EVERYONE IN TODAY’S WORKPLACE is under pressure. We are living in an era of uncertainty, with wildly fluctuating markets and fiercely competitive business conditions. Organizations are determined to get more and better work out of fewer people, and most employees are routinely told they must work smarter, faster, better, longer, and harder. It is no wonder that study after study shows that managing stress is a growing challenge.
In general, we tend to think of stress as something negative; but in fact, it does have tangible benefits. Stress generates action. It creates a physiological boost that gives you increased energy and clarity with which to perform well. If channeled correctly, stress can enhance your performance and the performance of those you manage. Of course, if channeled incorrectly, stress can be overwhelming and performance will rapidly decline.
In today’s complex world, most of us are susceptible to feeling and manifesting stress, at least sometimes, in all the different areas of our lives. The workplace in particular holds many potential stressors, so many that we are all in constant danger of “stressing out.” The critical task for you as a manager, then, is to gain a better understanding of stress in the workplace, in your organization, and in teams and individuals. We encourage you to consider best practices for reducing stress, alleviating the effects of stress, and intervening to help “stressed-out” employees. However, there are limits to what a manager can do to help employees manage stress. Ultimately, to perform well under pressure, employees must develop stress management skills.
The good news is that, with training, all individuals can learn how to work well under pressure for optimal performance. The ability to perform well under pressure comes down to two skills:
1. Perceiving a situation in an optimal way (optimal perception)
2. Using the physiological boost associated with stress to one’s advantage (optimal energy management)
Unfortunately, most individuals must work at developing these skills. That is the principle focus of this pocket guide.
Overview of the Pocket Guide
The explanations, analysis, and best practices in this pocket guide come directly from two sources: ongoing workplace research conducted by RainmakerThinking since the mid 1990s, and academic research conducted by Dr. Sormaz in her early career at Yale University as well as her independent research. Here is a brief outline of the material covered:
Part One: Managing Stress in the Workplace
Chapter 1. Stress in the Workplace. Here we provide an overview of stress in general and workplace stress in particular. We look at the common causes of stress, the costs of poorly managed stress, and the potential benefits of well-managed stress.
Chapter 2. Managing Stress in Your Work Group or Organization. This chapter presents organizational best practices for stress management.
Chapter 3. Managing the “Stressed-Out” Employee. Here we offer advice for dealing with employees suffering from stress, including signs and symptoms to look for and steps for productively discussing the problem with the employee.
Part Two: Performance Under Pressure
Chapter 4. Clarify Your Relationship With Stress and Its Causes. This chapter provides a selfassessment and other tools and suggestions to help the individual get started on developing effective stress management skills and habits.
Chapter 5. Optimal Energy Management: Stop and Breathe. Here we introduce Stop, Breathe, Rewrite, and Take Action (SBRT), an effective four step process for stress management. This chapter details the first two steps, Stop and Breathe, designed to promote optimal energy management.
Chapter 6. Optimal Perception: Rewrite. Our focus here is the third step of the SBRT process, Rewrite. This step promotes optimal perception, and is outlined with appropriate techniques and interventions.
Chapter 7. Optimal Performance: Take Action. This chapter details the fourth and final step of the SBRT process, Take Action. Whereas the first three steps allow you to decide what action is appropriate, this step involves how to take action to deal with a pressure situation.
Chapter 8. Making SBRT a Habit. The point of this chapter is to help you stop the habit of mismanaged pressure and replace it with the SBRT technique.
Finally, Chapters 9 through 13 focus on applying the SBRT technique to common stressful situations. They cover, respectively, five basic forms of pressure: time pressure, anger pressure, people pressure, fatigue pressure, and evaluation pressure.
Throughout this book, we’ve included:
• Clear and simple explanations
• Concrete action steps
• Room for brainstorming
• Exercises for applying the ideas and action steps to the stress management issues you are facing (or may face) in your own workplace
It is our great hope that this material will help you better understand the nature of stress, particularly stress in the workplace, as well as equip you with concrete best practices and tools for better managing stress in yourself and others.
If the ideas and strategies in these pages help you improve your working life and add to your success, then we have succeeded with this pocket guide. Please let us know—we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at www.rainmakerthinking.com.