Rajat is recently promoted to Project Management role. He was a high performing Tech Lead in the previous avatar. He is overwhelmed by the need for juggling with too many things at a time in his new role. If he tries to focus on one thing, ten other pending things pop in his head; He starts chasing them – one leads to another and yet another… And he ends up accomplishing none. He is feeling stressed out and unable to think clearly because of mental fatigue. He is not getting sleep properly and food is tasting bland. Rajat is desperately looking for help.
What can Rajat do to deal with himself?
Suggested solution:
First of all Rajat recognizing the fact that he is going through the challenges and needs help, is a good awareness and the right starting point. Rajat can try several things at operational level – delegation & empowerment to team members, work distribution among peers, learning to say ‘no’ when unable to take up more, prioritization of activities using urgent-important matrix, time-boxing and focusing on completing activities in the order of priorities, improving efficiency in his own work, and so on.
But in order to manage all these activities effectively, he should be able to manage himself first – need to keep cool under pressure, not getting stressed out, managing emotions and energy well. Mindfulness practices like meditation, breathing techniques, yoga greatly help in this. Though it may appear like such activities or physical exercises/games take time, they enhance overall well being, energy and mental effectiveness and thus improving his productivity; in effect, such time investment yields more time gain because of improved personal effectiveness.. Mindfulness practices will also help him enhance his emotional intelligence thus helping in dealing with team members, customers and other stakeholders better. He should not forget grand mother’s advice about optimum sleep, right food at right time and exercises. Now there is sufficient clinical and neuroscience research which demonstrate the positive effects such practices. He can manage outside better by mastering inside.
