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Managing Stress "Calming yourself, clearing your thoughts, being quietly confident..." |
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10 Ways to Monitor Corporate Stress Levels
Good military leaders work hard to balance the positive and negative stress. Positive stress encourages high performance. Negative stress degrades individual and unit capability. The best leaders know how to use positive stress to get the most out of their personnel. And they know how to tone things down to when negative stress threatens productivity. The Army is fanatic about training officers and sergeants to take care of the troops. And these well-trained leaders are fanatic about carrying out their responsibilities. The soldiers in their command don't always realize why these leaders are so focused on having everything ready -- personnel, equipment, and training 100 percent ready. Even the most personable leaders are sometimes accused of managing "by the book" or of being too concerned with their own personal recognition and promotion. But those who make these allegations, miss the point. Just the opposite is true. These "fanatic" leaders are primarily interested in the welfare of their troops. They want to complete the unit mission with minimum personnel loss. Strict discipline, intensive and complete training, and numerous inspections are essential for combat readiness. Failing to enforce regulations, conduct detailed inspections, or practice combat readiness is tantamount to dereliction of duty. The extra effort that goes into intensive training programs creates additional stress in the unit, but less persistent commanders actually endanger their troops and their mission when they fail to schedule training that teaches troops how to deal with stress. ---Detecting Stress--- Some corporate jobs are just as stressful as military assignments. And some ongoing business situations are as stressful as armed combat. You can find the stressed employees by monitoring the frequency of the conditions such as: 1. Anxiety 2. Indecisiveness 3. Irritability 4. Complaining 5. Forgetfulness 6. Loss of self confidence 7. Argumentativeness 8. Insomnia 9. Rapid emotional shifts 10. Physical exhaustion --- How to objectively measure stress --- Privacy laws prevent accumulation of specific medical histories. But there are ways to get a handle on what's going on in your company. Here are some practical ways to bench mark current levels and monitor future stress related conditions.
Watch for trends among certain employees or departments. Try to find the causes of stress and what can be done to control the stress reactions. Corporate leaders and managers sometimes try to manage the stressed people by using increased demands and closer supervision. Instead, you should use stress-reducing techniques to manage the stressors. While the demanding remedies of dictatorial managers might get short-term improvement from stressed employees, such relief is usually only temporary. The increased urgency and focus on details typically generates even more stress, and the problems shift from slight distractions, such as back pain, headaches, and inattention, to more drastic reactions such as absenteeism and medical problems, both good indicators that stress levels need attention. Just as in the Army, most leaders must be taught to manage stress and to observe for negative stress reactions. All managers need to understand the importance of positive stress in maximizing accuracy and productivity. And they need to know how to control the negative stress for the benefit of those involved and the bottom line. If you don't have qualified staff in your company, outside consultants and trainers can help you evaluate current stress levels and train everyone involved. Remember, stress control is a leadership responsibility. To learn more about controlling the top workplace stressors, request a free 3-session mini course by sending a blank email to 3sessionstress@sendfree.com Dale Collie - professional speaker, formerUS Army Ranger, CEO, and a Fast Company top50 innovative leader. Author of "WinningUnder Fire." (McGraw-Hill) collie@couragebuilders.com
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