Dealing with Stress due to Cut Backs or the Fear of Redundancy
27/10/2008
Dealing with the causes of stress
Dealing with stress can be expensive in terms of both time and money not to mention the risk of an employment tribunal - here is a way of resolving this issue
If you work in an organisation that is cutting back, downsizing or just
trying to survive, the chances are that staff will be faced with increasing
pressure to perform. This may be real or perceived pressure but either way,
to the individual this will be real. Once this pressure becomes excessive
then it becomes stress.
The biggest single source of stress is incompetent, poorly trained and inappropriately
promoted managers, says Gary Cooper, Professor of Organisation Psychology
and Health at Lancaster University. The other main causes of stress are:
- Excessive workload
- An individual’s feeling of lack of control over their work
- Managers fault finding as opposed to providing encouragement
- Bullying
- Organisational change
It is worth pointing out that all the above with the exception of organisational
change rests primarily with an individual’s immediate or line manager.
Stress needs to be recognised and dealt with and not necessarily by referring
them to occupational health, that is, if the organisation has one! In any
case this will only be a short term measure because once staff come back to
work, the problem is likely to manifest itself once more because the source
of the problem ie. the manager, is still going to be there.
Recognising stress though very important is the effect and not the cause.
To resolve this, then it is critical to address the cause. Assess your managers.
Assess them to find if they have shortfalls affecting these stress related
issues and how they can be addressed. You can do this using our comprehensive
assessment, the Profile XT (PXT)
which when compared to the manager’s job profile (job fit) will identify
where their weaknesses are and provide recommendations as to how they can
be overcome. This becomes significantly more powerful if combined with 360º
feedback analysis.
The PXT examines ability, reasoning,
character and work interests in relation to the job an individual does whereas
our CheckPoint 360º feedback
systems examine management competencies assessed by the manager’s
boss, him(her)self, peers and subordinates. Some of the factors that come
out of this approach which affect stress related issues are:
- Abilities to communicate
- Language of communication
- Level of delegation
- Leadership
- Motivation
- Micro/macro management
- Clarity of purpose.
This approach is thorough.
An alternative approach can be achieved using our team
analysis assessments. This can be carried out more quickly and can be
more cost effective. This however is not as comprehensive and does not provide
the same depth of information nor does it cover competencies but can be used
to balance teams effectively and give enough feedback to the manager to better
manage his or her team.
If you are a manager and you consider that stress is or potentially may be
a an issue within your team, then you should look at yourself first to consider
what you need to do. If it's not you then those suffering more from stress
or taking more time off work (for many reasons) may just be in the wrong job
so assess them. Our article 'The
right job fit makes for healthier workers' explains this in more detail.
For a discussion on the best approach to manage stress and deal with the cause
and not the effect, please call +44 (0)1491 636300 or email info@anovacoms.com
or click the need
help box in the right hand column.