May 8, 2007

Professional Development

How to cope with work overload

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

CAMBRIDGE

Armed with modelling dough, a miniature rubber lizard and other props, corporate trainer Cathy Shaughnessy gave contractors some tips on “keeping your head without losing your mind.”

Coping with work overload and its attendant stress is critical “at a time when people are expected to do more with less and never get to disconnect,” said the senior partner in the Waterloo firm of ShaughnessyHowell.

“We keep it together when we have to,” Shaughnessy recently told members of the Grand Valley Construction Association (GVCA).

“When it’s safe, we snap.”

But juggling competing workplace demands is “easier said than done,” she said.

Corporate trainer Cathy Shaughnessy gave an upbeat presentation on managing the challenges of a hectic business life at a recent Grand Valley Construction Association symposium.

Shaughnessy is the winner of two Canadian Society for Training and Development awards and the author of Cultivating Initiative in Your Staff.

She said demands typically fall into four categories: trivia, such as dealing with spam e-mail; “in-your-face” tasks, which are immediate, and “possibly” important; long-term, results-oriented “investment” activities, such as keeping in touch with customers; and bread and butter tasks, which need to be dealt with on a daily basis.

“Every day, we make decisions about how we use our time,” she said during the 90-minute, interactive workshop.

“Often, we let the tail wag the dog.”

A case in point, she said, is wasting valuable time first thing in the morning weeding out junk e-mail.

“You need to think about a typical day on the job,” said Shaughnessy, who has a psychology degree.

To illustrate this point, she asked the contractors to divide the modelling dough into four pieces, indicating which category takes up most of their days.

Outlining strategies that do and do not work for coping with overload, Shaughnessy said people need to avoid self-defeating behaviours “that come out when the going gets tough.”

Examples include “mega” multi-tasking, perfectionism, procrastination and thinking in extremes and absolutes.

“When we live every day as if we are being shot out of a cannon, we’re using survival strategies,” Shaughnessy said. “But these strategies can backfire.”

She used the lizard as a symbol of a poor coping strategy. These reptiles thrive in hot, inhospitable environments.

Poor coping mechanisms “just absorb heat” and provide no relief.

“You need to know what your lizards are.”

Strategies that work include setting priorities, focusing on the task at hand — and regrouping.

“You need to change your game plan if something isn’t working,” Shaughnessy said.

The GVCA building excellent businesses forum was sponsored by The Economical Insurance Group.

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