26 Sep 2011
by Asif J. Mir
in De-Stress Without Distress
Tags: acupuncture, answer, antidote, art, biofeedback, control, critical, crowd, distress, easy, effect, effective, fashion, follow, free, health, hobby, humor, imagery, improve, include, Latin, learn, life, master, music, option, People, place, placebos, please, positive, problem, reason, relaxation, Response, save, search, sedative, side, significant, stress, symptom, today, tomorrow, tranquilizer, unfortunately, word, workplace, wrong
Stress is a significant problem in the workplace and many people are searching for effective antidotes. Unfortunately, most look in the wrong places. The answer is not to follow the crowds who take sedatives or tranquilizers, but to take control. It is for this reason that options to control your symptoms are critical to learn. They include:
- Relaxation Response
- Biofeedback
- Music
- Art
- Fashion
- Acupuncture
- Positive Imagery
- Placebos (Latin word = I shall please)
- Hobbies
- Humor
All these options are easy to master and free from side effects. They will improve your health today, and may even save your life tomorrow.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
13 Feb 2010
by Asif J. Mir
in Reducing Job Stress
Tags: activity, alert, alleviate, amount, assistance, biofeedback, bite, book, boss, build, chew, colleague, commonsense, communication, conflict, constructive, control, cooperative, counseling, deadline, deal, delegate, detachment, dissatisfied, eat, effective, effort, employee, Employer, ensure, especial, event, exotic, fair, find, fit, following, HR, identify, important, include, instance, interruption, job, Karl Albrecht, lead, learn, limit, list, management, meditation, mistake, negotiate, noise, obvious, office, Open, organize, personal, Planning, play, pleasant, possible, Prepare, problem, professional, program, project, provide, put off, range, realistic, reduce, refresh, regular, relationship, relaxation, remedy, Response, reward, Role, routine, sensible, sleep, solution, specialist, step, stress, suggest, suitable, supervisor, support, supportive, time, treatment, trigger, trivia, unnecessary, upcoming, walk, way, worry
There are a number of ways to alleviate stress. These range from commonsense remedies (such as getting more sleep and eating better) to more exotic remedies like biofeedback and meditation. Finding a more suitable job, getting counseling, and planning and organizing each day’s activities are other sensible responses. In his book, Stress and Manager, Dr Karl Albrecht suggests the following ways to reduce job stress:
- Build rewarding, pleasant, cooperative relationships with colleagues and employees.
- Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
- Build an especially effective and supportive relationship with your boss.
- Negotiate with your boss for realistic deadlines on important projects.
- Learn as much as you can about upcoming events and get as much lead time as you can to prepare for them.
- Find time every day for detachment and relaxation.
- Take a walk around the office to keep your body refreshed and alert.
- Find ways to reduce unnecessary noise.
- Reduce the amount of trivia in your job; delegate routine work whenever possible.
- Limit interruptions.
- Don’t put off dealing with dissatisfied problems.
- Make a constructive “worry list” that includes solutions for each problem.
The employer and its HR specialists and supervisors can also play a role in identifying and reducing job stress. Supportive supervisors and fair treatment are two obvious steps. Other steps include:
- Reduce personal conflicts on the job.
- Have open communication between management and employees.
- Support employees’ efforts, for instance, by regularly asking how they are doing.
- Ensure effective job-person fit, since a mistake can trigger stress.
- Give employees more control over their jobs.
- Provide employee assistance programs including professional counseling.
My Consultancy–Asif J. Mir – Management Consultant–transforms organizations where people have the freedom to be creative, a place that brings out the best in everybody–an open, fair place where people have a sense that what they do matters. For details please visit www.asifjmir.com, and my Lectures.
21st Century Organizational Transformation 