Stop Stress in its Tracks
Tips for Managing a Stressful Situation
Everyone has experienced it. You are up against a tight deadline or have to give your boss disappointing news about your latest project. Maybe your team is facing a setback and you are responsible for picking up the pieces and making the project work. Or, a piece of equipment is broken and you can’t fill an order for an important client in time. Stress – that all-too familiar enemy – begins to creep up and somehow makes a difficult situation worse.
Stress makes life and work more complicated, but it is also harmful to your health. In fact, the American Journal of Public Health recently reported that both men and women who work in high-stress jobs, such as management, are more likely to have high blood pressure than people who work in low-stress jobs. And, stress at all levels of responsibility affects the company’s bottom line. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a growing number of workers’ compensation claims are related to job stress. That’s why learning to cope with a stressful situation is a critical skill for all managers.
Handling stressful situations is tricky, especially for people with high levels of responsibility. Following these quick tips can help you through your next stressful moment.
Relax. In periods of stress, your body tenses up, especially in your back, shoulders, neck and jaw. Not everyone can escape to the masseuse when stress hits, but you can relax your body by focusing on your breathing and slowly moving your head or jaw from side-to-side or in a circle. Allowing your body to relax helps reduce stressful feelings that can overwhelm you.
Avoid caffeine. Reaching for soda, chocolate or coffee is the quick pick-me-up of choice for many people under stress. But, caffeine’s energizing effects only last a moment. In the end, caffeine makes you more tired and less productive, adding to your stress level.
Laugh it out. You know what they say about laughter – it’s the best medicine. That’s why it’s important to find a few moments for humor at work. Read a comic strip or share humorous stories with a co-worker. Be careful to spend only five or 10 minutes seeking a laugh to avoid getting sidetracked. Focusing on the enjoyable parts of life releases you from the nagging feeling stress brings.
Take a break. Reduce stress by removing yourself from a stressful environment or by being active. Try taking a 10-minute walk around the building or head outside for some sunshine. Put the stressful situation out of your mind during your break. Relax by thinking about family, friends or an upcoming event you are looking forward to. This can help you release stress and re-focus when you return to your workspace.
Set a goal. Handling a stressful situation is easier when you stop concentrating on the problem and begin focusing on how to finish the task. Approach your project as a set of steps that you can easily accomplish in small amounts of time. Creating small, easily reachable goals and deadlines for completing these steps makes large projects seem more feasible. Finally, reward yourself when you’ve finished the project.
You’ll increase productivity and posotovism when you combat stress using these techniques. You can boost your entire workforce by sharing these tips with your team to help them handle stressful situations.Monday Morning Leadership Tips
Motivate Employees and Live in the Learning Zone
Learning leadership principles helps managers at any level of experience lead their teams more effectively. But according to David Cottrell in his book Monday Morning Leadership, one lesson that is difficult for many managers is learning their place on the team. You might think managers are the vital component to their teams, but it is actually the other way around. A manager’s performance depends on the people he or she leads. Team members do 95% of the work, while managers are responsible for helping them become better at their jobs.
That’s why motivating employees is a critical skill for any manager. Cottrell describes the ebb and flow of motivation through the analogy of buckets and dippers. Motivation is like a bucket – it can be overflowing or full of holes. Sometimes, other people will remove motivation from others’ buckets using the dippers of stress, fear, negativity and anxiety. Four tips can help you make sure your team members have full buckets and are motivated to do their best work.
- Communicate the main thing. A great leader tells team members what the main priorities of the team are. Identify your goals and priorities and regularly talk with your team about them.
- Give feedback. Beyond a performance review, continuously fill your team members’ buckets through regular feedback. Great feedback is sincere, specific, timely and valuable to the receiver. Neglecting feedback drains your team members’ buckets.
- Demonstrate that you care. Make sure your team members know that you care about their personal needs as well as the work they do. Showing you care is a great way to recognize a job well done. Check out the sidebar for 10 tips on showing your team members that you care.
- Give goals updates. Urge your team members on by encouraging them and letting them know how they are doing. Give a weekly report on the team’s progress toward company and department goals. This will let your team members know how they can make yours a winning team.
Leaders who fill their team members’ buckets and motivate them find that their own buckets are filled as well. With that motivation, great leaders choose to do more than simply live the same day over and over. Instead, they leave their comfort zone and journey to a place of lifelong learning, where each day offers a new lesson. You can start your voyage out of the comfort zone of mediocrity today by following these tips.
- Reading – Everyone can find a few minutes each day to devote to reading. Cottrell points out that reading merely 10 minutes a day will enable you to read 10-12 books throughout the course of a year. That knowledge adds up, improving your leadership and making you the next candidate ready for a promotion.
- Listening – This crucial skill for leaders combats the insensitivity, arrogance and indifference that many leaders develop over time. Listening keeps you in tune with the daily needs of the team. Training your ears to truly listen will take you far in your career.
- Giving – No one can succeed without giving back. Teaching, mentoring and coaching your team sets you up to practice what you preach. When your team knows what you are learning, they hold you accountable to implementing that knowledge.
- Setting Goals – True leaders set themselves up for success by setting goals. However, many people do not set specific goals or write them down, often because they are afraid that setting specific goals will result in measurable failure. But leading without goals is like going on a journey without a map. You can’t be a true leader without a vision of where you are going. Setting specific, measurable and attainable goals gives you that vision.
- Staying Positive – Since leaders know where the team is headed, the journey itself should be seen as a success. Great leaders stay positive on the journey, no matter what obstacles they face, because they know their team and their organization will be better off in the end.
Continually learning means you will constantly be challenged and motivated to be better at managing your employees. The best leaders are always becoming better at what they do. You can become more than simply a manager by investing time in leading your team by implementing these tips today. With the goal of continuous improvement, your leadership style will grow as you lead your team to repeated success.
Show Your Team You Care
Fill Their Buckets Through Motivational Leadership
- Bring breakfast or coffee just because.
- Send a handwritten thank you note to an employee’s home when you notice a job well done.
- Spend time with your team at work and create times for offsite team building.
- Ask for and use employees’ input in big decisions.
- Make an employee Wall of Fame with photos of their families.
- Assign top employees to mentor new team members.
- Send cards to everyone on your team at Thanksgiving, acknowledging the specific ways they have contributed to team success.
- Create a library of books, magazines and other resources for your team members to use.
- Make regular time for team members to talk about their lives and families.
- Treat team members how they want to be treated – and ask if you don’t know.
Find more tips in David Cottrell’s book Monday Morning Leadership.
Employment Situation Summary
United States
Non-farm employment rose by 128,000 jobs in August, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.7%.
Major Industry Employment for August 2006
• Construction: + 17,000
• Manufacturing: - 11,000
• Retail Trade: - 14,000
• Professional & Business Services: + 26,000
• Educational & Health Services: + 60,000
• Leisure & Hospitality: + 10,000
• Government: +17,000
Canada
Employment was unchanged in August, and the unemployment rose to 6.5%.
Major Industry Employment for August 2006
• Agriculture: + 1,000
• Construction: - 9,000
• Manufacturing: - 11,000
• Trade: + 4,000
• Transportation & Warehousing: + 8,000
• Finance, Insurance, Real Estate & Leasing: - 10,000
• Business, Building & Support Services: + 11,000
• Educational Services: - 20,000
• Health Care & Social Assistance: - 9,000
• Information, Culture & Recreation: + 8,000
•
Accommodation
and Food Services: + 6,000
e-Xchange is a publication of Express Services, Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Copyright 2006.