Playbook: I can't stress this enough ... delegating is key to avoiding workplace stress.

In most of today's management journals, you'll find many articles about the growing levels of work-related stress. The cited cause: workload--the amount of work assigned in relation to the time allotted for completion. As a business necessity, organizations are consolidating workforces to reduce labor costs, but the quantity of work and expectations for results remains the same or are often increased. The resulting stress is no mystery ... what to do about it is the question.

Many of those work-related stress articles discuss ideas like getting better organized, making to-do lists, stepping away from your desk periodically or taking your phone of the hook, and so on. These are all worthy suggestions, but they respond to the condition of stress, rather than the cause: workload.

There are only two ways to reduce your workload (aside from retirement): 1) convince your organization to eliminate one or more of the job functions or programs you're responsible for (not a likely scenario); or 2) delegate some of that workload to someone else.

Many managers shy away from the idea of delegating their work. There are many reasons for this:

* Don't want to delegate their "favorite" things, even though their time is better spent on more strategic issues. "I actually like writing the company newsletter; I don't want to give that up!"

* Don't trust that anyone else could do it as well as they could. "Nobody can write the newsletter like I can."

* Lack of confidence in the available people to delegate to. "If I give this to her, she's just going to mess it up and make my whole department look bad."

* Afraid of looking like a slacker. "If I start giving my work to other people, my boss may start to wonder what I'm actually doing with my time ... and give me more work!"

* Good old-fashioned guilt. "If this work is stressing me out this much, bow could I possibly dump this misery onto my staff member or co-worker's plate?"

There's a right and wrong way to delegate. If you look at delegation as a way to dump off the things you don't like about your job, then you should feel guilty. If you hate doing it, they'll hate doing it. Proper delegation can serve as professional development opportunity for others, while still serving the ultimate goal of reducing your workload.

Tips for successful delegation

* Set it up. Setting context is an important part of building value: why this is important to the organization and how is it good for them?

* Individualize. Don't delegate randomly. Assess the skills (and workload) of the available staff and match the project appropriately.

* Remember accountability. Although you are turning over responsibility to someone else, the accountability ultimately belongs to you. Make sure you've provided the tools to succeed or you'll both fail.

* Accept the risks. Perhaps it won't be as good as the way you would have done it. As long as it's done, you didn't do it, and someone else can now add it to their body of knowledge, you've accomplished your goal with a bonus.

Conclusion

Some management journals say "if you need something done, ask the busiest person." Don't fall into the trap of delegating all your projects to the one staff person with a proven track record for success. This will merely transfer your stress to them.

Lauren Yost is the human resources manager at NRPA and can be reached at [e-mail].