Page 3 - The MIL Leadership Line: April 2022

MIL supervisors respond

Managers play an important part in helping employees manage their work-related
stress. To provide practical tips, several MIL managers were polled on the following
questions. Read a summary of their responses, below.

How do you assess your teams’ workloads?
Our supervisors use daily dashboards, ticketing systems, and daily activity reports to help assess
workloads. Daily stand-up meetings or huddles to set priorities, brainstorm ideas, and discuss
issues are helpful as well. Weekly/bi-weekly one-on-ones with employees are valuable too! Zachary
Coho shared, “I (try to) have regular one-on-one or team meetings with staff to gauge what they’re
working on, what’s fallen behind in their backlog, and where they have obstacles, and we reassess
priorities together.”

How do you delegate the workload to your team members?
Christine Curran uses status reports to help determine where to delegate tasks. “I also consider the
complexity of the task and the urgency.” Requiring that tasks be rotated so that all team members
gain the skill set is another idea when delegating. Most supervisors reviewed the difficulty of the
task before delegating.
How do you manage your stress?
“Training the team on my daily tasks really helps. I use the time to build personal relationships and
to laugh together, while we are training!” Other ways of managing stress include To DO lists, small
breaks to gather thoughts and regroup, and keeping detailed project plans were among the ideas to
manage stress. ~Bonnie Shin

How do you manage your team’s stress?
“We work as teams - not individuals” was a consistent theme when this question was answered.
Having teammates that are always willing to help one another leads to a more cohesive environ-
ment. Building relationships with your team members increases the chance that they will ask for
assistance when it’s needed.
How do you support/challenge your newer or entry-level team members?
“We support our new team members by pairing an entry-level employee with our more experi-
enced team members. We also challenge our entry-level team members to ask questions and seek to
improve our processes.” ~Sonya Holland
Other notable ideas were delegating more responsibilities over time; helping the newer employee
understand the why; and providing opportunities for professional development.
What can managers do to help team members avoid burning out?
Most supervisors suggested emphasizing work-life balance! Other ways mentioned were fostering a
team atmosphere to encourage team collaboration, hosting team lunches, scheduling fun activities
outside of work, notes of appreciation, and maintaining weekly/ bi-weekly one-on-one meetings.

“While the stress of being a federal contractor is always there, it’s important that
managers remember that we are all human. By having an open communication
with our team members, managing workloads, and extracurricular activities, we
can all meet the challenge.”
Ashima Lall