In a previous post, we looked at the issue of work-life balance, and we observed that, when our working and private lives are out of kilter with each other, it is almost always our private lives that get short-changed. Hobbies and interests get put on to the back burner, bikes gather dust in the shed, and relationships lose the fizzle they once had. I pointed out that striving for work-life balance involves (amongst other things) laying down boundaries between your work life and your personal life and aiming for a balance between them. We then considered some strategies for dusting the cobwebs off your private life and reinvigorating it with a boost of pzazz.
The focus in that post was on the private-life aspect of the work-life vs private-life relationship. Some of the reasons I gave for the importance of nurturing your private life were:
- It is important for your physical health
- It is important for your mental health
- You only live once!
But there are two sides to the coin of ‘work-life – private-life balance’. And equilibrium requires that both sides be given equal attention. It is not only your private life that would benefit from some pzazz: the chances are that your work life could do with a bit of uplift too – besides which, a satisfactory work life is just as important for your physical and mental health as is a congenial private life.
The pressures you experience at work can come from a multitude of directions. A little bit of pressure keeps us on our toes, keeps us productive, inspired, motivated. But what if stress builds up and threatens to consume you, to the point where, not only are you being less productive ‘in the office’ (as it were), but you feel sapped of energy when you leave the office and the joys of cycling, cinema, and refurbishing the kitchen are becoming less and less alluring?
Then it’s time to start addressing the sources of stress, in a very considered and structured way, and to make a plan for either eliminating the sources or reducing their impact.
What might those sources of stress be?
Let’s look at a few of these:
1. The work place itself:
The Health & Safety Executive (https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/index.htm) identifies six areas of work design that, if not managed properly, can lead to an employee’s experiencing not only stress, but impaired health, impaired productivity, increased risk of accident, and increased sickness absence. These are:
- Demands:
Work loads and work patterns that are imposed on you.
- Control:
How much say (or not) you have in the way you do your work.
- Support:
Whether (or not) you receive encouragement and feedback.
Whether (or not) the resources and line management with which you are provided are adequate.
- Relationships:
Whether positive working relationships are promoted, so as to avoid (or, at least, manage) conflict.
Whether there are effective procedures in place for dealing with unacceptable behaviour.
- Roles:
Whether people in the organisation (and that includes you) understand their role.
Whether or not the organisation ensures that there are no conflicting roles.
- Change:
How well organisational change is managed and communicated.
2. Other stressors related to work:
Work design is not the only cause of stress that has its source within the workplace. Let’s consider some other possibilities:
- You have an uneasy relationship with a line-manager or subordinate or colleague;
- You are up against a disciplinary investigation;
- You have been overlooked for promotion;
- You are being bullied or harassed;
- You may be in line for redundancy;
- You don’t have all the competencies needed for your role. (Did you mislead the interviewer?)
- You are in a role that you have no appetite for. Perhaps you had dreamed of being an economist (well, we’re all entitled to our dreams!), and finding yourself as a payroll accountant doesn’t quite keep your boat afloat.
3. Stressors that come from outside of the work-place:
It may be that difficulties from outside of work are following you to the office and playing a merry dance with your productivity. Do any of these sound familiar?
- Health problems;
- Insomnia;
- Financial difficulties ;
- Relationship woes;
- Caring responsibilities.
The first step in dealing with stress at work (a step that is often surprisingly difficult) is to acknowledge it. All too often, we expect ourselves to be able to stretch ourselves around everything that is thrown at us. But as soon as we can acknowledge that we are all-too-human (to resort to a cliché) and that there are limits to our energies, our time, our expertise, and – quite frankly – our willingness, we are in a better position to start planning strategies for lightening our burden of stress.
This journey will require you to set limits and boundaries. But, in so doing, you will hopefully be able to re-establish your work, career and life goals – and take back ownership of your career and life path.
In the meanwhile, read about my approach to counselling, mentoring and life-coaching and message me if you’d like to talk through any of the issues that I have highlighted in this post.
