Tension can manifest itself in a range of signs and symptoms and ultimately make you, or your staff is very ill. Signs and symptoms to watch out for include headaches, depression, and forgetfulness.
In this article, Carolyn Blunt looks at various ways to improve stress levels for yourself and your team. When we experience stress, it is usually because each of our mind and body is experiencing the ‘fight or flight response,’ any time our body is flooded using adrenaline due to either actual threat or, more commonly, mind ‘overwhelm.’
Symptoms include head pain, tearfulness, over-indulging in foodstuff, alcohol, or cigarettes, depression, forgetfulness, feelings of confusion, loss of interest in appearance, and interrupted sleep.
This can cause us all to get into a downward circuit of negativity that, after entering, can seem impossible to interrupt.
The Health & Protection Executive (HSE) has discovered six personal strategies to bust the stress cycle:
1 . Assist – How supportive can your manager be? This is one essential question I ask every one of my coaching clients; naturally, a lack of support at your workplace is an obvious source of pressure. We can spend more waking periods at work than with our household, so support from our colleagues and managers is crucial in keeping us happy and calm. Simply exhibiting a sincere interest in each one is essential. Hand-in-hand with assistance is encouragement. How much will you be encouraged by your manager? Yet another critical question is enthusiasm, and it is sad to hear there still exists fear,
opposition, and exclusion by several managers towards their staff members. A good leader motivates people to desire to work for them, not since they’re being paid to or maybe because they will be punished whenever they do not. Encouragement costs practically nothing and builds self-esteem rapidly, a natural defense against tension. If you cannot get support from your manager, consider finding a coach or coach at work that you can talk to confidently.
Second. Demands – If your workload, work patterns, or workplace are not adequately managed. These types may be a source of stress. Think about the work you (or your team) complete within a set number of hours. Evaluate whether this is realistic — is it the same for everybody, or do some people have more than others? Do you have a way to communicate up-wards when workloads are out of balance, unfeasible, or if the workplace is not positive? Perform your skills fit the job you are being asked to perform? Have you received proper coaching?
3. Control – The HSE advises that workers have a say in how they do their work. But we know that in a speech to the center environment, it is not easy to offer flexi-time or let much deviation from industry-regulated scripts. Yet staff might be empowered to make judgments on their own, input ideas, and possess initiative. Customer service roles desire that each customer be cared for as an individual. An essential component of good customer service is letting agents take ownership to find solutions to satisfy customers. Ensure you can identify the training you need and ask for the idea.
4. Relationships – Executives should be dealing with unacceptable habits quickly and fairly, along with employees who need to have a way of report generation inappropriate behavior (such while bullying). Gossip is popular in contact centers (well, rapidly, we do populate regarding people who like to talk for a living! ), and romantic relationships often develop between staff members. When relationships between staff members go wrong, this can cause a headache for everyone. Use the support associated with HR and staff counseling services if you have this.
Five. Role – Knowing what is required of you is essential to avoid stress and misunderstandings at work. Ensure you have clear objectives and a job explanation and that your team members perform too. Clarity of the organization’s broader purpose and how a person contributes has been cited among the critical aspects of using and motivating employees.
Six. Change – Communicating with individuals through modification periods is one of the best ways to keep tension to a minimum. You should know how suggested changes will affect a person and be given timetables about changes and support with the change – whether this is re-training, consultation, or being able to discuss and influence all of the changes. If you don’t get this information request it. Otherwise, the rumor mill goes into overdrive!
Six strategies to help you stay quiet
One thing you always have control around is your reaction to pressure:
1 . Distract yourself using something else. Make yourself postpone most worry and anxiety before the activity is over. I plan to go for a walk or maybe bake cakes with this daughter. The space and thoughts of the task give us time to calm down from precisely what may have been building into a tremendous sense of panic. After rational thought has continued, I can formulate an action, prefer to tackle it, or plan to let go if it’s out of my control.
2 . Make a list of the things you are stressed with regards to or feel you are missing, perhaps as a result of an unexpected transformation or the current recession. Subsequently, list all the things you have and still value, providing this is the more extensive list. It may help to control any negativity to have you focused on the possible benefits.
3. Take things to step by step. Sometimes we can feel that there may be just too much to do all of us don’t know where to start. If you feel as if you are constantly rushing about but can’t tell me whatever you did in a day, then you are not necessarily making the best use of your time and effort and will soon burn out, turn out to be frustrated, and make a slight improvement.
This is how it feels to fire-fight but not complete any of your duties to move forward long-term. You may be helpful to your colleagues or friends, but you may wonder what your objectives and desires are. There is a balance between being a team player and being used. Unfortunately, saying that you have not achieved your goals since you were too busy assisting everyone else is unlikely to pay dividends.
Plan your day, even though only for a few minutes, by considering which few things you might feel good about having finished by the end of the day. Then concentrate on those, and do not let yourself become distracted. It is OKAY to say no sometimes!
Four. Don’t feed the negative cycle. In times of hardship, people look to one another to know how to proceed or not to do, how much to be concerned about, and what is safe. If you are conveying anxiety, you will make other people anxious too. This leads to increasing numbers of people feeling scared and stressed, often unnecessarily!
While you ought to be realistic and not bury your head in the stand, it is essential to not get carried away with your concerns and exaggerate your rumors of any hardship forward. Equally, be aware of others who feed your worries whenever you speak to them. Give them a broad berth for a while; you don’t need any encouragement to worry!
5. Possess a backup plan. Be prepared for the disaster or incident you might be worrying about. Draw up a list of who would be able to assist you, how you would survive monetarily, and what action you would get. You could take some action now to make yourself feel more secure. For example, get your RESUME up to date, undergo employment interview skills training, and network using well-connected people. These pursuits will help you to feel like you have some control over your situation, so you are not merely being ‘done to’ or leaving your work in other people’s hands.
Some. Let off some water – to relax; you may initially have to give that adrenaline an outlet. Vigorous exercise is lovely but just punching some pillow can work! I like to change a can of fizzy drink and then let it burst in the garden. This aesthetic scene helps me do something out of my frustration and likely ends in laughter – the top remedy for pressure-busting.
Carolyn Blunt can be a contact center training pro with Real Results Teaching and was recently selected as of the top 10 most respected men and women in the UK Contact Centre sector. If you enjoyed this article, you might want to like more accessible solutions. Please visit and see the Associates Area.
For more information on cost-effectively teaching your contact center executives, team leaders, or analysts, call Carolyn at 0161 408 2003.
Read also: How You Can Change Your Thoughts To Eliminate Pressure
