Oh My, I Hate My Job

Here’s a quick and easy way at work to stress yourself out in no time flat…and the remedy should you find yourself in this pickle.

1. Apply a strategy to a situation needing a plan.
2. Applying a plan to a situation needing a strategy.
3. Not knowing the difference.

Often plan and strategy are used interchangeably, but I think you may take pause when you see them used from the perspective of control.  Environmental control.

If the environment is controlled use a plan.  Is your work environment, for the task at hand, controlled?  Are there few or no outside influencers?  Is it highly scheduled?  Can you predict consequences highly accurately?  Could you say, in a metaphoric sense, that the environment is closer to warehouse?

If the environment is uncontrolled use a strategy.  Think of the open market.  It’s where competitors can come out of seemingly no where.  It’s where changes can come out of the blue.  It’s nonlinear, where small changes can have big effects.  Could you say, in a metaphoric sense, that the environment is closer to weather?

What’s the difference?  Flexibility and adaptability.  A plan step by steps you to your goal. A strategy is more loose, it has a goal, a focus to help direct and coordinate actions, and it has the resources to which you have access.

Use the more loose strategy in a controlled environment you may find you’re stressed because you’re missing key steps.

Use the plan in a more chaotic (or highly complex) environment and you’ll find your stress levels at work soaring because the environment keeps going off the script of your plan.

So, you want to lower your work stress?  Use the appropriate tool for the job.