Staying calm will help

Stay calm at all times and keep cool even if in a work or personal situation. As long as you stay calm it will be easier for all around you. So often we can get upset and angry with others, don’t use up excess energy. Take a deep breath in and think ‘I must stay in control here’ and once calm you will feel better to deal with the current situation.

YOU can calm yourself by sitting in a comfortable chair, put relaxining music on if you like. Close your eyes and breath in slowly through your nose and then slowly out through your mouth. Start saying to yourself calm, calm for as many as 100 times.            

Dealing with conflict.

Conflict can arise at home or at home and the best thing to do is to resolve what the issue is and this is by listening to the other person’s viewpoint and then trying to negotiate and reaching a compromise.

If you don’t compromise, whatever the issue is will get worse and could blow out of all proportion. This can then lead to being angry and getting stressed.

It is best to handle conflict openly and directly.  A positive approach between two people involves effective communication by understanding how each other feels and then negotiating with a bit of give and take. Find out what the other person is looking for and wants and you be assertive and state exactly what you are looking for.  You have the power to say how you feel, what you are looking for and then let the other person say the same. You will then need to either meet in the middle or give a little and then they may give in a little to reach a happy and useful compromise.

If it is your partner or someone at work, you will have different personalities and different ways of looking at the same thing. This maybe useful but it can be frustrating. It is vital to make sure that you both know how you think and feel, as well as explaining where your view is coming from and how you think it could work but also listen and taken time to listen to the other persons point of view. Smile and nod your nod your head in agreement. This may not the best course of action but to keep a peaceful environment, you may need to compromise more than the other person.

Smile again and think that you are a good negotiator and can deal with conflict effectively.

Have a great day..............

Is a colleague under stress?

1. Try and speak to them
2. Be pleasant to them
3. Take them for a tea/coffee and they may talk to you about what is stressing them but if not let them just talk about anything to get their mind of things that are affecting them.
4. Ask if they need some help with their work but ask tactfully
5. Does your manager know they are under stress?
6. Should they speak to a professional or go to their GP?

SPEAK -  LISTEN -  CARE -  HELP IF YOU CAN

Stress tips

Stress and chronic ill health in the workplace is costing the UK industry £100bn per year.

This is mainly due to employees either being off sick, or due to presenteeism which is when someone is at work, but not performing. These figures include both small and large organisations and     it is now time to take effective action.

Stress is preventable but many people do not accept that they are stressed.   Stress is due

to a build up of excessive pressure when an individual is unable to cope with that pressure.

Consider what is causing your stress – this could be noise, too hot, too cold or it could be an

individual, a partner, relative, manager, or colleague.

Investors in People carried out a poll of 2,261 adults, and found that 39% of UK employees

said that their stress levels are higher now than a year ago.   Only 29% said that their

employer was doing anything to help them deal with the additional stress.   

43% noted increased stress levels due to a lack of confidence in management,

and just 5% found an increase in support from their managers during the recession.

It is time for employers to take action and realise that stress is a significant problem within the workforce.   

Tips- Identify the cause(s) of stress within the work or home environment.

Ensure that breaks and lunch breaks are away from the computer

Try not to have music on all the time

Any constant noises should be reduced, if possible

Communicate effectively to all

 Take about 8 glasses of water

Healthy eating such as fruit and vegetables daily

Talk to a friend or someone if you are feeling stressed

No time – then make time and create an action plan for the next week/month

Worried – create a Worry List with headings ‘Worry’ and ‘Cause’

Colleague Stress

Dealing with conflict