1. Managing Personal and
Employee Stress

2. Agenda -
• Types of stress
• Responding to stress
– Personal
– As a Manager
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3. STRESS
Difference between
expectation and reality;
a change; a loss, a gain.
Physical and emotional
arousal reaction
to stimulus.
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4. Is your stress
adding up?
• Spiritual
• Physical
• Emotional
• Mental
• Social
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5. During uncertain times
Insecurity
Feelings of loss
High emotional stress
Control becomes a major issue
Conflict may increase
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6. Types of Stress:
 GENERAL - Everyday events
 CUMULATIVE - everyday stressors
adding up
 TRAUMA - Abnormal event threatening
individual life or safety (or perceived as
such)
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7. Cumulative Stress
 Unresolved conflict
 Previous traumatic experience
 Repeated irritation
 Several stressors in short time
Birth/death, move, job loss, divorce
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8.  Real or perceived threat to life
 Graphic injuries & death
 Event outside normal experience
 Injury or death of children
 Witnessing trauma of others
Traumatic stress
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9. Stress is NOT an Event…
It’s your
REACTION to that Event
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10. Are these things
that you can control?
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11. Factors influencing
reaction to stress
 Perfectionism
 Family rules and messages
 Social mirror
 Expectations
 Irrational beliefs
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12. Challenge your messages
 Perceptions
 Beliefs
 Assumptions
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13. • Guilt that someone suffered
harm/loss/redeployment more than we.
• Feel we can’t have fun while others
suffer or lose their job.
• Resentment over increased workload
Surviving change
It’sOKtohavesurvived
Possible responses:
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14. Stages of change
Acceptance
 New Beginnings
Ending
 Shock and Denial
Transition and Adjustment
 Suffering
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15. Modify your responses
 Take a break
 Get enough sleep
 Plan quiet, unscheduled time
 Take time to enjoy good food
 Use humor
 Avoid people and events that irritate you
 Respond… don’t react
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16. • Choose not to turn over control of your
emotional self to people or events.
• We do not lose unless we surrender
to fear, negativity, and paranoia.
• In the “psychological war” the best weapon
we have is our positive attitude.
It is YOUR choice
You are in control
of your emotional life:
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17. Response-ability:
the ability to determine
your own response.
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18. Keep an “eye” out for stress
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19. Manager’s Role
Awareness
Feedback
Support
Time management
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20. Are you walking your talk?
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21. What Can You Do?
 Recognize your limits
 Be aware of your own stress level
 Be aware of signs and symptoms
of stress in others
 Get help
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22. Promote healthy
stress
 Clear expectations
 Responsibility means authority
 Identify causes
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23. Outside
Assistance
Turn to others for help:
• In the US – EAP Program
In the US call 800-568-9276
• Spiritual mentors
• Counselors
• Physicians
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24. EAP services:
Face to face counseling
Life management
services:
child care
elder care
financial counseling
organizing life’s affairs
pre-retirement planning
and more… 24