DRIVING SUCCESS
leadershipcontinuous learning culture
human elements
identity
PROCESS
impact
sustainability
Effective Stress Management
Key Topics and Benefits:
- The definition and impact of Stress
- Assess and measure current approach to Stress Management within self and organisation
- Identify common causes
- Implement a Stress Management Strategy
- Introduce techniques to reduce and manage Stress
- Stress Management implementation strategy
Effective Stress Management
DRIVING SUCCESS
leadershipcontinuous learning culture
human elements
identity
PROCESS
impact
sustainability
Key Topics and Benefits:
- The definition and impact of Stress
- Assess and measure current approach to Stress Management within self and organisation
- Identify common causes
- Implement a Stress Management Strategy
- Introduce techniques to reduce and manage Stress
- Stress Management implementation strategy
Let's Talk
To learn more about how Investors in Learning can help assess your needs and create a plan for action, simply get in touch today
About the Programme
-- Henry Kissinger
“If stress burned calories, I’d be a supermodel.”
-- Unknown
OVERVIEW
Stress affects millions of people. Implementing effective stress management for individuals, teams or organisations, requires the essential precursor and foundation to be honest and bold about our human condition. Stress needs to be understood within the wider context of how our psychological, emotional and biological processes work. We need to wake up to the messages that research is giving us and apply some essential strategies and processes to support people to function at their optimum level and feel positively engaged. We need to do all we can to pro-actively manage the potential devastating effects of prolonged negative stress. All sectors have a duty of care towards their staff; managing stress in the workplace is a core part of any organisational values and the responsibility we all have for the wellbeing of our people.
There have been many definitions of stress, however we all know our personal and subjective experiences of stress. We also all have personal experience of times we feel more able to meet our challenges and times where we don’t, where we just cannot get our focus, motivation or drive. There are many reasons for this, however often there is an underlying level of stress or low-level prolonged stress that can be influencing us more than we consciously acknowledge or realise.
There is always more to be learnt and more research to be done, however today more than ever before we understand the link between psychological and emotional stressors and how these impact on our physical health and overall wellbeing. We also understand more about the impact of stress on engagement, productivity and performance.
About the Programme
-- Henry Kissinger
“If stress burned calories, I’d be a supermodel.”
-- Unknown
OVERVIEW
Stress affects millions of people. Implementing effective stress management for individuals, teams or organisations, requires the essential precursor and foundation to be honest and bold about our human condition. Stress needs to be understood within the wider context of how our psychological, emotional and biological processes work. We need to wake up to the messages that research is giving us and apply some essential strategies and processes to support people to function at their optimum level and feel positively engaged. We need to do all we can to pro-actively manage the potential devastating effects of prolonged negative stress. All sectors have a duty of care towards their staff; managing stress in the workplace is a core part of any organisational values and the responsibility we all have for the wellbeing of our people.
There have been many definitions of stress, however we all know our personal and subjective experiences of stress. We also all have personal experience of times we feel more able to meet our challenges and times where we don’t, where we just cannot get our focus, motivation or drive. There are many reasons for this, however often there is an underlying level of stress or low-level prolonged stress that can be influencing us more than we consciously acknowledge or realise.
There is always more to be learnt and more research to be done, however today more than ever before we understand the link between psychological and emotional stressors and how these impact on our physical health and overall wellbeing. We also understand more about the impact of stress on engagement, productivity and performance.
Impact of Stress
The stress response is usually one that arises when the human is feeling threatened and when the human goes into survival mode. Our brain is strongly wired for emotional responsiveness, and the emotional centres of the brain are far quicker and more dominant than the areas of cognitive processing. When we are in any way threatened, our emotional response systems will respond 10000 times faster than our cognitive response systems. That is not surprising when we recognise that our “thinking brain” has had a much shorter time for evolution than our “emotional brain”. We may experience the ‘shut down’ effect, which means that the emotional centres of the brain take over the higher-level processing areas of the brain. There is an all-important survival reason for this. The emotional centre ensures that we are forced to take refuge and escape the stressful situation. We may do this by running away or fighting. It is known as the famous fight or flight response, first described by Walter Bradford Cannon in 1915.
A little stress at work can actually do us good - helping focus and preparing the body for action. Some studies even suggest that it can improve memory. Prolonged stress, however can lead to both physical and mental problems, and long-term absenteeism. That is when it becomes a problem for both the employee and the company they work for. Psychologists make a distinction between eustress (good) and distress (bad) and point out that eustress is actually necessary for individuals to make breakthroughs and companies to grow. Eustress is motivating. It keeps us on task and helps us cross the finish the line. Distress is debilitating and occurs when the stress builds up and becomes too much to cope with.
When someone experiences stress, there are many different symptoms and repercussions. Depending on the level and frequency of stress, some of these symptoms can become serious and cause a myriad of problems. Stress affects people both mentally and physically. The heart rate increases, headaches can develop, and often people become irritated much more easily. Individuals who work in high stress or dangerous jobs as well as those who are employed at a place where there is a high - pressure environment are often prone to experiencing stress. Work environment, colleague relations, and customer pressures can all contribute to stress at work. Understanding how to manage, minimize, and deal with stress can help people feel more relaxed and know how to react when stressful situations as they arise.
A ‘stressed-out’ or unhappy workforce is not a sustainable way for the human condition to function and certainly not to flourish. In fact, the negative stress can become unhealthily infectious. Often this can be fuelled by a firefighting culture , which can become addictive. We have seen this phenomenon in organisations again and again.
In response to regular stresses, our bodies automatically increase blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, metabolism, and blood flow to our muscles. This stress response is intended to help our bodies react quickly and efficiently to any high-pressure situation. So there is an all-important reason for these reactions.
However, when we are constantly reacting to small or large stressful situations, without making physical, mental, and emotional adjustments to counter their effect, we will experience stress that will eventually hurt our health and well-being. It is simply not sustainable to our human condition to keep on living under stress. We will not function optimally, we will not perform at our peak, we will not be happy, we will not flourish and we will ultimately also have a higher chance of dying younger. A key factor in studies shows that where the levels of control and autonomy are lower this is a key factor in terms in the impact this has on our stress levels and our pre mature mortality rates.
Healthy stress, which is stress that helps us to stay focused and engaged, such as the stress of working to a deadline that we feel motivated and inspired by, can be positive for some time. The raising of arousal will support our ability to keep up the energy to meet the deadline; however again it is not sustainable to do this with no downtime, or time to allow for the brain and body to function in a rest state. For the brain to be creative and function optimally we need to ensure that the speed of our brain waves are regulated. As everything in life, working at our optimum levels is all about balance.
Impact of Stress
The stress response is usually one that arises when the human is feeling threatened and when the human goes into survival mode. Our brain is strongly wired for emotional responsiveness, and the emotional centres of the brain are far quicker and more dominant than the areas of cognitive processing. When we are in any way threatened, our emotional response systems will respond 10000 times faster than our cognitive response systems. That is not surprising when we recognise that our “thinking brain” has had a much shorter time for evolution than our “emotional brain”. We may experience the ‘shut down’ effect, which means that the emotional centres of the brain take over the higher-level processing areas of the brain. There is an all-important survival reason for this. The emotional centre ensures that we are forced to take refuge and escape the stressful situation. We may do this by running away or fighting. It is known as the famous fight or flight response, first described by Walter Bradford Cannon in 1915.
A little stress at work can actually do us good - helping focus and preparing the body for action. Some studies even suggest that it can improve memory. Prolonged stress, however can lead to both physical and mental problems, and long-term absenteeism. That is when it becomes a problem for both the employee and the company they work for. Psychologists make a distinction between eustress (good) and distress (bad) and point out that eustress is actually necessary for individuals to make breakthroughs and companies to grow. Eustress is motivating. It keeps us on task and helps us cross the finish the line. Distress is debilitating and occurs when the stress builds up and becomes too much to cope with.
When someone experiences stress, there are many different symptoms and repercussions. Depending on the level and frequency of stress, some of these symptoms can become serious and cause a myriad of problems. Stress affects people both mentally and physically. The heart rate increases, headaches can develop, and often people become irritated much more easily. Individuals who work in high stress or dangerous jobs as well as those who are employed at a place where there is a high - pressure environment are often prone to experiencing stress. Work environment, colleague relations, and customer pressures can all contribute to stress at work. Understanding how to manage, minimize, and deal with stress can help people feel more relaxed and know how to react when stressful situations as they arise.
A ‘stressed-out’ or unhappy workforce is not a sustainable way for the human condition to function and certainly not to flourish. In fact, the negative stress can become unhealthily infectious. Often this can be fuelled by a firefighting culture , which can become addictive. We have seen this phenomenon in organisations again and again.
In response to regular stresses, our bodies automatically increase blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, metabolism, and blood flow to our muscles. This stress response is intended to help our bodies react quickly and efficiently to any high-pressure situation. So there is an all-important reason for these reactions.
However, when we are constantly reacting to small or large stressful situations, without making physical, mental, and emotional adjustments to counter their effect, we will experience stress that will eventually hurt our health and well-being. It is simply not sustainable to our human condition to keep on living under stress. We will not function optimally, we will not perform at our peak, we will not be happy, we will not flourish and we will ultimately also have a higher chance of dying younger. A key factor in studies shows that where the levels of control and autonomy are lower this is a key factor in terms in the impact this has on our stress levels and our pre mature mortality rates.
Healthy stress, which is stress that helps us to stay focused and engaged, such as the stress of working to a deadline that we feel motivated and inspired by, can be positive for some time. The raising of arousal will support our ability to keep up the energy to meet the deadline; however again it is not sustainable to do this with no downtime, or time to allow for the brain and body to function in a rest state. For the brain to be creative and function optimally we need to ensure that the speed of our brain waves are regulated. As everything in life, working at our optimum levels is all about balance.
Some commonly known causes of stress
While each person is different and we all have different levels of emotional and physical resilience, there are some issues that almost universally affect people. Many causes of stress are to do with feeling out of control which results in a psychological and physiological reaction of going into survival mode in order to self-protect. Here are some universal stressors that challenge the high functioning human condition:- Feeling out of control
- Feeling directionless
- Guilt over procrastination or failing to keep commitments
- More commitments than time
- Change, especially changes you didn't initiate or institute
- Uncertainty
- High expectations of self
We perform most effectively when our bodies and brains are in relaxed alertness, the brainwaves that occur when in this state are known as Alpha brain waves. In that state we are in an optimum state to be focused and relaxed. So we need to learn to break the patterns of constant high activity and seeking excitement and urgency, and instead re-learn, or indeed learn for the first time, the value and importance of relaxed and calm thinking time.
While being able to recognise and deal with workplace stress, it is also very important to identify the causes– this may involve reviewing existing work processes to ensure these support work activities and are not part of the root problem.
Some commonly known causes of stress
While each person is different and we all have different levels of emotional and physical resilience, there are some issues that almost universally affect people. Many causes of stress are to do with feeling out of control which results in a psychological and physiological reaction of going into survival mode in order to self-protect. Here are some universal stressors that challenge the high functioning human condition:
- Feeling out of control
- Feeling directionless
- Guilt over procrastination or failing to keep commitments
- More commitments than time
- Change, especially changes you didn't initiate or institute
- Uncertainty
- High expectations of self
We are patterning machines, and we learn to develop healthy as well as unhealthy individual and group patterns. The wrong patterns can create behaviours which are destructive rather than helpful. We can develop physiological response mechanisms which we get so used to that we evoke them again and again. We perform most effectively when our bodies and brains are in relaxed alertness, the brainwaves that occur when in this state are known as Alpha brain waves. In that state we are in an optimum state to be focused and relaxed. So we need to learn to break the patterns of constant high activity and seeking excitement and urgency, and instead re-learn, or indeed learn for the first time, the value and importance of relaxed and calm thinking time.
We perform most effectively when our bodies and brains are in relaxed alertness, the brainwaves that occur when in this state are known as Alpha brain waves. In that state we are in an optimum state to be focused and relaxed. So we need to learn to break the patterns of constant high activity and seeking excitement and urgency, and instead re-learn, or indeed learn for the first time, the value and importance of relaxed and calm thinking time.
While being able to recognise and deal with workplace stress, it is also very important to identify the causes– this may involve reviewing existing work processes to ensure these support work activities and are not part of the root problem.
The deep connection and relationship between Stress and Culture
With the fast pace of change that we are experiencing today, the regular and repeated pressures, high expectations, it is becoming more and more vital to develop a supportive Learning Culture to ensure people do not ‘burn out’. We need to create an environment and a positive culture, which nurtures, engages and supports people to enable all to deliver effectively and perform at their peak sustainably into the long term.In work cultures where there is no understanding or awareness around the factors that lead to stress, there will also be no strategies to ensure that people can sustainably continue to deliver their work, maintaining their peak performance and high standards. So…
In order to create the optimum conditions for humans to be engaged, to flourish and perform, it is essential that we understand both our external and internal stressors. Stress occurs in many contexts; one of the most common forms of stress is that related to our careers and the workplace. In today's economic difficulties, uncertainties, fears of the unknown, and fast pace of change, work-related stress is more pronounced than ever before.
Every individual will have a unique response mechanism which will be related to his/ her patterns, and also unique stressors. We all need to understand ourselves, whilst appreciating our unique stressors and how we can mitigate risks and manage ourselves effectively. Across and teams organisations we need to ensure that we create the most engaging and effective culture in order to engage and support people with all their diverse and unique needs. This is no easy task, yet we do now have so much more knowledge and understanding of the strategies and processes that work. We know that the right culture is paramount.
A positive Culture of Learning and Engagement is not just a ‘nice to have’…
Today very often sadly people are expected to perform despite working in very challenging, emotionally corrosive and negative conditions. In addition to this it is very common that some organisations place a high burden on people by laying the blame on the people themselves, blaming their lack of resilience and ability to cope, rather than taking pro-active measures to ensure that people are protected and the conditions are supportive, ensuring that all safe and motivated to deliver their work without worry or repressing their true selves out of fear or uncertainty.
The deep connection and relationship between Stress and Culture
With the fast pace of change that we are experiencing today, the regular and repeated pressures, high expectations, it is becoming more and more vital to develop a supportive Learning Culture to ensure people do not ‘burn out’. We need to create an environment and a positive culture, which nurtures, engages and supports people to enable all to deliver effectively and perform at their peak sustainably into the long term.
In work cultures where there is no understanding or awareness around the factors that lead to stress, there will also be no strategies to ensure that people can sustainably continue to deliver their work, maintaining their peak performance and high standards. So…
In order to create the optimum conditions for humans to be engaged, to flourish and perform, it is essential that we understand both our external and internal stressors. Stress occurs in many contexts; one of the most common forms of stress is that related to our careers and the workplace. In today's economic difficulties, uncertainties, fears of the unknown, and fast pace of change, work-related stress is more pronounced than ever before.
Every individual will have a unique response mechanism which will be related to his/ her patterns, and also unique stressors. We all need to understand ourselves, whilst appreciating our unique stressors and how we can mitigate risks and manage ourselves effectively. Across and teams organisations we need to ensure that we create the most engaging and effective culture in order to engage and support people with all their diverse and unique needs. This is no easy task, yet we do now have so much more knowledge and understanding of the strategies and processes that work. We know that the right culture is paramount.
A positive Culture of Learning and Engagement is not just a ‘nice to have’…
Today very often sadly people are expected to perform despite working in very challenging, emotionally corrosive and negative conditions. In addition to this it is very common that some organisations place a high burden on people by laying the blame on the people themselves, blaming their lack of resilience and ability to cope, rather than taking pro-active measures to ensure that people are protected and the conditions are supportive, ensuring that all safe and motivated to deliver their work without worry or repressing their true selves out of fear or uncertainty.
Our approach to Effective Stress Management
At Investors in Learning, we take the honest and bold standpoint that we all need to work together to create the optimum condition for learning, engagement and performance. Across all sectors, we must all take responsibility to honestly and pro-actively educate ourselves in the factors that are vital for the human being to flourish; the ways in which we can support and create the ideal and optimum conditions for sustainable performance, learning and growth. We must never expect people to perform into the long term despite bad conditions and remain mindful of the duty of care we have for the wellbeing of our people.In high stress professions, there is particular urgency of effective Stress Management awareness as well as a culture of engagement, learning and support.
There is now a lot of research around the factors that support and nurture humans to work at their optimum. In particular, where people are working in regular traumatic or naturally high-stress situations, we have a duty to support these people so they can sustainably continue their amazing work! We are here talking about firefighters, paramedics, emergency services, police, health workers, community workers, social workers; any professions that support communities, vulnerable families, adults or young people; any profession that has at its very core the role of supporting the very fabric of human society.
Where traumatic or high-stress circumstances are an intrinsic predictable element of the role, then we need to ensure that there is support that allows for healthy emotional expressions and regulation. The only authentic professional approach is to intentionally create systems and processes that allow for people to express themselves and emotionally process the traumas they are dealing with in their day to day work so that they can regain the internal strength to sustainably continue their vital work on behalf of our world communities, young people and families.
This programme will help you to identify the root causes of your individual, team or organisational stress; it will also highlight the ways in which positive work cultures will positively impact on productivity and create an environment which creates the antidote to stress. If the Human Elements, which are in the centre of the Investors in Learning Driving Success model, are honoured, then you will be doing all you can to engage yourself, your teams or your whole organisation, so that people enjoy their work, whilst effectively managing everyday stressors. Honouring people’s strengths and focusing on ensuring they are engaged in and enjoying their work, will create a culture of engagement which will also contribute to creating authentic resilience to work place stress.
Our approach to Effective Stress Management
At Investors in Learning, we take the honest and bold standpoint that we all need to work together to create the optimum condition for learning, engagement and performance. Across all sectors, we must all take responsibility to honestly and pro-actively educate ourselves in the factors that are vital for the human being to flourish; the ways in which we can support and create the ideal and optimum conditions for sustainable performance, learning and growth. We must never expect people to perform into the long term despite bad conditions and remain mindful of the duty of care we have for the wellbeing of our people.
In high stress professions, there is particular urgency of effective Stress Management awareness as well as a culture of engagement, learning and support.
There is now a lot of research around the factors that support and nurture humans to work at their optimum. In particular, where people are working in regular traumatic or naturally high-stress situations, we have a duty to support these people so they can sustainably continue their amazing work! We are here talking about firefighters, paramedics, emergency services, police, health workers, community workers, social workers; any professions that support communities, vulnerable families, adults or young people; any profession that has at its very core the role of supporting the very fabric of human society.
Where traumatic or high-stress circumstances are an intrinsic predictable element of the role, then we need to ensure that there is support that allows for healthy emotional expressions and regulation. The only authentic professional approach is to intentionally create systems and processes that allow for people to express themselves and emotionally process the traumas they are dealing with in their day to day work so that they can regain the internal strength to sustainably continue their vital work on behalf of our world communities, young people and families.
This programme will help you to identify the root causes of your individual, team or organisational stress; it will also highlight the ways in which positive work cultures will positively impact on productivity and create an environment which creates the antidote to stress. If the Human Elements, which are in the centre of the Investors in Learning Driving Success model, are honoured, then you will be doing all you can to engage yourself, your teams or your whole organisation, so that people enjoy their work, whilst effectively managing everyday stressors. Honouring people’s strengths and focusing on ensuring they are engaged in and enjoying their work, will create a culture of engagement which will also contribute to creating authentic resilience to work place stress.
Want to know even more?
We will support you to:
- Understand the definition and impact of stress
- Understand the psychological and the physiological causes and symptoms of stress
- Review and explore research in the area of stress in order to appreciate the impact that stress has on individuals, teams and across organisations
- Understand the link between stress, performance and productivity
- Understand the role of stress and the research specifically in relation to your unique context, profession or industry
- Explore the direct relationship between stress and performance and productivity
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels and explore the most likely causes of stress in self, teams and across your whole organisation
- Identify the common causes that may be impacting negatively on learning and performance of individuals, teams and the whole organisation
- Understand the ingredients of a positive learning culture and how that culture can support positive and healthy human expression, whilst counteracting stress. creating optimum performance and positive outcomes for the individual, team and the whole organisation
- Explore the impact of any individual, team or organisational trauma at work and how this can be pro-actively managed at an individual, team or organisational level in order to ensure people are kept safe and can sustainably perform into the long term.
- Explore effective stress management approaches for individuals, teams and organisations and how to ensure these can be applied for impact into the long term
- Understand the definition and role of authentic resilience and how this can be developed and nurtured in individuals, teams and across the whole organisation
- Design and Implement a sustainable stress management strategy for individuals, teams and across your whole organisation
Want to know even more?
We will support you to:
- Understand the definition and impact of stress
- Understand the psychological and the physiological causes and symptoms of stress
- Review and explore research in the area of stress in order to appreciate the impact that stress has on individuals, teams and across organisations
- Understand the link between stress, performance and productivity
- Understand the role of stress and the research specifically in relation to your unique context, profession or industry
- Explore the direct relationship between stress and performance and productivity
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels and explore the most likely causes of stress in self, teams and across your whole organisation
- Identify the common causes that may be impacting negatively on learning and performance of individuals, teams and the whole organisation
- Understand the ingredients of a positive learning culture and how that culture can support positive and healthy human expression, whilst counteracting stress. creating optimum performance and positive outcomes for the individual, team and the whole organisation
- Explore the impact of any individual, team or organisational trauma at work and how this can be pro-actively managed at an individual, team or organisational level in order to ensure people are kept safe and can sustainably perform into the long term.
- Explore effective stress management approaches for individuals, teams and organisations and how to ensure these can be applied for impact into the long term
- Understand the definition and role of authentic resilience and how this can be developed and nurtured in individuals, teams and across the whole organisation
- Design and Implement a sustainable stress management strategy for individuals, teams and across your whole organisation
Effective Stress Management
For Individuals, Teams and Organisations
We all need to take care of ourselves at the individual level. Everything starts with self. If we are not regulating our own personal and professional stressors and managing these, then we all know what will eventually happen. It is simply unsustainable. We will either feel no option but to leave the situation, we will become ill, or we will burn out.
This programme will support you to ensure that you are learning how to become authentically resilient. We will explore the concept of authentic resilience, how to define it, strategies to achieve it, and the underlying need to take your emotional and physical wellbeing into your own hands. We take a bold and honest approach in helping people to understand the reality of what the human condition can deal with; we then take that knowledge and apply it to how we can sustainable support ourselves as individuals in varying contexts. We need to make wise and honest decisions as humans and learn to apply these to our lives so that we can live healthily and sustainably into the future
This programme will support you to:
- Recognise the physical and mental symptoms of your personal stress
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels in your own life and explore the most likely causes of stress in yourself
- Identify the common causes that may be impacting negatively on your learning and performance in your specific context
- Understand the main causes of life and workplace stress
- Understand the impact of trauma that may have influence your workplace behaviours and performance.
- Develop and implement a personal stress management development plan applied to your specific context
- Discover various effective stress management approaches and select these that will best work for you
- Learn, practise and implement personal strategies for handling stress that work for you into the long term
- Develop positive success habits which will ensure that you develop your self -awareness and become authentically resilient
If your staff are feeling continually stressed in workplace it is important to take action. Not taking action comes at a cost much higher than pro-actively investing in preventative measures that support your teams to feel in control and able to manage their work, to feel engaged and enjoy their work.
There are many tried and tested workplace stress management strategies that leaders and managers can take to help reduce stress levels within the team. Ask yourself whether your organisation is doing everything it can to set realistic workloads and work schedules. An important risk control measure for work-related stress is to factor work-life balance into resourcing. Failure to quickly spot and implement effective workplace stress management can have long-term effects on their health and your team.
This programme will support you to:
- Recognise the physical and mental symptoms of your stress in your team
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels in your team and explore the most likely causes of stress in the specific context of your team
- The level of stress that is impacting on your teams
- The reality of the context in which your team is working and how this context is impacting on the challenges and the level of stress that people need to deal with
- Understand the impact of trauma that may have influence individual and team behaviours and performance.
- Develop strategies for dealing with workplace stress in your team
- Learn strategies to undertake an impact review, evaluate and implement actions to proactively manage
- Client and role demands
- Resources
- Roles and Responsibilities in a team
- Team and individual skillsets
- Role conflict
- Ergonomics
Developing sustainable solutions across your whole organisation, which acknowledge the potential and actual sources and impacts of stress, is one of the most important activities to ensure that your employees reman engaged and productive into the long term.
As a leader in the business it is important that you understand common precursors to work stress. By understanding what can create stress within your workforce, not only will it help you perform a better risk management assessment, you are likely to also come across as a more empathetic and understanding leader.
Here are some of the impacts that stress can have on a business or organisation:
Absenteeism, presenteeism and ill health. Employees who are stressed may be absent from work due to stress, they may come to work but not be able to perform to the normal standards and they may suffer from other health problems developing from the stress (e.g. long term chronic, mental health and other conditions and potential addictions). These factors will significantly impact the business or organisation due to lack of resources, the loss of knowledge and experience and the impact of this on other employees. There may also be health and safety incidents as a result of stress.
Morale and motivation. Employee morale and motivation can be a big factor, both in terms of the employees who are struggling with stress and the employees at all levels in the organisation who have to pick up their responsibilities. The culture of an organisation, whether or not we feel valued, will have a direct impact on the way individual’s performance and the resulting productivity.
Staff turnover, recruitment and training. Low retention of staff and high turnover is a prevalent in many sectors, especially where the role inherently creates various stresses , for example social work or social care, and in the health sector. However, we also see a large turnover in sectors such as hospitality and tourism. The root causes of this are of course varied, and many sectors can also find it hard to recruit. The costs of low retention and the efforts necessary to recruit new staff create a great burden on any business.
Productivity and efficiency. Employees who are stressed and coming into work are likely to be much less productive and efficient than usual and this combined with employee absences, low morale and motivation and staff turnover will have a negative impact on overall business and organisational productivity and efficiency.
Customer service. Good quality customer service is essential to sustainable success of any organisation. It is very difficult to maintain customer service levels with staff absences, high staff turnover, morale and motivation issues and low productivity and inefficiencies. Stress can therefore result in customer service issues, with customer complaints and potential loss of customers.
Communication and relationships. Where employees are stressed another impact can be on communication and relationships in the business or organisation. People who are stressed can be angry, irritable and withdrawn, which together with low morale and motivation and high staff turnover, can impact team dynamics, communication within and outside the company and both internal and external relationships negatively.
Business and financial performance.All the above will result in a deterioration in the company or organisation performance, in terms of sales, profitability and cash flow.
This programme will support you to:
- Recognise the physical and mental symptoms of your stress in your organisation
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels across your organisation and with organisational data to support the understanding of the current state, explore the most likely causes of stress in your specific industry and context
- Explore the known and key factors that may be causing or perpetuating the impact and creating a vicious cycle on the levels of stress in your organisation.
- Create an organisational stress management strategy, which tackles the factors identified in the needs analysis
- Create and implement practical and tangible measures to sustainably manage and mitigate the stressors and the impact of stress throughout your organisation
Please ensure you read about our unique tailored approach in order to understand that we will always tailor our programmes with the prime aim to address your challenges and meet your needs.
We will implement your programme ensuring minimum disruption to your other priorities and activities
Please contact us for more information so we can explore your challenges and desired results. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, ideas, anything at all.
We Love to explore, and we Love to help ☺
Effective Stress Management
For Individuals, Teams and Organisations
We all need to take care of ourselves at the individual level. Everything starts with self. If we are not regulating our own personal and professional stressors and managing these, then we all know what will eventually happen. It is simply unsustainable. We will either feel no option but to leave the situation, we will become ill, or we will burn out.
This programme will support you to ensure that you are learning how to become authentically resilient. We will explore the concept of authentic resilience, how to define it, strategies to achieve it, and the underlying need to take your emotional and physical wellbeing into your own hands. We take a bold and honest approach in helping people to understand the reality of what the human condition can deal with; we then take that knowledge and apply it to how we can sustainable support ourselves as individuals in varying contexts. We need to make wise and honest decisions as humans and learn to apply these to our lives so that we can live healthily and sustainably into the future
This programme will support you to:
- Recognise the physical and mental symptoms of your personal stress
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels in your own life and explore the most likely causes of stress in yourself
- Identify the common causes that may be impacting negatively on your learning and performance in your specific context
- Understand the main causes of life and workplace stress
- Understand the impact of trauma that may have influence your workplace behaviours and performance.
- Develop and implement a personal stress management development plan applied to your specific context
- Discover various effective stress management approaches and select these that will best work for you
- Learn, practise and implement personal strategies for handling stress that work for you into the long term
- Develop positive success habits which will ensure that you develop your self -awareness and become authentically resilient
If your staff are feeling continually stressed in workplace it is important to take action. Not taking action comes at a cost much higher than pro-actively investing in preventative measures that support your teams to feel in control and able to manage their work, to feel engaged and enjoy their work.
There are many tried and tested workplace stress management strategies that leaders and managers can take to help reduce stress levels within the team. Ask yourself whether your organisation is doing everything it can to set realistic workloads and work schedules. An important risk control measure for work-related stress is to factor work-life balance into resourcing. Failure to quickly spot and implement effective workplace stress management can have long-term effects on their health and your team.
This programme will support you to:
- Recognise the physical and mental symptoms of your stress in your team
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels in your team and explore the most likely causes of stress in the specific context of your team
- The level of stress that is impacting on your teams
- The reality of the context in which your team is working and how this context is impacting on the challenges and the level of stress that people need to deal with
- Understand the impact of trauma that may have influence individual and team behaviours and performance.
- Develop strategies for dealing with workplace stress in your team
- Learn strategies to undertake an impact review, evaluate and implement actions to proactively manage
- Client and role demands
- Resources
- Roles and Responsibilities in a team
- Team and individual skillsets
- Role conflict
- Ergonomics
Developing sustainable solutions across your whole organisation, which acknowledge the potential and actual sources and impacts of stress, is one of the most important activities to ensure that your employees reman engaged and productive into the long term.
As a leader in the business it is important that you understand common precursors to work stress. By understanding what can create stress within your workforce, not only will it help you perform a better risk management assessment, you are likely to also come across as a more empathetic and understanding leader.
Here are some of the impacts that stress can have on a business or organisation:
Absenteeism, presenteeism and ill health. Employees who are stressed may be absent from work due to stress, they may come to work but not be able to perform to the normal standards and they may suffer from other health problems developing from the stress (e.g. long term chronic, mental health and other conditions and potential addictions). These factors will significantly impact the business or organisation due to lack of resources, the loss of knowledge and experience and the impact of this on other employees. There may also be health and safety incidents as a result of stress.
Morale and motivation. Employee morale and motivation can be a big factor, both in terms of the employees who are struggling with stress and the employees at all levels in the organisation who have to pick up their responsibilities. The culture of an organisation, whether or not we feel valued, will have a direct impact on the way individual’s performance and the resulting productivity.
Staff turnover, recruitment and training. Low retention of staff and high turnover is a prevalent in many sectors, especially where the role inherently creates various stresses , for example social work or social care, and in the health sector. However, we also see a large turnover in sectors such as hospitality and tourism. The root causes of this are of course varied, and many sectors can also find it hard to recruit. The costs of low retention and the efforts necessary to recruit new staff create a great burden on any business.
Productivity and efficiency. Employees who are stressed and coming into work are likely to be much less productive and efficient than usual and this combined with employee absences, low morale and motivation and staff turnover will have a negative impact on overall business and organisational productivity and efficiency.
Customer service. Good quality customer service is essential to sustainable success of any organisation. It is very difficult to maintain customer service levels with staff absences, high staff turnover, morale and motivation issues and low productivity and inefficiencies. Stress can therefore result in customer service issues, with customer complaints and potential loss of customers.
Communication and relationships. Where employees are stressed another impact can be on communication and relationships in the business or organisation. People who are stressed can be angry, irritable and withdrawn, which together with low morale and motivation and high staff turnover, can impact team dynamics, communication within and outside the company and both internal and external relationships negatively.
Business and financial performance.All the above will result in a deterioration in the company or organisation performance, in terms of sales, profitability and cash flow.
This programme will support you to:
- Recognise the physical and mental symptoms of your stress in your organisation
- Through the Investors in Learning Needs analysis, measure the current stress levels across your organisation and with organisational data to support the understanding of the current state, explore the most likely causes of stress in your specific industry and context
- Explore the known and key factors that may be causing or perpetuating the impact and creating a vicious cycle on the levels of stress in your organisation.
- Create an organisational stress management strategy, which tackles the factors identified in the needs analysis
- Create and implement practical and tangible measures to sustainably manage and mitigate the stressors and the impact of stress throughout your organisation
Please ensure you read about our unique tailored approach in order to understand that we will always tailor our programmes with the prime aim to address your challenges and meet your needs.
We will implement your programme ensuring minimum disruption to your other priorities and activities
Please contact us for more information so we can explore your challenges and desired results. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions, ideas, anything at all.
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