CHAPTER 2

Managing Stress in Your Work Group or Organization

IF YOU ARE IN A POSITION of organizational or team leadership, then you should continually assess the workplace to identify its strengths and weaknesses. This includes the tracking of stress. We’ve already discussed the tremendous costs that a team or company can incur if stress is poorly managed. Yet we know that systemic and acute factors make workplace stress unavoidable.

Most experts would agree that stressors vary in quantity and quality depending upon the work group and organization. The workplace in certain industries—such as health care and public safety—is apt to generate stress because of the urgent, critical nature of the work. In a 24/7/365 environment with life and death stakes, stressors are omnipresent. But as most leaders and managers will tell you, other factors can play a role in generating stress. Common factors and work examples include:

•   Emotional content—counseling, teaching, and the arts

•   Physical difficulty—mining, loading, and delivery

•   High degree of repetition—data entry, telemarketing, and manufacturing

Indeed, there are so many potentially stress-inducing factors in so many different lines of work, it is important to caution leaders and managers to stay away from the “our industry is different” pitfall.

Three-Step Approach to Managing a Stressful Workplace

Often leaders and managers resign themselves to operating in a stressful workplace; they become convinced that stress is entirely unavoidable in their particular industry, a particular role, particular tasks and responsibilities, and particular work environments. Do not resign yourself to leading or managing a stressful environment. Take a systematic approach:

1.   Assess your work group or organization.

2.   Consider organizational best practices for stress management.

3.   Provide support services to alleviate the negative effects of stress.

1.   Assess Your Work Group or Organization

The following assessment will help you gauge the level of stress in your work group or organization. If you wish, complete the assessment twice, once for your work group and once for your organization.

Perhaps you now have a better understanding of the role that stress is playing in your work group or organization. Keep in mind that our assessment is only a small step—a reality check—toward identifying a potential problem. It may be necessary to engage the work group or sample respondents from the organization in a more thorough investigation. The methods available to you will depend upon the size of the group or organization and your available resources; also, the most appropriate method may depend upon your initial assessment of the gravity of the issues facing the group or organization. You might consider a formal assessment by a professional team—either internal or external to your organization. Or you may wish to organize discussions in your group or organization to really get a handle on the issue.

Whatever method of investigation you use, if you suspect that stress is a problem in your work group or organization, you should clarify the nature of the problem and prepare to take steps to address it.

2.   Consider Organizational Best Practices for Stress Management

The most direct action a manager can take to reduce unhealthy stress is to identify and remove unnecessary stressors from the workplace. In Chapter 1, we provided a list of common workplace stressors, which ranged from time schedules to physical conditions to interpersonal relationships. In general, good management practices will likely reduce unhealthy stress; such practices include improving employee autonomy, training, working conditions, schedules, career development, support systems, communication, relationships with supervisors, and reward opportunities. However, it is not enough to say that a well-run organization with good managers is unlikely to have pervasive problems with stress. Therefore, it is important to consider the following stress-management best practices:

1.   Promote employee decision-making.

2.   Require leaders and managers to model appropriate behavior.

3.   Do not select or promote people who fail to manage their stress.

4.   Provide resources for stress management.

5.   Form a committee to maintain focus on the issue.

1.   Promote Employee Decision-Making.

Most individuals want to have input on matters that affect them, whether the effect is direct or indirect. They are far less likely to experience unhealthy stress when they have a reasonable degree of control over their work schedules, workspace, tasks, responsibilities, learning opportunities, relationships, and compensation. Indeed, the more control someone has over these factors, the more apt that person is to perform demanding work without experiencing unhealthy stress.

2.   Require Leaders and Managers to Model Appropriate Behavior.

Stress tends to move downward through hierarchies. Since employees scrutinize their leaders’ behavior for signs of appropriate conduct, leaders should model stress management. Their behavior should allow the appropriate expression of stress and not permit it to spiral out of control. Also, their authority gives them the responsibility to provide support, coaching, and empowerment.

3.   Do Not Select or Promote People Who Fail to Manage Their Stress.

When selecting individuals for open positions or for promotions, be sure to evaluate their skills and track record on stress management. Often organizations hire and promote people on the sole basis of financial or technical performance. Although such performance is certainly valuable, the value is outweighed by the damage inflicted on individuals, teams, and organizations when these people—especially those in positions of authority—express their stress aggressively and repeatedly. Selection criteria and all performance evaluations should give considerable weight to individual stress management, interpersonal skills, and the ability to build work-group morale.

4.   Provide Resources for Stress Management.

In the workplace, it is important to build general awareness of job stress, to secure management involvement and support, and to secure employee involvement. Provide individuals with self-study materials and training programs that will help them learn how to manage their own stress. In addition, provide managers with training in stress management, conflict resolution, negotiation, and coaching. We equip you with a framework for stress-management training in Part Two of this pocket guide.

5.   Form a Committee to Maintain Focus on the Issue.

Some leaders and managers may wish to consider the formation of an occupational stress committee to maintain focus on the issue in their workplace. Such a committee may be charged with such tasks as monitoring symptoms of unhealthy stress, identifying unnecessary stressors and ways to reduce them, providing support services to alleviate the effects of stress, and sponsoring stress management training. If you form such a committee, make sure it is representative of the employee population, includes managers as well, and has a clear charge of responsibility and authority.

3.   Provide Support Services to Alleviate the Negative Effects of Stress

This is a simple but important step for reducing stress and/or alleviating its effects in a work group or an organization. There are many different types of services, which are more or less appropriate depending on the work situation at hand. Also, different services are more or less feasible for different employers. Services offered by various organizations include athletic facilities and fitness programs, family care (elder and child care), and concierge services such as personal shopping or dry-cleaning. A more extensive list of support services can be found in the Appendix.

The Importance of Managing Stress in Your Work Group or Organization

As we have seen in this chapter, if you are in a leadership position, you must be aware of the potential for unhealthy stress in your work group or organization and be prepared to take action to address it. Do not resign yourself to unhealthy stress levels in your workplace. Be sure to complete the assessment earlier in this chapter, but remember that it is just a reality check—a more extensive assessment, conducted by an internal or external professional team, may be needed.

Whatever your investigation method, if you suspect that stress is a problem, you should clarify the problem’s nature and prepare to take steps to address it. The most direct action you can take is to identify and remove unnecessary stressors from the workplace. Good management practices will help reduce unhealthy stress, but you should also consider implementing the stress-management best practices we have outlined. Finally, depending upon your resources, you may wish to provide your employees with support services to alleviate some of the effects of unhealthy stress.

In closing, we want to emphasize that while systemic factors have a major impact on stress, stress is largely an individuated phenomenon and it is impossible for a company to predict and control all potential workplace stressors. It is thus important for individuals to learn stress management techniques—our focus in Part Two. First, though, we will address the steps you can take if you are managing a particular individual who seems to be suffering from unhealthy stress.