STRESS MANAGEMENT IN

THE WORKPLACE

by AKIN. AKINPELU

(HR Learning Session)

COURSE PREVIEW

• Stress is people‟s natural reach on-to

excessive pressure.

• It isn‟t a disease, but if stress is excessive

and goes on for sometimes, it can lead to

mental and physical ill-health (eg fatigue,

depression, nervous breakdown, heart

disease, lost productivity, conflicts within

both the work and home environment and

could also be responsible for death).

COURSE PREVIEW (cont’d)

• Therefore, it is only when we

understanding how to work with, as

opposed to fighting stress, that we

can avoid the negative effects of

stress, particularly in the workplace.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• To analyze and define what stress is;

• To focus on specific work-stress

related problems;

• To work towards practical solutions to

them;

• To improve relationships & increase

productivity in the workplace.

UNDERSTANDING STRESS

• What is stress?

• The three faces of stress: ie, positive,

negative and neutral stress

• The physical side of stress.

• Fight or flight syndrome.

DEFINING STRESS

• There have been many different definitions of what stress is, whether used by psychologists, medics, management consultants or others.

• What complicates definition is that, intuitively we all feel that we know what stress is, as it is something we have all experienced.

WHAT IS STRESS?

• According to Richard Lazarus

“stress is a condition or a feeling

experienced when a person

perceives that demands exceed

the personal and social resources

the individual is able to mobilize”.

WHAT IS STRESS? (cont‟d)

• Pressure can be a good thing when it

helps to provide both stimulation and

motivation.

• It becomes a problem when it leads

to stress, resulting in ill-health or

individual poor performance;

STRESS DEFINED

• Any job worth doing is likely

to involve a certain amount

of ‘pressure’ when some

sense of urgency is needed

to meet deadlines and

produce good result.

• But prolonged pressure

leads to stress and then

chronic stress can lead to

destructive cycle of poor

performance, declining

confidence, inefficiency and

decreasing productivity

STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE !

Employees feel little stress when we have the time, experience and resources to manage a situation.

We feel great stress when we think we can't handle the demands put upon us.

Stress could therefore turn out to be a positive or negative experience.

It is an inevitable consequence of an event: It depends a lot on people's perceptions of a situation and their real ability to cope with it.

IS STRESS GOOD OR BAD?

• Selye said that “stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how we take or manage it.

• The stress of exhilarating or excitement, creative successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation or infection is detrimental.”

STRESS RELATED CASES TREATED

@ THE IITA CLINIC (2004-2007)2004 2005 2006 2007

Psychosis 0 3 1 5

Headaches 95 119 145 149

Insomnia 59 70 55 57

Depression 10 08 14 13

Anxiety

Neurosis

36 43 32 72

Stress 19 25 47 33

Chronic

Fatigue

72 74 76 50

CAUSES OF STRESS

• A lot more or a lot less

trouble with the boss (difficult people)

• Working environment (e.g., physical surroundings, office

layout/design, lighting, etc).

• Job itself – too much, too little

to do, conflicting roles &

responsibilities, badly designed –

shifts and rotas, etc)

• Violations of laws;

• Major business readjust-

ment (merger, restructuring,

bankruptcy, retirement, etc)

• A major change in our work

culture, ethics and

commitment

CAUSES OF STRESS (cont’d)•Outstanding personal achievements.

•Change in working hours or conditions ie major change in responsi-bilities at work (promotion, demotion, transfer, dismissal from work, etc)

•Major change in living conditions (ie building a new home or remodeling, deterioration of home or neighborhood).

• Spouse beginning or ceasing to work outside the home.

• Career development (career uncertainty, stagnation, insecurity and low social value of the work).

• Unfulfilled vision, goal and ambition resulting in changing to a different line of work.

MAJOR CAUSES OF STRESS IN IITA

•Work overload & close deadline(s);

•Job insecurity;

•Problem jobs;

•Problem people;

•Personal financial mgt, ie loans, unreasonable demands from immediate family & friends;

•Our work environment, ie heavy traffic with 7.30am resumption time !

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF

STRESS?

• Physical signs like headaches, insomnia,

indigestion and high blood pressure;

• Behavioural aspect such as poor work

performance, ie frequent accidents, poor

relationships at home/work; dependence

on anti-relaxant such caffeine, drugs and

alcohol, etc

SYMTOMS (cont’d)

• Emotional factors such as irritability, lack of

concentration, anxiety, depression, etc.

• However, a quick response or intervention by

colleagues/boss, can prevent the situation

from deteriorating further and may lead to

considerable improvement.

20 MOST COMMON MISTAKES MADE BY

EMPLOYEES THAT OFTEN LEAD TO STRESS• Not setting realistic goals;

• Poor communication;

• Dictatorial, aggressive behaviour;

• Wanting to be liked by all;

• Poor hiring decisions;

• Not motivating staff;

• Criticism and negative discipline;

• Creating a "them and us" culture;

• Not managing conflict;

• Resistance to change.;

• Not leading by example;

• Not using the brain

correctly; (incompetence)

• Paying poorly/low salary;

• Lack of relevant trainings;

• Poor time management;

• Unrealistic deadlines;

• Prejudice, race, status, etc

• Overlooking the wisdom of

other employees;

• Lack of empathy; (leave days)

• Taking life too seriously;

PRACTICAL WAYS TO MANAGE STRESS

(WAY FORWARD) OVERCOMING WORK OVERLOAD

• Learn & find out how to distinguish the essential tasksthat you must complete from the distractions that contribute to overload;

• Learn about effective time management:- discover ways to balance conflicting time demands, develop your professional skills & efficiency, through this, you regain control of your workload.

• Identify inconsistencies and structural problems within your job that can cause huge problems.

• Once identified, with your job under control you can win back your leisure time, spend more time with friends and family, and do the things that bring real joy to your life: this is what is referred to as – (Work Life Balance)

TAKING THE STRESS OUT OF WORKING

RELATIONSHIPS

• Working in a multi cultural, multi ethnic and multi discipline like

IITA, we must learn about (RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT)

• In doing so, you become a valued member of a happy,

effective and successful team (DYNAMIC TEAM MANAGEMENT)

• Develop support networks to relieve stress and adopt

enjoyable pastimes to counterbalance the unpleasantness of

stress. (PROFESSIONAL GROUPS/INSTITUTES)

• These among others will win you respect in the workplace,

and mark you out as someone who can maturely and

positively handle difficult situations. ie, learn techniques for

mutual satisfaction, how to work harmoniously with co-

workers, be fair and firm.

BUILDING STRESS DEFENSE

• Equally important is achieving a good „Work-

Life Balance‟ ie. by offsetting the unpleasant

and stressful events in our lives with plenty of

good, enjoyable and relaxing events.

• Doing this, we make life more tolerable and

reduce the risk of burnout.

SIMPLE TOOLS TO AVOID „BURNOUT‟

• Burnout is a very „real threat‟ to people in

challenging and stressful jobs.

It is exhausting oneself or ruin one‟s health

especially by working „too hard‟.

The feelings of intense tiredness and

disillusionment that come with it brings serious

unhappiness and can spell the end of

otherwise promising and emotionally

rewarding careers.

TOOLS TO AVOID BURNOUT (cont’d)

• Think about what you want to get out of your job and

then compare this with the reality of your situation.

• Identify possible areas of mismatch, as these

mismatches are possible pressure points that may

develop into burnout. (ie know your stressors)

• You are most vulnerable to burnout when the

stresses you experience impact negatively on the

things that you find most fulfilling in your job. Not only

do you experience the unpleasantness of stress, you

lose the job satisfaction.

TO START USING THIS TOOL:

• List the things that give real meaning to what you do.

• Write down what attracted you to your current job or

profession in the first place.

• List the things about it that you find fulfilling now.

Include the values of the profession to humanity and

what excites you about it.

• Think about what you want to achieve within it and

what you think is important to doing the job well.

• This will give you a long list of things that are good

about what you do.

USING THIS TOOL (cont’d):

• From this list, identify 5 things that give the

greatest meaning to your work.

• These should be the things about the job

that most inspire you. Write these down in

chronological order with the most important

item at the top of the list.

• This list shows you the things that you

should protect as much as you can.

USING THIS TOOL (cont’d):

• Next, write down the things that frustrate you most about

your work. This may involve things like inadequacy of

resources, lack of recognition or bureaucracy, etc.

• List the factors that are causing you difficulty and which

are likely to cause stress in the future.

• Now work through the list of things that give you meaning

item-by-item. For each item, look at the list of frustrations.

Where these threaten the things that are most important

to you, note these down: These are particular pressure

points that you need to monitor.

• Think these through carefully and plan in advance how

you will handle build-ups of stress in these areas.

OTHER WAYS OF RELAXING/TO AVOID BURNOUT

• When you are stressed, remember to give yourself “special treats".

• This is not self-indulgent: It is an important part of keeping yourself functioning effectively and avoiding the problems of burnout, anxietyand depression that come with intense & sustained stress.

• Do the things you enjoy most on your job - Question –

AVOID DESPERATION @ WORK

(MY EXPERIENCE IN IITA)

• To be desperate means to rush, to be

hasty, to be frantic, hopeless and helpless.

• Don‟t be desperate about making money,

securing visa to travel abroad, positions,

promotion, upgrading, change of jobs, etc;

• It makes you do silly things which you will

regret later;

DESPERATION @ WORK

• Look before you leap. Be patient, because if you

are not patient you may soon become a patient in

the hospital;

• Take a close look or seek 2nd opinion on every

major issue at work and at home;

• Be simple in your approach to things;

• Do not put yourself under pressure and never

allow anything/anybody to put you on

„unnecessary‟ pressure;

CONCLUSION – In everything:

• Be diligent - work hard, do your very best

at all times;

• Follow basic principles and professional

ethics/codes;

• Take precautions - ask yourself: what you

are about to do/say, is it fair? How would

you feel if others get to know?

• Pray and praise God always!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING !

TIME TO ASK ME QUESTIONS