In recent years, technology has changed the work environment
drastically and has redefined how we communicate with one another. Email has made it very difficult to separate
a person’s job from their social life. Without much effort, a person could
email you something work related and now you are expected to respond to them no
matter where you are and what you are doing with your day. Even if you do not decide to respond, there
is still unfinished business to take care of during your next day on the job. Smart phones now give you the ability to
communicate through phone calls, email, text messages and social
networking. When work email is tied to
the phone you are using, it is almost as if you have never left work and it is
always a click away.
Being in a leadership position on
top of this makes it an even more difficult task to separate work from social
life. There can be many problems in the
work day when you are working in retail pharmacy and when you are the one in
charge, employees and customers look to you to resolve problems. This is the job description and pharmacists
need to be able to think on their feet and make quick yet accurate resolutions
to these problems. I am an intern at a
community pharmacy which isn’t a leadership role per say, but I have been faced
with being involved in unresolved problems during the workday. It is hard to detach myself from the problem
after I leave work. Even though I have
little ability to cultivate a resolution while I am not working, I still see
myself endlessly thinking about it and worrying about the next day when I will
have to deal with the same problem.
Managers will see this happen very frequently as they are responsible
for the whole business and all of the employees’ welfare. When a leader is not able to separate
themselves from their work it results in stress which can have very negative
effects on a person’s body such as increased risk of coronary heart disease and
contracting a viral infection. It is
important to find ways to redefine the boundary between work and social life
for this reason.
There
are many ways that people can cope with stress and it is depends on the
person’s preferences. I would like to
offer ways to control leadership-induced stress in the following blog. First, I believe it is very important to
build a support network. This allows the
leader to get a fresh perspective on an issue they have been faced with at
work. It is also healthy vent your
frustrations to your family, friends or loved ones if you feel the need to. Having bottled up emotions related to work
will just make situations worse and you won’t be able to break free from work’s
grasp. It also gives them somewhere to
fall back if they need emotional support that they can’t find anywhere
else. It can be beneficial to disengage
from anything connecting you to work.
Turn off your pager, try not to talk to coworkers about work on off
hours, log out of your office email, etc.
Finally and most importantly, make time for you. Do what relaxes you and make the most of this
time. Personally, I find reading a book,
exercising, listening to music, or just using time for reflection is productive
for me and helps me move past the problems at work and focus on myself.
Regarding time management, a leader
should be using time at work as effectively as possible. There would be no loose ends at the
conclusion of the workday if they spent all their time on important matters
that needed to be taken care of at work.
If there is counterproductive measures being taken at work, such as
unneeded morning meetings, address them and allow for more time on matters that
need to be tended to. With stress from
being a leader at work under control, it allows the leader to have a much
higher chance of finding success and happiness in their job and social
life.
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