Prevention of stress, How to cope with stress Irina Vasilyeva According to statistics, about a third of workers are exposed to work stress. And every fourth person considers work to be the main stress factor in their life. HR specialists have long complained that stress during work is one of the significant reasons for staff turnover. How to avoid stress at work is a question that needs to be taught to students at all universities. Until this happens, let's try to figure it out on our own.
Good afternoon, dear reader! Today's topic concerns many, if not all.
Causes of stress in the workplace can be:
High expectations.
This is a discrepancy between the work process and your expectations, as well as the company’s demands on you are too high. For example, when you were hired, you were promised one salary level. However, later it turned out that you need to try hard to get it. Or, in order to get a job, you “embellished” your resume a little, and then you find yourself unable to complete tasks that correspond to your “competence”.
Authoritarian leadership style
In leadership, as in education, the authoritarian style is considered insufficiently effective. However, many managers still adhere to it. This style suits “gray mice” and “office plankton”. A talented, creative, proactive person, coming under pressure from an authoritarian leader, will be subjected to extreme stress.
Multitasking
This stress factor can be found more often in young, developing companies. Some companies make the ability to multitask a job requirement. This quality is praised, but how many people think that this is the strongest stress factor.
A person who constantly multitasks feels busy 24 hours a day.
Unclear job description
The situation when an employee does not quite understand what is required of him, unfortunately, is not so rare. Basically, this is a “disease” of young professionals who end up with indifferent mentors.
But there are also enterprises, companies, and institutions where unclear job responsibilities are the norm. In this regard, the employee is in constant tension. Thoughts come to him: “Am I doing everything right?” He is afraid of inspections and does not know what will displease his boss and what will give him a bonus.
Lack of prospects for career advancement.
Remember the saying: “A bad soldier is one who does not dream of becoming a general”? So here it can be paraphrased: “The employer who does not give the employee the opportunity to move up the career ladder is bad.” Lack of achievement motivation negatively affects the employee’s mood, well-being, and the quality of his work.
Of course, not everyone will become generals, not everyone will reach the top of Fuji, but a distant and tempting prospect is still better than the absence of any prospects.
Interpersonal conflicts.
When applying for a job, many people try to find out: “What kind of team is there?” Despite the fact that we plan to work at the workplace, each of us wants to do this in a psychologically favorable environment. The cause of the conflict can be different, but more often it is competition or discrimination on some basis.
Negative emotions
If your behavior is triggered by a strong negative emotion (fear of becoming helpless, losing control of the situation, etc.), it is best to seek help from a specialist. It will help solve the problem in just two or three sessions. But if this is not possible, then it’s worth working on your own.
Knowing what emotion drives your behavior can help you understand how to change it. At the same time, you cannot ignore your feelings or suppress them - the consequences will be more serious than at the start. The thing is that our brain is excellent at masking a problem and finding convenient rational arguments for it.
For example, a jealous husband in his heart completely justifies his behavior by the fact that his wife behaves too uninhibitedly and herself gives reasons for jealousy. But in reality, he is driven by the fear of loneliness and helplessness. He is afraid of feeling hurt in the future and being abandoned, so he tries to gain maximum control over his partner.
If a stressful situation has already occurred and you need to recover quickly.
Try the simple and effective "Take Control of Stress in 90 Seconds" technique or, if you have a little more time, try a breathing technique. And after you have provided yourself with emergency psychological help, try to understand whether you are at risk of emotional burnout? You can read more about this phenomenon, as well as its prevention, here.
Sometimes, in order to improve our professional competence, we need to pass tests, exams or some other tests that confirm suitability for the position held.
Situation 3: disrespectful attitude of management
It manifests itself in different ways: sarcastic remarks, raising one’s voice for any reason or without, aggression. Often bosses think that the salary the company pays employees will cover the emotional and psychological costs of such communication.
Your actions
Try to assert your boundaries, but at the same time prepare to leave your job . Let's be honest, there is little chance that you will gain the upper hand in this situation. If you want to stand up for yourself, don't engage in aggressive interactions, but don't expect the situation to change smoothly. Is your manager raising his voice at you again? Say that such a tone in communication is inappropriate for you, and you can continue the conversation only after the boss calms down. Next, get up and leave. But remember, in this case you must be ready to quit at any time.
Learn to talk to boors in their language . Many books have been written on this topic. Aggressors and provocateurs in such literature are divided into types, and the algorithm for interacting with them is spelled out in detail. So take it and use it.
Pay attention to physical activity . Suppose you love the job, it brings you income, but the boss is a boor, he sits in his chair for 10 years and will sit there for the same amount of time. If you do not plan to change your job in the near future, your task is to minimize the impact of stress on your body. Any movement will help with this. After an unpleasant conversation, walk at a fast pace and do some squats. This way you utilize stress hormones faster.
Tips on what to do before exams.
Suitable for both students and experienced professionals.
You can even read them with your child while preparing for exams, for example, at school.
- Rest. By frantically repeating all the material before the exam, we artificially create a stressful situation. Which subsequently negatively affects our cognitive processes. During stress, the characteristics of memory, attention, and thinking deteriorate.
- Simulate the day of the exam in the smallest details. This simple exercise can help reduce your emotional response to a replayed situation.
- Eat right. The level of the necessary supply of vitamins, minerals and other “building blocks” for the normal functioning of the body during the exam period increases sharply. Therefore, we postpone all diets until later!
- Healthy sleep. If our bodies don't get enough sleep, we become more irritable and susceptible to stress. As a result, any neutral situation will cause a storm of emotions of the most negative nature.
- Allow yourself emotions. If you want, you can even cry. Don’t try to pretend to be an “iron man”, admit frankly “yes, I’m worried.” Being honest with yourself is the key to managing stress. You can read more about this in my book: “How to allow yourself strong experiences, emotions and feelings without destroying yourself and others.”
How to minimize stress in the workplace (memo for employees):
- Delegate your responsibilities. Don't take on too much. Don't try to be the best in every situation.
- Clean up your workspace. Make it comfortable and ergonomic.
- Demand clear job descriptions from management. How many unnecessary conflicts occur due to misunderstandings and defaults?
- Try to promote a favorable psychological climate in the team. Do not waste your working time on gossip, squabbles, or discussions of the personal life of any of your employees. Thanks to this style of behavior, you will be able to save face even in the “snake’s den”.
- Offer your employer options for remote work, work on a schedule convenient for you, as beneficial for the company you work for. Telecommuting is one of the factors in reducing stress in the workplace. It has been proven that most workers who have a flexible schedule complete tasks more efficiently and cause less hassle to the employer.
- Learn the art of negotiation, creating a balance of interests, both yours and your employer's.
Sports, sports, sports
Svetlana Mustaeva , Candidate of Medical Sciences, Head of the Center for Sports Medicine, Exercise Therapy and Physiotherapy:
— As a practicing physician, I regularly work with patients who neglected reasonable physical activity, that is, did not engage in prevention. My advice to anyone who wants to relieve stress at work: exercise at least three times a week.
How does sport help? It promotes the production of endorphins - hormones that mobilize blood supply. Improving blood supply, in turn, increases performance, eliminates congestion, and increases microcirculation in the vessels. Especially in the brain, which programmers use so actively. IT specialists have sedentary work, and this can cause congestion in the pelvic area. The result is decreased libido, prostatitis in men, and reproductive health problems in women. Sports and fitness will help you avoid these troubles, which in themselves cause stress.
How to increase employee efficiency (memo for managers):
- Match the requirements for the employee in accordance with his capabilities.
- Encourage the employee's personal initiative.
- Create the possibility or illusion of career advancement.
- Condemn any discrimination in the team (based on nationality, religion, gender and any other grounds).
- Create an atmosphere where only merit to the company, production, institution is valued, and not personal sympathies, nepotism, etc. In this way, you will earn a reputation as a fair and wise leader.
- Clearly delineate the responsibilities of employees. Create job descriptions that are as specific as possible. To avoid stressful situations, the employee must clearly know whether he is doing everything correctly.
- Scold constructively or “criticize - make suggestions.” If an employee has not complied with the requirements placed on him, try to figure out the reason before passing a harsh verdict.
- If the institution, production or your company allows, transfer employees to remote forms of work or work with a flexible schedule. This will have a positive impact on the efficiency of your company.
- Learn the art of negotiation. Find a balance that takes into account both your interests (the interests of the company) and the interests of the employee. When quality performance criteria are clear and defined, a conscientious, talented employee is much more likely to demonstrate outstanding results.
You can read more about preventing professional stress in another article.
Situation 2: rejection of the team, conflicts with colleagues
Many people spend 8 hours a day at work. And no matter how much you try to abstract yourself from the situation in the team, it will significantly influence your emotional state. The quality of work will most likely not improve from such stress.
Your actions
First , figure out what type of communication is accepted in this particular team. If at your previous place of work you regularly went to each other’s dachas for barbecues, then in a new company such a rapprochement may simply be unacceptable. In this case, give up the desire to make friends with colleagues and choose a different type of communication, for example, respectful and polite. In order to analyze all of the above, it is good to make a table of three columns. In the first column, indicate the properties of this team, in the second, your own characteristics, in the third, why, in your opinion, your colleagues do not accept you. Compare the information in all three columns and make a list of specific actions to change the situation.
Abstract from the perception of the team as a whole. Perhaps you simply don’t like specific people, and you project your feelings onto all your colleagues. The very awareness of this situation will pull you out of the position of a victim. You will have a choice - with whom to communicate more closely, and with whom to keep your distance. Don't try to achieve everyone's favor - this is a utopia. You are not a banknote for everyone to like.
Pay attention to your communication style . If you have difficulty being accepted not only in this, but also in other companies, then it’s time to look for mistakes in your communication with people. Perhaps even with someone you like, you communicate from a position of fear or arrogance. Such emotions will be revealed by facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, and peculiarities of phrase construction. Your opponent considers these signals without difficulty. Before approaching, practice in front of a mirror. Adjust facial expressions, poses, articulation. Consider what language you should avoid.
In the case of severe conflicts, the most important advice is not to lose control and monitor signals of strong manifestations of emotions. These may include a raised voice, rapid heartbeat, and trembling hands. Have you noticed something similar? Immediately end the conversation, or even don’t start at all. Whether you are right or wrong does not matter in this situation. In a couple of weeks this will no longer be so important, but the scandal that played out before everyone’s eyes will be discussed for a long time.
If a colleague's actions undermine your work , put your grievances in writing. First send an email to him. Write the text, save it as drafts and read it in a couple of hours. Correct if necessary. If a letter to a colleague does not have the desired effect, you can safely contact your manager.
