Learning content

Coping with pressure in the workplace

Every person who has ever worked has experienced work-related stress at some point. Even if you enjoy your work, any job can be stressful at times. For example, you might feel under pressure to achieve a deadline or finish a demanding task. However, continuous work-related stress can become overwhelming and be bad for your physical and mental health.

Effects of uncontrolled stress

A stressful workplace can aggravate conditions like headaches, nausea, sleep disruptions, irritability, and difficulty in concentration. Anxiety, sleeplessness, high blood pressure, and a compromised immune system can be brought on by ongoing stress. Additionally, it might intensify existing medical issues like depression, obesity, and heart disease. The issue can get worse when people who feel severe stress cope with eating by overeating, consuming unhealthy foods, smoking, or abusing drugs and alcohol.

Strategies to overcome difficulties

Maintain a stressors log. Keep a journal for a week or two to note the circumstances that stress you out the most and how you handle them. Keep track of your thoughts, emotions, and details about the situation, such as the individuals and events involved, the physical environment, and your reaction.

Create wholesome reactions. When you feel the tension rising, try your best to make healthy choices as opposed to trying to combat it with fast food or alcohol. A fantastic way to reduce stress is to exercise. Yoga is a great option, but any kind of exercise can be good for you. Make time for hobbies and your preferred activities.

Get enough good sleep - This is important for effective stress management. Create sound sleep habits by avoiding coffee in the afternoon and cutting back on stimulating night-time activities like watching TV and using the web.

Establish limits. It is easy to feel under pressure to be accessible all the time in today's digital age. Set up some boundaries between your work and personal lives. That could entail setting a rule against checking email while at home in the evening or refraining from taking calls while having dinner. Although everyone has a different preferred level of blending their work and personal lives, setting some distinct boundaries between them can help to lessen the likelihood of work-life conflict and the stress that comes with it.

Spend some time resting. We require time to refuel and get back to our pre-stress level of functioning to prevent the damaging effects of chronic stress and burnout. To complete the recuperation process, you must "switch off" from your job by having periods during which you do not do any work-related tasks or think about your job. Therefore, you must occasionally disconnect in a manner that suits your needs and tastes. Do not spend the time you have off. Take time off whenever you can to unwind and rest so that you can return to work re-energised and prepared to give your best. When you cannot take a break, give yourself a lift by putting your phone away and concentrating on anything else for a while.

Respect your team. As the health of employees has been linked to their productivity at work, the chief must motivate his or her staff to create a work environment that fosters everyone's well-being. Examine the potential sources of stress in your team and develop a successful plan to manage the stressors you identify to improve the performance of your team. While certain parts of the plan may be intended to help you improve your skills in areas like time management, other elements may involve finding wellness resources for the team members. 

Seek assistance. Support from friends and family is essential, and if professional assistance is required, it is also advised.

Implement a teamwork calendar

Understanding the distinction between accountability and responsibility is the first step in learning how to delegate. Accountability refers to being responsible for the completion and quality of something. Considering delegation is the passing of accountability for a task from one person to another, but crucially the first one is still in charge. The person who delegates is responsible for the completion of that task in a timely manner and to a high standard. Because of this, a team leader is responsible for everything that occurs within the team.

Lev Vygotsky discovered a special region in education known as the zone of proximal development, which is a spot for learning that allows youngsters to learn quicker. Most of the time, a learner knows which competencies have at the bottom. If you ever did mathematics homework in which every question is simple, you have considered it fantastic. What did you discover at that precise time? Because you already had the knowledge, probably not much. Learning is more effective outside your comfort zone and around your scaffolding. If you can give people something to do at that point and provide them with support, they do a mental leap, picking things up quicker.

Every work is an opportunity for learning and mentoring; therefore, delegation may be a learning process. If you are a manager, you can designate a mentor to help someone with less experience in completing a task or in delegating it to another person. This implies that more people in a team have access to the delegation as a tool for reaching the expected results.

To delegate results in you accomplishing more than you would if you were working alone. Present challenging tasks to others to push them out of their comfort zone but do not let things get out of hand: everyone needs to be in control, but no one likes to be micromanaged. Seek a middle ground that works for the team members in their current endeavours. This gives you the assurance that work will be completed promptly and to the required satisfaction. This also allows to the team members the room they need to express creativity in their work, complete it, and enjoy it themselves.

What not to do?

Do not offer support to someone in a situation and stop caring about it. This means you have renounced responsibility and performed poorly.

Also, avoid everyone thinking and behaving the same way. If you know the output of a task, you must recognise that different people function in many ways and that team members may implement different procedures to reach the same output. As long as the goal is reached with efficiency, give the workers space to perform tasks in a way that is more adequate to their characteristics.

Avoid regaining control. When you assign a task to someone, do not reassign it unless it is extremely necessary. Instead of doing last-minute changes in the assignment of tasks, try to first understand if supporting the team member is sufficient to get the task done successfully. It is quite embarrassing and unpleasant for a worker to have the tasks changed.

Team-building calendar of activities

Why are team-building activities for businesses so successful?

The following are some advantages that team-building exercises can provide:

• instruct staff on how to cooperate with one another in various scenarios,
• encourage to use creativity and demonstrate distinctive problem-solving abilities,
• contribute to increased production by assisting a team in collaborating and improving communication.

When well implemented, team-building activities are very helpful and a tonne of fun for everyone involved.

Tips for organising winning team-building events

Clarify your goals. Even though corporate team-building activities can be enjoyable for everybody involved, it is critical to keep in mind that their objectives must be met for them to be worthwhile. Determining specific areas of emphasis for your staff to work on throughout the team-building activities is crucial for this reason. You can only begin to consider activities and challenges that would best fit your focus once you have established some fundamental guidelines for what you want to accomplish.

Create a budget. Before moving on to the organisational aspects, it is crucial to consider your budget because it serves as a guide for what you can afford and how extensive your team-building event can be.

Get the right people involved. All employees can benefit from team-building activities, but as typical in most businesses some people require more assistance than others. Making sure that those who need to improve are actively involved in the team-building activity is essential, regardless of whether their shortcomings include poor communication skills, isolation, or even a propensity for conflict.

Find a time that is appropriate. If you do not schedule your event to accommodate your employees' schedules and personal lives, you cannot expect them to participate fully.

Use outside. If possible, make use of the outdoors to increase the enjoyment of your event for all those attending. People spend enough time in offices; setting up the team-building activity outside may increase their enthusiasm and involvement.

Leave your comfort zone. Events for team development can be difficult because people are often bashful and hesitant to reveal themselves in front of their peers. Even though it could be challenging, try to push everyone beyond their comfort zones while still maintaining a good environment.

Engage in some service. Giving your team the opportunity to contribute to a worthwhile cause is an easy way to bring them together.

Learn a new skill. It will not be beneficial if your employees do not learn something new after a team-building activity.

Obtain feedback. You need a technique to determine whether any outcomes come from your corporate team-building events if you want to know if they are successful. And the simplest method to achieve this is to solicit feedback from your staff. This not only provides you with suggestions for subsequent team-building activities, but it also enables you to identify underlying problems so you can address them.

In the References section of this chapter, you can find some links to team-building activities.

Ways to deal with setbacks at work

Failures are a common occurrence on the road to success. Some setbacks are minor and do not significantly hinder the capacity to advance. Others have the power to make you feel as if everything is ending. Most people fall somewhere in the middle.

Whatever the setback, there are methods that can help you get over it, pick yourself up, and keep moving on with zeal. You can provide your team with the tactics presented next to help them get through the difficulties they encounter.

Create a solid foundation. Before a disaster occurs, one must develop strong bases. It is tougher to knock you from your perch and simpler to recover if your footing is more solid.

Recognise it. It is necessary to experience the unpleasant feelings brought on by the setback. It does not go away by pretending you are not disappointed, frustrated, or angry. Recognise your feelings but refrain from placing blame on anybody or anything. Spend as much time reflecting on it, as necessary.

Reframe your thinking. Setbacks can mean progress. If you reflect on the life lessons that have had the greatest impact on you, you will realise that many of them have a connection to adversity.

Relate to others. Solitude is your adversary when you are attempting to push through a barrier. You need assistance, however not from anyone. You need to be surrounded by people who are objective, upbeat, and interested in finding solutions rather than just pointing out issues.

Act. You are prepared to carry out your plan after taking some time to digest the feelings, streamline the information, and assemble your team. This process provides you with energy, as it gives you something positive to focus on and helps you wash away the unpleasant feelings brought on by the setback.

Learn. Once you are back on track, pause to reflect on what you can learn from your misstep.

These helpful steps serve as a constant reminder that setbacks are just temporary and that you have the strength to overcome them.

Case study

Context: Google is known for being one of the best companies to work for: let’s find out why.

Description: With Google ranking first in Glassdoor's website’s most recent 50 "Best Places to Work" evaluation, with a score of 4.5 on a 5-point scale, Google employees appear to have it better than employees at any other major American firm. Here are a few suggestions on why Google is the best firm to work for and the best motivations for doing so.

Google constantly looks for ways to boost employee self-confidence, health, and well-being to make their lives as stress-free as possible. Beyond that, they view nature from an eco-friendly perspective. To keep its employees happy and in good physical shape, Google provides its staff with on-site general practitioners, nurses, and medical facilities for health care coverage. Depending on the circumstances, employees may be granted up to 18 weeks of paid leave. For example, if a father is a baby's primary caregiver, he may be eligible for up to 12 weeks of paid leave. Under the “motherhood vacation” category, women can take up to 22 weeks of paid leave.

If a Google employee dies at any moment, his or her spouse gets 50% of the person's annual salary for the following ten years. Additionally, all the deceased employee's stock options are immediately credited to the surviving partners. If the deceased employee's children are full-time students, Google will pay them $1,000 per month until they turn 19 years old.

Google permits each employee to take a leave from employment to pursue higher education. Google itself pays for all the costs associated with ensuring future education.

If a person has outperformed expectations, the organisation promises enhanced growth year over year. It also provides opportunities for advancement inside the company, whether for junior-level employees, middle-management personnel, or higher-level management opportunities.

Google gives its employees a strong sense of responsibility to benefit the global community. In addition to the technology that they develop, Google employees also positively impact society through the applications they create.

Google has established nine guidelines for innovation because it values inventions and creative ideas highly.

Google cafes, or huge cafeterias with long tables, have been installed to bring all employees together on one platform, especially those who are working on the same premises, to improve teamwork and the interaction between employees of every department.

Google listens to every employee's question or idea and attempts to determine whether it can be adopted within the organisation and/or how well it can be beneficial for the entire organisation, to keep their young and enthusiastic staff motivated all the time. Recently, it introduced a “career programme” to encourage professional women who have been absent from the workforce for a year or longer to get involved in a variety of training opportunities.

Google employees are allowed to bring their pets to work to increase employees’ happiness and self-confidence.

Every benefit at Google has been well thought out, having as a priority to keep staff members happy at work.

Lessons learnt:

• Google is highly known for treating its employees with respect, as well as encouraging their creativity and innovative endeavours, which reflects on the quality of the work undertaken by the employees.
• Google offers their employees a chance to succeed, encourages them to share their ideas, and provides a comfortable environment for them so that they can discuss any novel ideas that might benefit the company and its counterparts throughout the world.
• The energy levels of those who work in Google gradually increase because of all the mentioned aspects that they adhere to maintain a happy and peaceful workplace. Thus, for a variety of reasons, Google has emerged as a top employer.

Questions and answers

Q: How to lead under pressure in the workplace?

A: Maintain a stressors log. Keep a journal for a week or two to note the circumstances that stress you out the most and how you manage them.

Create wholesome reactions. When you feel the tension rising, try your best to make healthy choices as opposed to trying to combat it with fast food or alcohol.

Make time for hobbies and preferred activities and create sound sleep habits. Set up some boundaries between your work and personal lives and spend some time resting.

Take time off whenever you can to unwind and rest so that you can return to work re-energised and prepared to give your best effort.

Q: What is the importance of team-building activities?

A: The following advantages can be provided by team-building exercises:

• instruct staff on how to cooperate with one another in various scenarios,
• encourage staff to use their creativity and demonstrate their distinctive problem-solving abilities,
• contribute to increased production by assisting a team in collaborating and improving communication.

Q: Which are ways to deal with setbacks?

A: Create a solid foundation. Before a disaster occurs, one must develop strong bases. It is tougher to knock you from your perch and simpler to recover if your footing is more solid.

Recognise it. It is necessary to experience the unpleasant feelings brought on by the setback. It does not go away by pretending you are not disappointed, frustrated, or angry. Recognise your feelings but refrain from placing blame on anybody or anything. Spend as much time reflecting on it, as necessary.

Reframe your thinking. Setbacks can mean progress. If you reflect on the life lessons that have had the greatest impact on you, you will realise that many of them have a connection to adversity.

Relate to others. Solitude is your adversary when you are attempting to push through a barrier. You need assistance, however not from anyone. You need to surround by people who are objective, upbeat, and interested in finding solutions rather than just pointing out issues.

Act. You are prepared to carry out your plan after taking some time to digest the feelings, streamline the information, and assemble your team. This process provides you with energy, as it gives you something positive to focus on and helps you wash away the unpleasant feelings brought on by the setback.

Learn. Once you are back on track, pause to reflect on what you can learn from your misstep.

References

• American Psychological Association. (2018, October 14). Coping with Stress at Work. Apa.org. www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/work-stress
• Arruda, W. (n.d.). 7 Steps To Recovering From A Setback At Work. Forbes. Retrieved November 18, 2022, from www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2016/06/16/7-steps-to-recovering-from-a-setback-at-work/?sh=53e8e0122210
• Business Software Reviews, SaaS & Cloud Applications Directory. (n.d.). GetApp. www.getapp.com
• Chitra Reddy. (2016, March 5). 14 Reasons Why Google is the Best Place to Work - WiseStep. WiseStep. https://content.wisestep.com/reasons-google-best-place-work/
• How to Organise Successful Corporate Team Building Events. (2018, August 29). Eventsforce. www.eventsforce.com/us/blog/how-to-organise-successful-corporate-team-building-events/
• How to Supercharge a Team with Delegation. (n.d.). InfoQ. Retrieved November 18, 2022, from www.infoq.com/presentations/teamwork-delegation/

Additional resources

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-pT0XDYvDM&t=2s

This video is about the Google headquarters - Googleplex, which is based in California. It presents an overview of the spaces, how they are designed to engage and motivate workers and the benefits they provide to their users.

www.monday.com

Project management software

www.shortcut.com

Shortcut unites planning and development into a single experience with tightly integrated Docs, Issue Tracking, and Sprint Planning features

www.surfoffice.com/blog/teambuilding-activities-work

50 awesome team building activities for work