Survey: 30 Percent of Managers Under More Stress | Human Resources News Information

Survey: 30 Percent of Managers Under More Stress | Human Resources News Information

The amazing news here is that 11% of respondents report less stress than a year ago! What did they do to reduce their stress? Presumably with a valid survey they are in similar economic and work environments as the 30% who are experiencing more stress.

In tough times or smooth times there will always be acute stress to contend with. Rather than lost business the stress may be related to having enough inventory to fulfill demand but the physical and psychological symptoms are much the same.

One of the best ways to handle acute stress is to control chronic stress. The best way to do that is to manage energy and resiliance by balancing intense work with moments of rest and renewal. Pressure and release!

Peace Day

Peace Day

This link to a video from the Institute of HeartMath is in celebration of Peace Day September 21st. With loved ones and other US military personnel fighting wars on our behalf it seems appropriate and very simple to consider peace for two minutes.

In fact you may want to watch it more than once. I played it a second time and mentally substituted "Great Leadership" for "Peace" in the text. It was interesting to see how readily it fit into the context of the original message. More importantly it reaffirms how powerful it is to develop leaders who understand the value of a collaborative approach building on the individual strengths of each team member.

Employee Whisperer

Pressure and release.   Those two actions along with a well developed empathy and self confidence are the tools of modern trainers of horses, dogs and other animals.  Rather than taking an old school approach of ‘breaking’ an animal in order to control it, the new methods rely on stress management to produce the desired results quicker and easier.  Trainers find they can get as much from releasing pressure as they can from applying it; provided the chosen action is in line with what the animal needs in order behave as desired.  A top horse whisper once said he alternates pressure and release hundreds of times in getting a frightened wild horse to be saddled and rode in about an hour.  To get that rapid result he must understand the signals from the horse indicating whether pressure should be applied or released.

The most successful leaders understand and apply a very similar concept with employees.  Top leaders know their people and while one may need more challenge another may need relief and time to recover from a demanding project load.  Great leaders have performance expectations that align with the employee’s capability to deliver and they know how to get peak performance from each person to fully utilize their capability.  They know harnessing each individual’s intrinsic motivation to do their job is much more powerful than exerting power over them with fear and rewards.

I believe these principles of successful leadership can provide significant results to leaders and organizations that consciously apply them.  To increase understanding and share ideas for application of the principles of stress and performance I have started a new blog Employee Whisperer.  I hope you will find it useful and look forward to your comments and discussions.

Best in Class

When an organization or product achieves a level of successful performance that exceeds the majority of the competition they establish a new benchmark for everyone else to strive for.  While not everyone wants to be best in class, those who do can look to the benchmark as a goal as develop strategies to reach it.  External benchmarks and internal standards together provide direction and meaning to business, work and life in general.  Without such guidelines individuals and organizations drift from day to day or project to project producing average results at best.  Most of us have dreams and aspirations to be more than average so to achieve that it is important catch ourselves when we begin to drift and veer off course.  We all need to identify the benchmarks or destinations on the horizon to guide us.

On a personal level this came to my attention when a friend, perhaps in need of an eye exam, nominated me for the honor of Best Dressed Man in Omaha voting sponsored by Strictly Business magazine.  With the many young fashionable guys nominated I clearly don’t expect to win, however the nomination itself established a new benchmark for me.  While I did not go out and buy a new wardrobe, I have found I am more self conscious about what I choose to wear and I look less like a drifter than I did a few weeks ago.

On a business level the Aberdeen Group recently published a review of best in class organizations using assessments to drive better talent decisions and impact business performance.  As we have reviewed this benchmark with clients it has provided fresh perspectives on their current processes and helped them develop action plans to improve results.  If you would like to have a copy of the Aberdeen research to review your own talent management processes please contact us.

To vote for the Best Dressed Man in Omaha go to http://www.strictlybusinessomaha.com/24/112.2024/vote-who-is-the-omaha-area-s-best-dressed.aspx 

Positive; Negative; or Neutral?

“I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.” - Mark Twain

Worry seems to be a common affliction for humans that most creatures on earth don’t experience. Every day we receive dozens if not hundreds of information inputs that elicit various thoughts and emotions. In difficult economic times or with personal challenges, we can unintentionally drift toward seeing the negative aspect of all the media reports as well as in conversations with family, friends and business associates. As illustrated by the “housing bubble” before it burst, we can also at times see only positive aspects; however most of us usually err toward negativity.

“Don’t worry, be happy” was the name of a song by Bobby McFerrin a few years ago. It’s a great song but in practice it’s a long leap from “worry” to “happy”. A more effective approach is to go to neutral. Take in information from the media and people around you but then be aware of how you are feeling about that information. The more intense the emotion it arouses the more of a signal for you to go to neutral. Whether it is a positive or negative reaction; it is only information. As you process that information and consider the story you are telling yourself about it you will likely see that you could tell yourself the opposite story and when you reach that point you are already at neutral. From there it is much simpler to calm the emotions and regain rational thought to choose an appropriate response rather than getting caught in a downward spiral of negativity, worry and fear. Although greatly oversimplified, being able to regularly get to neutral before responding is an indicator of good emotional intelligence. High emotional intelligence is a strong predictor of success in work as well as life in general.

Have a neutral day!

Black or Pinto?

Lunch at one of the many sandwich or burrito shops is often

an interesting experience of both customer service &

customer loyalty. Your order is placed with one person and

the assembly line starts moving. Two to five people will

‘serve’ you offering multiple options that occasionally add

cost but rarely come with an engaging interaction. Most

customers seem to be loyal or at least familiar with the

options and state their choices confidently without being

asked. When a ‘new’ customer hesitates while considering

the options there is frequently a sense of disruption among

both staff and others in line. Serving the loyal customers is

clearly important but expecting new customers to have the

same familiarity with your products may mean they are

forever a first time customer. Understanding the difference

in expectations for prospects; new customers; repeat

buyers; and loyal advocates then serving them accordingly

is a mark of superior customer service.

Common Understanding

“Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto, Daffy, Bugs, London” came

the reply when the IT help desk asked the caller to enter the

user password. “Why did you try that as password?” the help

desk employee asked. “Well, the instructions said it needed

to have six characters and include a capital.” While perhaps

humorous as a story, in real life that little scenario could be

exasperating for a supervisor or co-worker of a well meaning

employee who doesn’t quite get it. Communication can be

that way; perfectly clear in the individual minds of both

people but not reaching common understanding.

Communication is the heart of business success and

depends on people at both ends of an exchange to have the

required skills and experience as well as an engagement with

the job and interaction. Communication breakdowns,

sometimes referred to as ‘politics’, are a common symptom

of a disengaged workforce and an organization that is not

reaching its potential. The solutions may range from simple

to complex. To reach the best solution begin by evaluating all

workforce processes from attracting and hiring new

employees, to developing, engaging, leading, and evaluating

them. Then over time take steps to control, reverse, and

prevent the damage.