{"id":73178,"date":"2023-03-06T07:51:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T13:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/?p=73178"},"modified":"2024-04-06T05:08:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T05:08:12","slug":"dont-panic-tools-for-dialing-down-workplace-stress","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.stress.org\/news\/dont-panic-tools-for-dialing-down-workplace-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Panic! Tools for Dialing Down Workplace Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Beyond taking a personal toll, stress can reduce productivity. Here\u2019s what managers can do.<\/h2>\n
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When was the last time you checked in with your team to see how they are feeling?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If they tell you they\u2019re anxious and stressed, they\u2019re in good company. Stress among working adults is at an all-time high<\/a>. And leadership is not immune: Eighty percent of\u00a0executives reported<\/a>\u00a0mental-health issues in 2020. Thirty-eight percent said they even turned to drugs or alcohol to cope with the symptoms.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Whether your team is dealing with concerns about work, life, or some combination of the two, there are things you can do to help them dial down negative emotional responses to challenges. And that\u2019s important because when stress is properly managed, people can more easily focus on their biggest professional and personal goals.<\/p>\n

In a recent\u00a0The Insightful Leader Live<\/a>\u00a0webinar, Carter Cast, a clinical professor of strategy, shared tools to help leaders and their teams get a better handle on what often feels uncontrollable.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe can train our brains to better manage stress and anxiety,\u201d Cast says.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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Stress and anxiety are a management problem<\/h3>\n

Perhaps more than high-stakes meetings or tight deadlines, ancillary tasks are among the biggest causes of workplace stress, Cast says.<\/p>\n

Managers and team members field requests for their attention all day in e-mails and meetings, often leaving them time for little else. Rather than add to the clutter, consider where you and your team can make the biggest impact at work, and eliminate the tasks that don\u2019t align with these broader goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cCut the non-essential work that is keeping them from focusing on the essential work and giving them a lack of peace of mind,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In addition to removing non-essential tasks from the agenda, managers should also give teams more agency around how they structure their time. Doing so will get them out of what Cast calls \u201cresponse mode,\u201d where they bend their agenda to fit others\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

He likes to remind his colleagues: \u201cIf you don\u2019t prioritize your life, someone else will do it for you\u2014and you might not like the results.\u201d And, of course, the same can be said to managers: if you don\u2019t help your teams prioritize their schedules, someone else will.<\/p>\n

For example, Cast advises teams to try organizing their days into discrete segments for correspondence, strategic thought, and meetings. That way, people won\u2019t be stuck in a cycle of constant interruptions.<\/p>\n

The key to this kind of schedule-keeping is to be realistic about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBatch your day, and create time buffers,\u201d Cast says. \u201cIf you think the meeting is going to take an hour, slot in 90 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

And when plans inevitably change, reprioritize accordingly.<\/p>\n

Give weight to well-being<\/h3>\n

Managers influence workplace culture in many ways. Cast says it\u2019s important, then, that they create a space where people feel comfortable expressing their feelings\u2014especially feelings of stress and frustration. The alternative is an environment where emotions spiral and grow unchecked.<\/p>\n

Show people it\u2019s okay to be vulnerable by putting your own feelings on the line first.<\/p>\n

\u201cDesign a culture in which talking about mental health is less stigmatized,\u201d Cast says.<\/p>\n

If you see a therapist for your own mental health, and you feel comfortable mentioning it, considering putting that out there. Making yourself vulnerable first could be the push someone needs to express themself freely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIf you don\u2019t prioritize your life, someone else will do it for you\u2014and you might not like the results.\u201d<\/h3>\n

\u2014<\/h3>\n

Carter Cast<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
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You can encourage healthy habits in other ways, too, such as not modeling or rewarding unduly long work weeks or all-nighters\u2014adults who get at least seven hours of sleep at night report lower rates of stress. And, in Cast\u2019s experience, employees are simply incapable of working effectively for more than 55 hours per week over a sustained period of time.<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n
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Get some perspective<\/h3>\n

To reduce stress and anxiety, Cast also recommends a strategy used by cognitive behavioral therapists that involves reexamining\u2014and ideally, changing\u2014how you react to certain thoughts and situations.<\/p>\n

The strategy works like this: Describe a recurring thought that has you feeling stressed out, preferably using the words \u201cshould\u201d or \u201cshould not.\u201d For example, if your latest presentation landed with a thud, you might write, \u201cThe leaders of my organization should have been more open to my pitch for expanding into new markets.\u201d Then, write a few sentences explaining why you believe this to be true.<\/p>\n

Next, take the opposing perspective. In this case, you would say, \u201cThe leaders of my organization should not have been more open to my pitch for expanding into new markets,\u201d and explain why that might be the case. For example, maybe you didn\u2019t pre-sell your idea enough, or maybe the timing was off and leaders were distracted by the next day\u2019s earnings release.<\/p>\n

By forcing yourself to see an alternative reality, you can help curb your negative thought spiral and can even devise a productive plan of action to respond.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019ll allow you to see things from a different perspective and feel a better sense of agency about moving forward,\u201d Cast says.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Original post Kellogg Insight<\/a><\/p>\n

BASED ON INSIGHTS FROM Carter Cast<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond taking a personal toll, stress can reduce productivity. Here\u2019s what managers can do. When was the last time you checked in with your team to see how they are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":73180,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"pmpro_default_level":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false},"categories":[139],"tags":[136,137,138,141,143,145,147,151],"class_list":["post-73178","news","type-news","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life-blog","tag-ais","tag-american-institute-of-stress","tag-anxiety","tag-health","tag-mental-health","tag-relaxation","tag-stress-management","tag-workplace-stress","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDon\u2019t Panic! 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