Pressure builds confidence. Experiencing stress and managing it well can prompt people to discover their own abilities, which can increase their self-affirmation. After experiencing similar challenges, people will become more confident in their abilities. After experiencing a period of living under pressure, think back on how you handled the pressure and give yourself some motivation. Remember the sense of accomplishment you felt. If pressure comes in the future, recall your previous sense of accomplishment to help maintain a high level of self-confidence.
But don’t let the stress get to you. Stress builds up, and a series of small events often results in a significant increase in stress. And when stress builds up to a high level, it becomes overwhelming and can lead to harmful oppression. Therefore, everyone needs a relaxing break after fighting stress.
A person's reaction to stress mainly depends on his lifestyle, social and occupational background, age, culture, gender, education and genetic factors. A person's mental state and physical health also have an impact on the amount of stress they feel. Generally speaking, people who respond well to stress tend to eat well, exercise regularly, have a variety of hobbies and interests, have strong family support and have good relationships.
Business managers should be sensitive to and pay attention to various stress signals in themselves and their subordinates, and comprehensively examine all sources of stress. If excessive stress is found, they should promptly adopt stress management, stress control, etc. Measures should be taken to prevent the spread of the virus. Especially at the branch factory level, it is not only close to the front line of the production site and in direct contact with on-site workers, but also able to mobilize or coordinate certain resources (human, financial and material) within the scope of authority for management. It is capable of doing a good job.
When implementing employee stress management activities, it is especially important to first understand the causes of employee stress, that is, the stress sources. Try to identify the basic sources of stress and manage them well to prevent anxiety from arising and turning into oppression.
Business managers must fully grasp the connotation of stress management
Excessive and continuous stress will lead to serious physical and mental illnesses of employees, and stress management can prevent the destructive effects of stress on employees. Damage, effectively protect and maintain the "first resource" of the enterprise - human resources. Effective employee stress management can help reduce employees' excessive psychological pressure and maintain appropriate and optimal pressure, thereby enabling employees to improve their work efficiency and thereby improve the performance of the entire organization. Corporate managers paying attention to employees' stress issues can fully reflect Baosteel's people-oriented philosophy, help build a good corporate culture, and enhance employees' loyalty to the company.
The so-called stress management can generally be divided into three aspects: (1) It is to deal with the external stress source itself that causes the problem, that is, to reduce or eliminate inappropriate management and environmental factors; (2) It is to Dealing with the reactions caused by stress, that is, alleviating and channeling emotional, behavioral and physiological symptoms; (3) Changing the individual's own weaknesses, that is, changing unreasonable beliefs, behavioral patterns and lifestyles, etc. For enterprises, the core of stress management is to reduce the negative impact of employees' stress and psychological burden on them. When corporate managers are familiar with where employees' pressure comes from, they must use management methods to channelize it, and they must adopt a correct attitude to examine employees' inner stress sources and opinions.
In foreign countries, a service called Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is popular to help organizational members overcome stress and psychological difficulties. Its approach is worth learning and learning from . EAP is a systematic, long-term assistance and welfare plan set up by an organization for its members. Through professional diagnosis and suggestions for the organization and professional guidance, training and consultation for organization members and their families, we help solve the psychological and behavioral problems of organization members and their families, so as to maintain the mental health of organization members and improve their work performance. and improve organizational management. Today, EAP has developed into a comprehensive service that covers a wide range of topics including stress management, occupational mental health, layoff psychological crisis, catastrophic events, career development, healthy lifestyle, legal disputes, financial issues, eating habits, and weight loss. In other aspects, we comprehensively help employees solve their personal problems. The core purpose of solving these problems is to relieve employees from complicated personal problems, reduce employee stress, and maintain their mental health.
Research shows that the implementation of EAP can significantly reduce employees’ medical expenses and reduce absenteeism due to health reasons.
Of course, occupational stress management is not a magical panacea. It cannot completely eliminate employees’ stress. It plays a more important role in easing, suppressing and dispersing stress, so that employees can maintain a positive and optimistic attitude. work mentality, in order to promote employees' work performance to a higher level.
Business managers should flexibly use stress management methods
When it comes to reducing employee stress, it is not just about adjusting work plans, using time effectively, improving the working environment and providing coffee, etc. In fact, these are just some external objective factors. For Baosteel's high-quality employees, the real change in employees' feelings about stress requires guidance and regulation from their hearts, changing their views on work, increasing their interest and enthusiasm for work, and enhancing their tolerance for work. As a manager of Baosteel, it is best to use some soft measures and methods to relieve the pressure of subordinates and help them overcome temporary difficulties. We should fully care, pay attention, investigate and analyze the sources and types of stress experienced by employees, formulate and implement various stress reduction plans from the organizational level, effectively manage and reduce employee stress, and use various stress management methods in a targeted manner.
1. Diligently observe whether subordinates have abnormal behaviors, and then take appropriate measures
If subordinates are under great pressure or have unpleasant things, they will often show abnormal demeanor or abnormal behaviors. . Therefore, as a manager, you don't have to do anything, but you should always keep an eye on things and watch everything. If you find a problem, you should take timely measures, such as psychological counseling. Don't think that it's a personal matter for employees and can be left unattended. When our employees' personal affairs affect their work, as managers, we must take the initiative to take care of it. In fact, doing so not only reduces the pressure on subordinates, but also makes them grow faster.
2. Establish a good communication channel where “nothing can be discussed”, so that subordinates have someone to talk to.
If an employee says that he no longer wants to stay in a certain work area or team, and at the same time expressed that he likes his current position very much. Maybe he felt that the atmosphere was very oppressive, and it evolved into colleagues not saying hello when meeting, let alone helping each other. If he allowed this situation to continue, he didn't know what would happen. If managers and employees have a good communication channel for "nothing to talk about" and allow their subordinates to collaborate with each other in a friendly atmosphere, this kind of thing can be completely solved. A chronic lack of communication will leave a highly qualified team in a state of semi-disintegration. Therefore, if a manager wants to have an excellent team, he must establish good "communication channels", understand their opinions, give subordinates someone to talk to, reduce their work pressure, and at the same time try to help them solve problems. Sometimes for things that cannot be communicated during the day, going to a teahouse or coffee shop in the evening is more conducive to communication in a free and relaxed environment.
3. Let each subordinate know what you expect from them at work
In the United States, if a subordinate does a good job, the foreign manager will pat him gently. The shoulder or back says, good guy, good boy, good girl, nice man. They say this because they give their subordinates certain expectations and show that they are important. If a manager has a sullen face, is unwilling to praise, and does not recognize the achievements of his subordinates, it will cause a certain amount of pressure on his subordinates. Employees will always be under pressure at work because they do not have the expectations of managers. Westerners like to recognize a person's contribution, which is good. If someone achieves something, we must recognize him. When a subordinate is under pressure, a gentle pat on his shoulder, a knock on his desk, or a word of encouragement can be a comfort to him. How can subordinates work happily if they are too lazy to do this kind of thing? This is the so-called importance of comfort and expectations. Let subordinates know that managers have expectations of them at work, and their work efficiency and work performance will increase. If you improve a lot, the pressure will naturally decrease. 4. As long as the situation permits, let your subordinates participate in your decisions as much as possible
Some managers have a very sad thing. They like to lock themselves in their independent offices to make decisions, without knowing what is happening outside. matter. Subordinates are his eyes, ears, and mouth. If the people below him don't speak, he will be deaf, blind, or dumb, and the decisions he makes will be deaf, blind, or dumb.
Managers must believe that their subordinates are also excellent. They charge forward at the scene and see a lot. They know a lot of first-hand information when facing the first scene and have full say. But why not let them participate in decisions? As a manager It is easy to think that he is smarter and more experienced, but in fact, sometimes this is not the case. He often does not know the full truth and is prone to make wrong decisions. Therefore, whenever possible, subordinates should be involved in decisions so that employees feel valued and they will work harder. Managers should provide employees with information about the organization and timely feedback on the results of performance evaluations so that employees know what is happening in the organization and how their work is being done, thereby increasing their sense of control and mitigating the effects of uncontrollability and uncertainty. Come the pressure.
5. Don’t tire your subordinates out, but don’t let boring “idlers” appear in the department.
Some managers are pleased to see that their subordinates often take the initiative to work overtime. , you see how hard my subordinates work. In fact, he was wrong. They would get tired, and eventually they would get bored, create too much work pressure, and even exhaust their subordinates. Forcing them to work overtime every day actually makes no sense. Don't let your subordinates regard overtime as a common occurrence. If your subordinate often works overtime, you will be very heartbroken. You have to ask yourself whether he really has too much work or whether he doesn't work hard during the day. Working overtime seems to be very motivating, but it is actually wrong. This is a wrong culture. A truly outstanding company does not work overtime casually, and everyone gets off work as soon as five o'clock arrives. In fact, if you work hard and conscientiously during the day, do everything you need to do, and do the most important and urgent things, there is no need to work overtime. Therefore, managers should not let their subordinates often work overtime, and should arrange work content reasonably, and do not let some people be extremely busy, and some people should not become boring "idle people".
6. Encourage subordinates to have dinner or drink tea outside the office and breathe fresh air
Don’t let subordinates stay in the office all day long. They have to work in the same working environment every day. If they feel depressed, they should be encouraged or taken out to breathe some fresh air and see the color of the sky outside. Don’t have work meals at the company all day long. Have a dinner together occasionally, and organize a self-guided tour of the surrounding area to relax and give everyone a sense of freshness. Don't always stay in the office for several hours during meetings. You can change the environment and relieve the subordinates' restraint. They will speak more actively and the effect will be better. For example, the power generation operation area of ??our branch plant operates in five shifts and three, distributed in the production area of ??four units, and is also divided into two control rooms. During working hours, we rely mostly on telephone calls, and there is not much face-to-face communication. It is a bit like "ox horns, buffalo horns" "Everyone has his own taste." The branch factory encouraged them to use their spare time to go on team trips together. The effect was not obvious at first. Many people thought it was pointless and excused themselves from participating. However, after persisting several times, they communicated more, the topics became closer, and the atmosphere became more harmonious. Gradually it evolved into made a convention. 7. Encourage and help employees improve their mental health care capabilities and learn to relieve stress and relax themselves from the corporate cultural atmosphere. Corporate managers should create conditions to provide employees with stress management information and knowledge. Journals and magazines related to maintaining mental health and hygiene can be ordered for employees and allowed to be read for free. This can also reflect the company's true concern for the growth and health of its employees, making employees feel cared for and respected. It will also become an effective means of motivation, motivating employees to improve their performance and thereby improving the performance of the entire organization.
You can set up a publicity column to popularize employees' mental health knowledge. You can also offer courses on stress management or regularly invite experts to give lectures and reports. In particular, distributing health information via email on the eve of a long holiday has the best effect. It can inform employees about the serious consequences and costs of stress (such as illness, death at work, accident injuries, medical expenses, loss of potential income due to reduced productivity, etc.): early warning signs of stress (physical symptoms, emotional symptoms, behavioral symptoms, mental symptoms, etc.) Symptoms); Self-adjustment methods for stress (such as healthy diet, regular exercise, learning to relax and sleep well, developing personal interests and hobbies, etc.)? Allow employees to build a "psychological immunity" dam and enhance their psychological "shock resistance" ability.
Actively encourage employees to develop a good and healthy lifestyle. Through fitness and sports, not only can employees maintain their physical health (which is the basis of mental health), but they can also release and vent their stress to a great extent.
For example, our branch actively encourages employees to join various health engineering associations in the power plant, and specially connects exercise venues for shift workers to encourage them to actively participate in physical exercise. We seize a few models with obvious results and promote them point by point, with obvious results. . 8. Carry out targeted employee training. First, employees can be trained to improve their work-handling skills (such as writing official documents or reports, work statements, new skills, etc.) to make them more comfortable at work and reduce stress. Second, they can be carried out Time management training for employees (prioritizing and planning time according to the urgency and importance of each task) to eliminate sources of time stress: Third, employees can be trained on communication skills to eliminate sources of interpersonal stress.
9. Effectively carry out employee career design work
Employee career design can help employees improve their thinking, abandon unrealistic goals with high expectations, and establish realistic and objective goals. SMART development goals: S-specific (specific and suitable for you), M-measurble (measurable), A-achievable (achievable), R-realistic (actual), T-time-based ( time-based). At the same time, managers should actively communicate with their subordinates, truly care about their lives, fully understand the difficulties their subordinates encounter in life, and provide them with as much comfort and help as possible to reduce the adverse effects of various life stressors on employees. and pressure, and shorten the psychological distance with subordinates.
10. Appropriately use scientific methods and tools
For example, do some psychological tests such as stress tests to assist the organization's goal management and assessment, and use job analysis to formulate reasonable and feasible work standards. , gradually adjust the workload in practice so that employees' abilities are proportional to their work content, and at the same time let everyone understand that not all pressure is negative. Motivate employees to overcome difficulties by citing examples of people who have succeeded in advancing their careers under stressful circumstances. Especially in some European and American companies, people usually advance to senior positions by learning to overcome pressure. But when the pressure makes you feel like you are going to collapse, the pressure changes qualitatively. For example, a person's struggle before taking the college entrance examination makes him feel a lot of pressure, but after the test, he relaxes physically and mentally. The breaking point of a crisis is different for each of us. Pressure is like a violin string. Without pressure, there is no music. But if the string is stretched too tight, it will break. We need to keep stress at an appropriate level—a level that is compatible with employees' lives.