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The Apprentice

The Apprentice

2 Dec 2010 | 09:57

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Oh my goodness - this week the boy’s team, lead by Jamie, won by a gnat’s whisker of £70. It was the buying task this week. On paper it looks so easy; to an outsider, 10 items in 10 hours seems like a piece of cake. Sat in a cosy office, we would Google the items and drive to the exact location, buy them, come home and have a cuppa. What makes this task so much more difficult is the time pressure and having to negotiate under stress. It’s a fine balance to make sure you buy all the items, get a good price and get back to the boardroom on time to avoid any penalties. It’s one big bowl of stress, stress, stress.

I lead the team in the buying task in my series and lost the task by a similar amount because we failed to get one item, a specialist tyre for a 4X4. The whole day was one big rush. Exhausting, frustrating and painful to watch afterwards! There were traffic jams, tough negotiators and difficulties in finding items.

We all know that stress is bad for everyone, but The Apprentice is an extreme example of stress at work.

Stress is not only bad for organisations and the people within them but it has tangible implications for performance too. Stress creates a blind spot in the brain, which means opportunities simply cannot be seen. When we stress, our days are full of rushing from one place to another with no time to think. In a bizarre way, stress makes us feel important as it satisfies one of our basic human needs: to feel significant. Many of my corporate clients regularly speak of “back-to-back” meetings and no time to think. The better ones make time to be creative, to reflect and to take a break.

But how do you tell whether you have a stress problem or not? A very simple test is to check for an endemic use of the word “manic” in your organisation. If it is said too often, have a go at replacing “manic” with “I’m busy but everything is under control” - because manic is simply panic with an “m”. Nobody wants manic employees; so talk slower, walk slower and today just BREEATHEEE and teach everyone else to do the same.

Comments

1. At 12:07 on 02 Dec 2010, Barbara Patrick wrote:

Although not a fan of The Apprentice, I really liked this article.

I've come across many managers who rush around, trying to squeeze too much into the day, setting impossible deadlines for themselves and for their line managers and employees, then invariably miss deadlines and run late for everything because they've overcommitted and set expectations too high.

I firmly believe that some stress can be healthy, and that tight deadlines lead to higher levels of delivery. Give me a shorter day and I'll often achieve just as much or perhaps even more than I would in a longer day, simply because I know I must.

So, yes, set tough targets and push the boundaries, but don't turn your employees into the proverbial headless chickens.
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2. At 16:26 on 03 Dec 2010, Mark wrote:

To an extent Barbara's comments are correct but there is also an element dependant upon the industry one works in. Retail for example will always feel 'rushed' in most retail sectors..... Good points though.... we can all learn from this and take some positive learnings. Good article Jo!
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Jo Cameron is a former contestant on The Apprentice and founder of training and development company Jo Cameron’s High Performance Academy....

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