How to Deal With Stress & Its Potential Damage To Your Business Articles | Stress

Stress is a fact of daily life and it is especially true in the daily life of small businesses. Small businesses experience a myriad of seemingly unending problems in dealing with employees, customers, suppliers, business partners, bankers, insurance companies and on and on and on. And what heightens the stress in these situations is the fact that many small business owners must face these challenges essentially alone or with some minimal support system for assistance. While some people will strive on stress and will use stress to improve their performance, there are many others who fold or breakdown under the strain of stress.

The workplace today exhibits stress and is a major issue in our society today. In 2006, CareerBuilder.com studied 2500 American workers and found that 77 % felt burned out at their jobs. The high stress work environment takes a heavy toll on worker morale. A recent Gallup Poll indicated that nearly 50% of the workers responding to the poll said they needed help in dealing with stress. And this all adds up to a heavy cost to businesses in the United States each year. The National Safety Council estimates that U.S. businesses lose between $ 200 billion to $300 billion each year due to absenteeism, tardiness, decreased productivity, worker compensation claims, increased employee turnover and medical insurance costs that are a result of employee work-related stress. Yes, those dollars are in BILLIONS.

A possibly even scarier survey result comes from Caravan Opinion Research that conducted a 2000 study of more than 1300 workers. They found that 13% of the respondents claimed to have personally committed, or have observed co-workers commit an act of “desk rage” which can be characterized as an angry or destructive outburst in the office that was a result of stress at work. And the stress in business goes to the owners also and that stress can result in poor business decisions harmed or ruined personal relationships, and a deterioration of their physical and mental health.

What does contribute to stress in the workplace? There are many factors, but in the CareerBuilder.com study, workers most often cited excessively heavy workloads; tight deadlines; last minute projects; an interfering or overbearing boss; and working with a difficult co-worker. Dealing with stress is an important strategic goal for you and your business. Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach has researched some ideas on how to deal with stress in your business before it becomes a costly and damaging problem for you and your business. Here are ten (10) strategic steps to take to deal with stress in your business.

1. Develop a strategic plan and a strategic action plan to guide your business. Prepare well-defined, realistic and measurable goals.

2. Commit to developing a strategic time management attitude and mindset throughout the workplace.

3. Consider engaging the professional services of a business coach or other professionals to assist in developing a plan to deal with specifically identified stresses in your business.

4. Address issues when they arise and resolve them in a timely manner. Deal with problem employees at once and dismiss them if warranted.

5. Create an atmosphere of openness where employees can feel safe and not fear retribution when discussing problems they are facing.

6. Provide your employees with the needed equipment and training to do their jobs. And develop well-documented systems and processes for the employees to follow.

7. Create an office atmosphere that reduces the distractions that cause constant interruptions and diverts the worker’s attention and focus and increases stress. Manage the use of cell phones and emails in a strategic manner, which means that every cell phone call and every email does not warrant instant answers.

8. Have clearly defined job descriptions and a clear understanding of expectations with your employees. And empower them to do their jobs.

9. Encourage a commitment to good health that would include getting sufficient sleep, eating properly, getting enough exercise, etc., which will help, reduce stress.

10. Provide adequate breaks for employees and encourage them to take time away from their workstation each day. And encourage the employees to commit to setting aside some time outside of work each day that is their “personal time” to get away fro the pressing concerns of business.