Managing Stress in Tough Environments final

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Managing Stress in Tough Environments

We all find ourselves in stressful situations or circumstances at times, but chronic work stress is something that, if left unaddressed, can affect not only our long term productivity but also our health, relationships and other aspects of our life. Most of the time, the stress we experience because of work is due to deep-rooted issues in the workplace or within professional relationships, which can be avoided, or at least contained, by following the tips below. 1. Manage uncertainty One of the major causes of stress is uncertainty so it’s important to have an understanding of what’s happening in your business or organisation. In recessionary times, business is tough. The more uncertain the environment is, the more you’re going to find stressed people. Getting to the truth and finding out what’s going on in the company is important. If uncertainty about the organisational—and your occupational—future is causing you significant stress, affecting your productivity and so on, explain to your boss how the situation is affecting your work and ask them to be honest and transparent with you and your colleagues about what’s really going on. 2. Manage expectations Be completely clear about what’s expected of you. Another situation where lack of clarity can be a cause of work stress is where there is a lack of clarity around what the organisation expects you to be doing. If you’re not clear on your role within the business and what that roles entails, that can lead to much worrying about where you stand and if your performance is what your superiors expect of you. Bring up any confusion you have over your job specification and performance targets in your next feedback session with a supervisor or manager. If you don’t have a feedback session on the horizon, schedule a specific meeting to discuss your concerns. 3. Get feedback A lack of feedback sessions can itself be a cause of stress at work. Insist on regular feedback. Asking your superiors to meet with you regularly and provide feedback shouldn’t feel like a big deal because it isn’t. It’s absolutely our right to know we’re doing OK at work. Check that you are OK by asking key people, such as your boss, if they’re OK with you and your contribution to the team. Feedback doesn’t have to take place in a formal structure; meetings don’t have to take weeks to plan and schedule. Feedback


sessions can be informal and in any setting you like as long as they’re relatively frequent and platforms for candid, constructive communication. 4. Avoid gossip and rumour A lack of clarity around any work-related issue will only be exacerbated by hearsay, misunderstandings and outright lies. Gossiping and rumormongering are not predicated on truth but instead predicated on perception and people’s opinions on things they usually don’t know much about. Listening to such misinformed or deliberately misleading views can cause you to panic unnecessarily, so remove yourself from any situation at work where you’re likely to have your ears assaulted by unhelpful views and conspiracy theories. 5. Seek adult to adult conversations Don’t go where you’re going to be treated like a child or where you’re expected to treat others like children. Try to be as mature as you can and walk away from emotional outbursts that have no place in the workplace. 6. Understand healthy conflict vs. unhealthy conflict Unhealthy conflict is unwieldy and usually explodes all over the workplace after a protracted build-up of unexpressed tension. When we internalise any upset, frustration or discomfort we may be feeling, we end up silently seething and this can only lead to us one day combusting with anger, leading in turn to undisciplined arguments. Avoid this kind of unhealthy conflict by being upfront with everyone you interact with and treating them as mature individuals, just as you expect to be treated as a grown-up. Communicate often and provide as much information as you can to avoid disagreements spawned from misunderstanding and second-guessing. 7. Know who to trust If you have a close friend in the workplace who you can share your thoughts with, keep your opinions very much within that relationship. Here you have someone who knows you and who you know will keep any private conversation completely just between the two of you. Where you see things that don’t look right, speak to someone you trust in a closed space. Whether it’s an issue of harassment or you’ve noticed that someone else isn’t feeling great, bring it up in a confidential conversation, in a private place, with a key, objective person such as an individual in authority.


8. Always turn up on time Do what you say you’re going to do and do it when you say you’re going to do it. In tough working environments where a lot of people are under stress it’s important you get to the meeting for 11:30am if that’s the start time given. You know the meeting won’t start at 11:30 but get there in time and bring other work with you so you can do something productive whilst you wait for everyone else to arrive and get settled in. If you’re constantly running late and having to rush from place to place, this will do nothing to ease your stress. 9. Stick to your guns Stick rigidly to what you think is an appropriate working schedule for you and don’t shift from it. Just because everyone’s staying late doesn’t mean you have to. Maintaining your equilibrium and your normal working day are key. If you get out of that sync, that’s when you’re more susceptible to stress and burn out.

This checklist has been created by Position Ignition Ltd, one of the UK’s leading career consulting companies. Please contact [email protected] for more information or to suggest additional resources.

Managing Stress in Tough Environments final

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