Control
Your Stress in the Workplace
Pressure situations are
present during both good and bad economic times. However, when times are tough
the situations can be magnified. Problems at home can directly influence issues
in the workplace.
It is important as a
manager to recognize that your team might have outside stressors affecting
their job performance.
It is your job to create
an environment that reduces stress and promotes engagement. In a workplace
environment like this, employees will be more apt to reach their full potential
and drive results.
Here are 8 tips to help
you and your team control stress and worry in tough situations:
1. Live
in a compartment of the present.
The professional with a commitment to service seals off each
interaction with a customer so that negative experiences don't poison future
interactions. Don't allow past successes or failures or future anticipated
success or difficulties influence your current performance. When it comes to
customer service, live in the moment.
2.
Don't fuss about trifles.
A "trifle" is something that is insignificant in
comparison to other things in your life. When you focus on trifles, you lose
perspective. Keep the big picture in mind. Doing so will help you objectively
sort out the small stuff from the important issues.
3.
Cooperate with the inevitable.
Realize when your situation is inevitable. If you can learn to
recognize situations where you have no control, you can gain some control over
the emotional aspects of the situation. By cooperating with the outcome, you
are making a conscious choice about how to respond to an inevitable situation.
4.
Decide just how much anxiety a situation is worth and refuse to give it any
more of your energy.
Once you make this decision, it is easier to find ways you can
improve on the situation or let it go and move on.
5.
Create happiness for others.
This principle appeals to your nobler motives. It is difficult
to sustain a negative attitude when you are doing something good or helpful for
someone else. Simply put: Doing good for others makes you feel better.
6.
Expect ingratitude.
In your job, you provide many diverse services. When you do so,
you probably expect in return some signal of gratitude for your assistance.
This expectation is rarely met. If you do receive heartfelt thanks from
someone, you should count yourself lucky; you are dealing with a grateful
person. Most people are simply not accustomed to being grateful, even when you
provide them with excellent service. You shouldn't let ingratitude deter you
from providing top-quality service.
7. Put
enthusiasm into your work.
Enthusiasm is the positive energy and sustained effort that
keeps you driving toward your goals. Making a decision to have a positive
outlook can be critical in enjoying your job and working with your internal and
external customers.
8. Do
the very best you can.
It can be difficult to deal with criticism, especially if you
feel it is undeserved or if it hurts your self-esteem. One way to put criticism
in perspective is to ask yourself if you are doing the very best you can with
what you know and are able to do. If you are, then you can avoid taking the
criticism personally. If there is room for improvement in your performance, you
can look at the criticism objectively and take responsibility for improving
your performance.
Here’s to reducing your
stress and improving your life in 2015!
Regards,
Robert
Robert Graves, MBA, DCT
© 2014 Dale Carnegie
Training. All rights reserved.
