Manage STRESS

Citation

Ribeiro Soriano, D. (2009), "Manage STRESS", Management Decision, Vol. 47 No. 8, pp. 1382-1384. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740910984604

“Transform the way you live and work” and “Take back control of your life” are the two subheadings that accompany the handbook Manage STRESS by James Manktelow. These two statements may seem somewhat exaggerated in terms of the amount of stress most of us are subject to in our daily lives. However, modern society and life in big cities where the majority of us spend our working lives takes an enormous toll at multiple levels and new ways must be sought out for dealing with a problem that has become more prevalent, if not more so, than the common cold.

Human resource specialists are turning their attention to how pressure and stress inherent in the working climate affects productivity and performance in the workplace and are looking at ways if identifying and acting on issues that could eventually lead to burnout and other serious health problems for employees. The book Manage STRESS is a short, easy‐to‐read handbook with five chapters that attempt to explain what stress exactly is, how it should be managed, how stress can affect relations with the people around us, ways of combating stress and things we can do long‐term to keep it to a minimum. As well as being a practical reference guide, it is also a kind of self‐help book which enables readers to gauge the pulse of the stress they are currently undergoing while taking them through the process of finding ways to reduce the pressures many people undergo with particular attention to the workplace. Within each chapter there are tables and diagrams that clearly and concisely show stress‐related factors and are often accompanied by example case studies either of negative examples of workers undergoing a good deal of stress or of ways in which people have successfully managed to overcome situations where they have been seriously affected by stress.

Stress is fundamentally understood in this book as a lack of control due to related experiences, pathways, responses and outcomes caused by a range of different “stressors”. The “fight or flight” situation and the adrenaline created by intense situations eventually reach levels that are liable to result in burnout and other health‐related difficulties. If the body is continually exposed to scenarios that cause stress it will eventually give in to exhaustion and what may seem like a reasonable price to pay in the short term leads to long‐term and far more serious difficulties. The book draws attention to the fact that there is an area of best performance for people that falls somewhere between work that is stressful and work where there is no pressure at all. In order to function at our best, we need to be aware of our limitations and where a challenge becomes an impossibility. Conversely, it is difficult to motivate most people to do their best if they are put under no pressure at all. In this sense, the role of managers is vital in being aware of the tasks undertaken by those under their control and ensuring that the workload is not too great, whilst employees are “kept on their toes”. For this to happen, there have to be efficient both formal and informal communication mechanisms within the firm that allow this information to be exchanged between differing hierarchical levels. The author also points out that sufficient and well directed coaching for situations of increased stress can help members to increase in self‐confidence and cope with unexpected difficulties in situations where they cannot control all the factors. In several of the chapters, the ability to delegate and look for help from a variety of sources is emphasized as a means of relieving some of the pressure and thus move towards working within the range of the area of best performance. Techniques such as a SWOT analysis, where workers analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are recommended in order to pinpoint moments of stress and take action to overcome them.

However, he author does not only concern himself with stress that derives from work practices but also the working environment and the moments before and after starting work. Keeping a stress diary can enable people to realize that stress outside the office, e.g. travelling on crowded public transport, being stuck in long traffic jams, etc. can affect their entire working day. Chapter 2 gives sound, sensible advice for starting the day in a correct manner and for looking for ways to improve the working environment. Job analysis is also another important feature of stress reduction. It is often the case that employees are unaware of their true job description or the firm has not laid down what is expected clearly enough. This leaves the door open to opportunism on the part of the firm and for a degree of exploitation. It is also essential to realize where a job fits in with the mission of a firm or its cultural values and exactly what a particular job contributes to the objectives of the firm. Once this had been established, it becomes easier to make priorities so that what is really important in terms of the employers and their goals is carried out first. A more detailed analysis of the working day can also reveal some pertinent facts about how and where time can be better managed, thereby reducing stress levels. There are normally examples of high achievers in a unit or firm and a good way to see exactly how the top performers achieve their results is by learning best practices from colleagues. Stress can often be caused by a lack of apparent progression in a professional career, and the chances of progressing in the firm should be analyzed before taking up a new post. Negotiating the redesign of a particular post to enable employees to fulfill their professional ambitions better can be a way of stimulating improved performance and reducing stress through non‐achievement. Developing action plans for projects or large tasks by breaking them down into smaller ones and creating a timeline is another suggestion for meeting deadlines. It also makes those involved more aware of the realities of a task in hand and whether those deadlines are reasonable or not. Once more, communication and negotiation between management and subordinates is vital for negotiating deadlines that put enough pressure on a team to produce the desired results in their Area of Best Performance, while avoiding unnecessary stress levels. It may also be the case, a fact expressed by author, that a job may simply be inherently stressful. In such a case, adaptability is a useful trait in learning to live with stress and reducing levels to a minimum. By creating a working environment that suits us and finding ways to relax in the moments before and after work, as well as finding time to exercise properly, these small details can all add up to making stress levels more manageable.

Dealing with conflictive situations is perhaps the most common cause of stress in the workplace, having to withstand managers or bosses with whom conflictive relations are part and parcel of everyday life. However, there are means of reducing such conflict to a minimum. Through job analysis, self belief and having the courage to be communicative from the start, such situations should be kept to a minimum. The book provides a simple six‐step procedure for dealing with a stressful situation. Perhaps the most important of these is to define exactly what the problem is and then find the correct way to express feelings. Managers may well be more sympathetic to a cause if employees are clear about where the problem lies, what their rights are and providing them with a well thought out solution so that they do not have to dedicate time to finding one can often prove fruitful. The section on actively managing stakeholders is both useful and novel. The more people there are aware of a problem and the more we can manage to get them to sympathize with our point of view the better. This stakeholder support has to be nurtured and developed over time and the interests of stakeholders have to be taken into account when building this support for our goals.

Part of the stress we feel comes from uncertainty regarding what is about to happen. Most people have experienced nerves and stress before, for example, an important presentation to be made in front of peers and those above us in the hierarchy. Careful preparation and planning is a key factor in reducing the stress we feel from this type of situation. Rehearsing a presentation, perhaps with the help and feedback of colleagues or friends, can be a positive step. If there is access to the venue of the presentation, making sure that the external factors such as presentation materials and hardware are working the way we want them to. This can help to build confidence and this can see us through any number of unexpected setbacks. A well prepared presentation should not be greatly hindered by technical difficulties that occur on the day. Stressful situations need to be thought through in order to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes them stressful so that these areas can receive particular attention. Manage STRESS looks to common practice in sports psychology to give some useful tips on mental relaxation techniques, such as the use of imagery and sound to relax before stressful situations. Techniques such as Progressive Muscular Relaxation are proven methods for enabling us to create the correct frame of mind for an important event. The book also takes a look at reducing stress in the long term by being aware of how important it is to take breaks from work in the form of free time, sports and hobbies and taking holidays that involve total disconnection from the working environment.

The author, James Manktelow is a product manager for a large software firm, who brings all his experience to bear in this useful handbook. He is also the author of “Manage your time: control your workload and make time for success”, published in paperback by DK.

In short, this book is a useful tool for any human resource department to have in its reference material so that it can provide employees with realistic knowledge about how to recognize and deal with stress. It is quick and easy to read and the layout is extremely accessible with clear diagrams and useful case study examples.