, you can probably guess my gmail address. Feel free to drop me an email.

yitchelle 7y ago

That is an interesting question. How do you check its plausibility? I was in a high pressured project for about 3 years and saw many engineers leave the project due to it. My fear that for the engineers still in it after 2nd year, their stress level of 4-5 has become the new stress level of 3. It has essentially masked the problem.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 7y ago

Maybe you could start by not framing the entire world in terms of numbers?