Work Stress in Supply Chain

As a supply chain professional, do you feel stressful from time to time? Late of a shipment, out of stock, cost increases… do you sometimes feel your workdays frazzled and out of control?

As I always believe, some level of stress in supply chain can be normal and conducive, but excess stress can negatively affect an individual or team’s productivity. In this troubled economy, stress can be even harder to cope with. RIF (reduction in workforce) and budget cuts became common words in the workplace, and the result is increased fear, uncertainty, and higher levels of stress in addition to the stress related to the work contents.

An effective way to reduce the stress is to allow you or your teams to take a break – take a good vacation and break your mind away from work. Recently I was fortunate enough to travel to Europe and had a good vacation.

Our first stop is London. There is lots of history in London, and where I learned the most is at the tower of London. The tower of London is soaked with the rich history of England’s dynastic and foreign wars. It was said that hundreds have entered, only to leave for a miserable march to the place of execution.

Story says, Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, asked upon her arrival at the Tower “Shall I go into a dungeon?” “No, Madam”, came the reply, “You shall go into the lodging you lay in at your coronation.”… … Speaking of handling stress or despair, Anne would kneel down and weep in the same sorrow and fall into a great laughing. On the day of her execution, Anne inquired, “I heard the executioner was very good, and I have a little neck.” Therefore in the end, she was executed by a clean stroke of an expert swordsman specially imported from France.

So I’ve realized an effective way to handle stress is to conquer your negative thinking. If you see the downside of every situation and interaction, you’ll find yourself drained of energy and motivation. Try to think positively, and give yourself credits for a small accomplishment, even a sharper axe when your neck is on the chopping block.

This reminded me the news when the Fukushima earthquake struck at the coast of Japan and churned up a devastating tsunami that swept over cities and farmland. After many ran out of buildings and stayed in the safe places, some young people stood outside and posture to take pictures when the highrises behind them are shaking.

In my mind, to deal with stress is not to focus on the uncontrollable. In this case when a natural disaster happened, it is beyond your reasonable control. Let us all recognize the fact that many things at work are beyond our control too. Rather than trying to control the uncontrollable, focusing on the things you can control such as your own emotion or reaction to the stress is what you should do.