Work Stress

Work stress is caused by a large variety of factors but can be reduced with increased knowledgeable and determination to understand human behavior and the interaction of stress in our every day lives.

If you supervise others it is important to know more about human behaviors the two best directions would be to gain more knowledge from The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability to see the importance of where individuals are in their lives and also find out QBQ! The Question Behind the Question: Practicing Personal Accountability in Work and in Life which, explains how negative, inappropriate questions like "Why do we have to go through all this change?" and "Who dropped the ball?" represent a lack of personal accountability.

Conversely, when we ask better questions-QBQs-such as "What can I do to contribute?" or "How can I help solve the problem?" our lives and our organizations are transformed and work stress is decreased.

Some Leading Causes of Occupational Stress
• Lack of enthusiasm
• Difficult employees
• Lack of control
• Finding balance
• Bad communication
• Job satisfaction
• Working with confidence
• Accepting a new job
• Child care
• Queen Bee syndrome

Lack of enthusiasm - After years at the same job the lack of variety and boredom becomes an issue if the individual is not permitted to grow and take on additional responsibilities.

The job becomes monotonous and the individual will seek to enhance other skills in an attempt to leave this position and locate employment that will support the growth of their workforce.

Responsibility without any control indicates that this person is to remain a puppet on strings, someone who doesn’t have the ability to influence the decisions that are made but expected to carry out the change without questions.

Difficult employees – Work stress is increased when confronted with a difficult subordinate and finding the underlying source of the problem will be the key to turning around a bad attitude.

This may be a simple issue of insufficient training which discourages the employee to at home problems that cause anxiety to overextend into the work atmosphere. Poor pay and promotional opportunities can dampen the spirits of motivated individuals who need to experience continual growth to feed their ambitions.

Whatever the issue the employee knows what it is, it is your job to gain their confidence to encourage the interaction of communication and help them to find resolve to their dilemma. Look for the question behind the question.

Lack of control – Work stress mostly affects middle management since upper management has more control over making all of the decisions and how things will be implemented.

Sometimes they delegate more than what middle management can handle at one time. They set unrealistic expectations unknowingly as they work from creative thought processes rather than physical labor or group organization at the lower levels.

You need to be able to communicate the overload to your superiors and together define an action plan to implement completion. This will in turn lesson the feelings of becoming overwhelmed.

Finding balance - The One Minute Manager Balances Work and Life For all those busy, achieving people with overcrowded schedules, here is a useful blueprint that shows how to manage stress and make a lifetime commitment to fitness and well-being.

By following the four important strategies outlined in this book for balancing a complicated life, everyone can get their bodies back into shape and their lives into proper perspective.

Bad communication - Communication with your superiors is essential to reduce work stress. There are many personalities in this world and each personality has it's positives and negatives as does everything else. If your boss cannot approach you on your level of communication than it becomes hard to keep things running smoothly and will increase the amount of work stress that you will experience.

This is a form of inadequate leadership. You must always strive to meet on middle ground and most importantly never give up but try to get closer so that you can better understand the persons work philosophy. Determine their capabilities and where you can best fit in to be of benefit to them as a leader.

One hand needs to know what the other hand is doing. If you are in charge of one project and then you find that someone else is popping in here and there and making decisions that alter the flow either politely let that individual know that interferences will only complicate and confuses matters or back away and let another take over the project if that seems to be the goal that they want to meet.

You can simply accept their help and move onto the next project but don’t be snippy about it, let them know if they have any questions you will be glad to point them in the right direction.

Whatever the reason is there are solutions waiting to be found. Take some time and jot down some notes. What do you like about your job and what do you not like about your job. Find what is making you unhappy. Once you find that reason, write down all the possible solutions to change this situation even if you think it is unreasonable or impossible.

After you have ideas in writing place them to the side for a few days as you mull over your thoughts. You may end up taking partial solutions from a couple of your ideas and find that putting them together is a reasonable solution. Maybe you need to speak to your supervisor and let them know the changes that you are thinking of and ask them if they would be willing to offer some additional suggestions. If you ever approach a supervisor with a problem to discuss always be prepared to offer possible solutions.

There is an answer and an acceptable solution to all problems but you will need to be the one to initiate a change and take control over the amount of work stress that experience.

Working with confidence - You need to be comfortable with yourself as a person and be willing to be part of the team. How to Succeed at Being Yourself: Finding the Confidence to Fulfill Your Destiny teaches you that emotional, spiritual, and social transformation are possible as you begin to see yourself in a whole new way.

Through understanding who you are, you will find the confidence to take hold of lasting, fulfilling success. Experience today the joy of becoming the unique person God intended you to be!

Accepting a new job - Entering a new position is a stressful process. You are learning many new procedures to comply with the requirements of the job and its responsibilities, these may become overwhelming.

Your objective is to keep positive, understand from the beginning that you are accepting new challenges that will help you expand your knowledge and everyone has to go through an adjustment period both you and the individuals that you will work with.

You are also adjusting to a new environment and this will take a week or two before you feel you are walking on solid ground. Remaining positive and displaying a good attitude will generate admiration and gain approval.

Child care - One of the strongest challenges for mothers in the workforce are daycare facilities. This has become a more notable problem over the years as the female workforce has magnified by large numbers.

Some larger corporations and governmental agencies have attempted to reduce this work stress by the establishment of in house daycare facilities. This not only reduces the stress placed on the mother but reduces the absenteeism rate that is caused by disruptions in child care resources.

Queen Bee syndrome – some individual’s feel they need to be the center of attention. The queen bee flits and flutters picking up tidbits of honey from others and then insinuates that without their input the project may have been less than satisfactory. Queen Bee’s only have moments of gratification whereas the work oriented individual carries accomplishments forward and builds on experience and success.

It is best to create a balance with fun, humor, and compassion with your co-workers and intermingle this with your enthusiasm of strong work ethics to gain respect and guide others to mimic your enthusiasm.

Keeping a positive attitude above everything is a strong goal to achieve in your efforts to reduce work stress. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success gives details of how our mindset is not a minor personality quirk: it creates our whole mental world. It explains how we become optimistic or pessimistic.

It shapes our goals, our attitude toward work and relationships, and how we raise our children, ultimately predicting whether or not we will fulfill our potential. If you work on this on a daily basis you will find stress eventually will not be able to penetrate your shield of optimism and will encourage others to follow suit.

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