With the uncertainty in these difficult economic times it is essential that we maintain the health and fitness of our employees to effectively promote the business.  Many employees are working longer hours to sustain the business.  How then do we recognise the stress of our employees or colleagues?

Can workplace stress be defined?

We hear a lot about stress but do we really know what it is?  The dictionary definition is ‘mental or emotional tension, strain’.  In some cases stress can be seen as a positive challenge to raise performance to achieve a goal such as deadlines or a target.  We see signs of stress when the pressure becomes too much, bringing on feelings of negativity and any satisfaction turns to exhaustion and frustration.

What are the symptoms of stress?

Symptoms can include aggressive behaviour, irritability, anti-social feelings, suppressed anger and problems with concentration and or sleeping.  Other telltale signs include eating too much or too little, suffering from repeated illness, drinking or smoking too much and watching too much television.

It is a good idea to carry out a stress risk assessment in the same way other workplace risks are assessed to achieve acceptable stress levels.  The Health & Safety Executive advices applying the stress ‘management standard’ for six possible sources of stress:

Demand
Control
Support
Role
Relationship
Change

Preparation:

•    Gain commitment from all senior managers in the organisation
•    Select a pilot group
•    Define current state of the organisation against management standards
•    Feedback the results

Second session:

•    Define problem areas
•    Consultation
•    Consult with employees to confirm the nature of the problem and agree what action will be taken and when
•    Take Action
•    Put in place the agreed actions

Review:

•    review the results of the actions
•    refine them if necessary
•    deal with issues that have arisen

Having open and honest lines of communication where employees feel they can free acknowledge that they are under stress without fear of retribution can go some way to alleviating the problem.

Business Coaching with Carole Davidson Coaching

It seems that people experience change in these ways initially as disturbance, perhaps as a shock then coming to accept its reality, testing it out and engaging in a process of mutual adaptation.  They come to terms with it.
Self-esteem and performance vary, initially declining and then growing again.  The “engine” for rebuilding performance is self-esteem of the people involved.

I do not suggest that people go through these stages neatly or that everyone goes through them at the same time or rate.

The important point is that people do seem to experience significant changes in these ways and that this leads on to a number of practical ways in which the problem of coping can be handled.

Coping with the process of change places great demands on the individuals involved, whatever their circumstance or level in the organisation.

As a leader you will be required not only to deal with your own reactions but also to assist others in rebuilding their self-confidence and self-esteem as preliminary to lifting performance.

Business Coaching with Carole Davidson Coaching

Carole Davidson is a qualified life and business coach based in the UK.

By understanding this it will help you to provide practical support to people undergoing change.

The Change Cycle

We can identify five stages in this process of adjustment to new circumstances.  At each stage the relationship between levels of performance and self-esteem alters.  By self-esteem we mean both self-confidence and satisfaction with life and work.

Stage 1: Denial

“We have always done things this way, why change, we are making a profit aren’t we?  Don’t change a winning team.  My life isn’t so bad really, I can cope with it staying the same”.  These are some of the ways denial can find expression.  Faced with the possibility of change, people will often find value in their present circumstances, often in situations that they have complained of previously.

Stage 2: Defense

Now the situation becomes clearer.  People must begin to face up to new tasks, working for a new boss or with a different group of people, perhaps in a different department or at a new location.  Thus they become aware that they must come to terms with changes in the way they work.  People may attempt to defend their own job or their existing circumstances and often both performance and self-esteem plummet.

Stage 3: Discarding

At this stage people begin to let go of the past and look forward to the future.  People begin to identify with the changes; they talk openly and constructively about the new way.  When this point is reached self-esteem begins to flow back.

Stage 4: Adapting

Just as people must adapt to new ways, so the new ways will have to adapt to procedures, structure and machines rarely work effectively first time and new relationships need time and effort to work too.  People begin to try out the new situation for themselves.  They test new behaviours, try working to different standards and ways of coping with changes.  This way people learn new sills.

Stage 5: Normalising

Now the people involved have created a new life, system, process or organisation.  New relationships between people and processes have been tried, modified and accepted.  These now become incorporated into understandings of the new way or working and the “new” becomes part of a “normal life”.

For effective business coaching that suits your business needs, contact Carole Davidson Coaching.

People who initially set up small businesses don’t necessarily have the skills to manage larger businesses and the growing number of people they need to employ.  It’s also unlikely that they can be away from work for extended periods of time for development activities.

In this situation business coaching can offer targeted, timely development of identified issues and areas that can be fitted into the individual’s busy schedule.

Often senior managers or executives being groomed for leadership roles may be hesitant to attend training courses, as they may feel they already have the skills, expertise, and so on.  In this situation business coaching can be a suitable intervention as it is a confidential, personal and ‘safe’ development option where the individual is using an objective, external person to help them with their business development.

In the current economic climate where there is the need for major organisational change, business coaching can assist in changing the significant shifts in the behaviour and attitude of some employees in order to fit in with a new structure or culture.  It may be that individuals who are moving to a new job require different skills and abilities.  Business coaching can help individuals make these necessary changes.

Coaching is also beneficial in supporting expatriates who have to adjust to a new culture and country.  Often these people will have very specific requirements and they need immediate support as issues
arise.

Examples of business development needs when business coaching may be an appropriate solution:

Developing a more strategic perspective
As managers who for the first time find themselves in an executive position, assistance is often needed in gaining a more strategic perspective.  This involves taking decisions based on the best interest of the business as a whole, rather than an isolated area of the business.  Business coaches can help the new executive to become more sensitive to the business concerns and understand opportunities and problems that occur across the business.

Develop new skills
In a growing business the executive many be required to develop new skills very quickly.  An example is when an individual may need to move into a more customer-facing or business development role.

Poor interpersonal skills
New business owners may have previously been highly competent, technical experts who possibly had interpersonal skills that made them appear arrogant or stubborn to those they worked with.  They now find themselves in a role that requires diplomacy and the ability to ‘read’ interpersonal situations and be more effective in their interactions.

Conflict management skills
In some cases, managers may handle conflict situations in an aggressive and non –compromising way that antagonises their employees.  This may be quite intimidating to team members.  Coaching can help develop the skills of negotiation and compromise so that conflict is resolved more effectively.

For small businesses, coaching can deliver long-term performance improvements in individuals’ performance.  That is, future performance will greatly exceed current performance, which can be translated into business benefits.

For effective business coaching that suits your business needs, contact Carole Davidson Coaching.

Refusing requests

• Allow yourself time to think about the response
• Give your decision using ‘I’ (own your decision)
• State the reason for refusal
• Discuss possible alternatives
• Ensure you refuse only the request and not the person
• Do not misuse your authority by always saying ‘NO’ to requests just because you can