"Helping organizations build courageous leaders"
Dale Collie
Increase Productivity and Profits with a Leadership Tune Up
Successful Leader, Professional Speaker and Author
13 Stress Reducers & Profit Boosters
by Dale Collie
The United Nations declares workplace stress to be a worldwide
epidemic. In the United States alone, forty-six percent of
workers report that their job is very stressful. This adds up to
a million stress related workplace absences each day.
Individual stress control techniques are important. Meditation,
soothing music, biofeedback, and other techniques work well to
help people cope with the stress of our modern workplace.
The real solution, however, is to recognize that stress control
is a leadership responsibility. Leaders and managers can do more
to control stress than all of the individual stress relief
techniques combined.
Leaders who implement stress control strategies see the results
in reduced absenteeism, medical costs, health care insurance
expenses, workers comp payments, accidents, complaints, and so
on.
The following 13 stress control strategies minimize costs such
as these and productivity soars. The workplace is improved.
Employees and their families are happier. Business owners make
more money.
Management can control stress by:
++ Eliminating unreasonable expectations
++ Positioning people in jobs that use their skills and
abilities
++ Adjusting pay for the level of responsibility assigned to
individuals
++ Correcting vague and arbitrary promotion policies
++ Including employee in making decisions that affect their jobs
++ Avoiding excessive overtime, even if there is additional
compensation
++ Distributing unpleasant tasks fairly
++ Enforcing policies equally throughout the organization, from
top to bottom
++ Implementing problem-solving strategies and acceptable
mediation of conflicts
++ Using family stress control strategies to minimize the impact
of family separation caused by travel or long office hours
++ Demonstrating concern for employee welfare
++ Eliminating or minimizing intolerable conditions such as
temperature, hazards, noise, light, and odors
It is difficult to remove some of these stressors when the
competition is attacking your company or when you are faced with
unfavorable economic conditions, but this challenge is just as
important as anything else facing those who wear the mantle of
leadership. Making all of these changes can seem overwhelming.
However, you can make an impact by selecting a single strategy
and making a plan to improve it.
Just as corporate leaders are responsible for maximizing
performance and increasing net profits, they are also
responsible for controlling stressors that affect the bottom
line.
Copyright 2007 - Dale Collie
Dale Collie, author and professional speaker, named
by FAST COMPANY as one of America's Fast 50 innovative
leaders. Experience as Fortune 500 executive and business
owner, US Army Ranger and professor at West Point. His
book "Winning Under Fire" (McGraw-Hill) has sold more
than 50,000 copies worldwide. www.CourageBuilders.com
Permission is given to reprint this article on line or in print
if you include the full byline. You may edit this 400 word
article for space or audience. Collie@CourageBuilders.com
by Dale Collie
The United Nations declares workplace stress to be a worldwide
epidemic. In the United States alone, forty-six percent of
workers report that their job is very stressful. This adds up to
a million stress related workplace absences each day.
Individual stress control techniques are important. Meditation,
soothing music, biofeedback, and other techniques work well to
help people cope with the stress of our modern workplace.
The real solution, however, is to recognize that stress control
is a leadership responsibility. Leaders and managers can do more
to control stress than all of the individual stress relief
techniques combined.
Leaders who implement stress control strategies see the results
in reduced absenteeism, medical costs, health care insurance
expenses, workers comp payments, accidents, complaints, and so
on.
The following 13 stress control strategies minimize costs such
as these and productivity soars. The workplace is improved.
Employees and their families are happier. Business owners make
more money.
Management can control stress by:
++ Eliminating unreasonable expectations
++ Positioning people in jobs that use their skills and
abilities
++ Adjusting pay for the level of responsibility assigned to
individuals
++ Correcting vague and arbitrary promotion policies
++ Including employee in making decisions that affect their jobs
++ Avoiding excessive overtime, even if there is additional
compensation
++ Distributing unpleasant tasks fairly
++ Enforcing policies equally throughout the organization, from
top to bottom
++ Implementing problem-solving strategies and acceptable
mediation of conflicts
++ Using family stress control strategies to minimize the impact
of family separation caused by travel or long office hours
++ Demonstrating concern for employee welfare
++ Eliminating or minimizing intolerable conditions such as
temperature, hazards, noise, light, and odors
It is difficult to remove some of these stressors when the
competition is attacking your company or when you are faced with
unfavorable economic conditions, but this challenge is just as
important as anything else facing those who wear the mantle of
leadership. Making all of these changes can seem overwhelming.
However, you can make an impact by selecting a single strategy
and making a plan to improve it.
Just as corporate leaders are responsible for maximizing
performance and increasing net profits, they are also
responsible for controlling stressors that affect the bottom
line.
Copyright 2007 - Dale Collie
Dale Collie, author and professional speaker, named
by FAST COMPANY as one of America's Fast 50 innovative
leaders. Experience as Fortune 500 executive and business
owner, US Army Ranger and professor at West Point. His
book "Winning Under Fire" (McGraw-Hill) has sold more
than 50,000 copies worldwide. www.CourageBuilders.com
Permission is given to reprint this article on line or in print
if you include the full byline. You may edit this 400 word
article for space or audience. Collie@CourageBuilders.com
Dale Collie
877-826-5543
Collie@CourageBuilders.com
877-826-5543
Collie@CourageBuilders.com