How often do you think about the impact that you are having on other people at work? Could you potentially be creating stress for others at work by your actions and behaviours? 

Here are some examples for you to consider of where you may be creating stress for others at work:

Blaming others. Do you blame everyone else for things that go wrong but take all the credit for things that go well? It can be very stressful for the people who are blamed for things that go wrong, as well as when they do a good job that someone else takes all the credit for.

Too much change or too little change. Is your workplace going through too much change or are you failing to keep up with developments in your business sector? Your contacts, colleagues and staff can get very stressed and overwhelmed by too much change, whereas too little change can be equally stressful.

Communication skills that need improving. How do you talk to and communicate with your key contacts, colleagues and staff? Do you really listen to people when they are talking to you? You may be creating stress in others because you are abrupt in your communication, you do not speak clearly, you allow your moods to negatively impact your conversations and emails, you don't have time for people and you never really listen to others.

Poor decision making. Are you indecisive, inconsistent or slow in your decision making and does every decision have to come through you? Working with or for someone who has poor decision making skills can be very stressful as opportunities can be missed, you may not be able to get on with your work as you are always waiting for a decision or you are forever confused about what you should be doing.

Ineffective delegation or outsourcing. Are you trying to do everything yourself and not allowing others to fully contribute to the business? Are you delegating or outsourcing ineffectively? Your staff and suppliers may be getting very stressed because you are not giving enough time to explain how to do a task, you are not clear with your instructions, you are interfering all the time, you are not there to answer queries and support them and you never truly empower them or allow them to maximise their potential.

Inconsistency. Are you inconsistent at work? You can cause others to be stressed by being inconsistent. You may be constantly changing your mind, having ever changing priorities and plans or even moving your staff from one task to another before they can finish anything properly.

Not effectively managing others. Are you managing your staff effectively? It can be very stressful working for someone who is not very good at managing you. You may be ineffectual, constructive feedback is rare, you perhaps forget to do performance reviews and meetings with your team or individual staff members are few and far between.

Being reactive. Are you being proactive in your role or are you just waiting for things to happen and reacting to them? Working with someone who is very reactive is very stressful as you never know what you will be asked to do next and everything is very short term and last minute.

Lack of strategy and poor planning. Does the business have a long term strategy that you have shared with your team and key stakeholders? Do you have a short, medium and long term plan and do you have plans for individual projects? People can become stressed if they are operating in a vacuum without knowing where the business or their department is going. They can also find it very difficult if their work or the project they are working on is not planned effectively and if there is no overall plan.

Archaic systems, processes and procedures. Are your business systems, processes and procedures in need of a refresh or replacement? Anyone who comes into contact with or who works in your business may find it stressful to deal with your business if you have poor processes, systems and procedures. Things will probably take longer than expected, customer service will be negatively impacted and there may be lots of time wasted too.

So what do you need to change so you are not creating stress for others at work?

How to find out more

If you would like to find out more about stress management why not take one of our stress management courses on  Learn Formula or CPD Formula which contain lots of stress management tips and strategies.