Managing the Stress Epidemic

DO YOU OR DON’T YOU?Hazel McCallum

MANAGING THE STRESS EPIDEMIC

Managing the Stress Epidemic: Hazel McCallum ~ www.movingonupcoaching.com

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Table of Contents

Simple eBook | A Basic eBook Template 01

Introduction................................................................................................................... 3

Why is stress such an issue?...................................................................................... 4

Why do we get stressed?............................................................................................. 5

Why do you need to manage stress?........................................................................ 7

The relationship between stress and performance.............................................. 8

Stress doesn’t have to be harmful............................................................................ 10

How do we reap the benefits of stress – without reaping the harm?............... 13

What is Emotional Intelligence?...................................................................... 13

Self-awareness........................................................................................... 14

Self-Management...................................................................................... 16

Social Awareness....................................................................................... 18

Relationship Management....................................................................... 23

Emotional Intelligence vs Intellectual Intelligence....................................23

How does all of this relate to stress management?..............................................24

How would this look in practice?...............................................................................26

About me......................................................................................................................... 28

CONTENTS


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This e-book sets out facts about work related stress and proposes a fresh approach to managing it.

We are constantly being made aware of the mental and physical impact of excessive stress but are you also aware of the huge financial impact?

The figures are alarming

• The annual average cost per year per employee of absence is £726 in the Private sector and £469 in the public sector.

• The average number of days lost is 7.6 rising to 8.5 days per year in the public sector. [i]

• The annual cost of mental health-related presenteeism (people coming to work and under-performing due to ill health) is £15.1 billion or £605 per employee in the UK.[ii]

• Stress is one of the most common causes of long-term sickness absence. [iii]

• Stress has forced one in five workers (19%) to call in sick, yet the vast majority of these (93%) say they have lied about the real reason for not turning up.[iv]

stress is one of the most common causes of long-term sickness

absence.

annual

average cost per

employee is

£726

1 in 5 workers

call in sick

due to stress

INTRODUCTION


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If you put a frog in boiling water it will immediately leap out.

However, if you put it into cool water and gradually turn up the heat it will stay there until it eventually boils to death.

Under stress, we react like that frog. As the ‘heat’ is turned up, we get used to it; it starts to feel familiar, even normal. We don’t notice how much it’s affecting us.

04

This book sets out a fresh approach to bring about lasting improvements in stress management

That’s the really dangerous thing about stress - it can creep up on us and actually do us harm. This is what has happened in recent years and

now it needs more focused management.

Fewer than one in ten organisations reported a fall in sickness absence attributable to stress. [v]

So, we need to be as informed as possible, don’t we?

We need to learn to recognise it and find an approach that is practical and effective, both for individuals and for organisations. This book sets out a fresh approach to bring about lasting improvements in stress management.

We usually think of stressors, such as an exhausting work schedule, as being negative but anything that increases demands on us or forces a change can be, and often is, stressful. So, even positive events, such as getting married, buying a house or receiving a promotion often cause stress.

But, not all stress is caused by external factors. It can also be self-generated. Examples of this type of stress include chronic worry about the future, poor control of emotions, negative or rigid thinking or having unrealistic expectations.

WHY IS STRESS SUCH AN ISSUE?


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.

It’s important to bear in mind that stress is a normal, physical response to feeling threatened

When we are faced with a situation we make two very quick, unconscious decisions:

1. Is it a threat? In the modern world this is more likely to be a threat to, say, reputation, values or time; rather than a physical danger.

2. Can we handle the threat? Do we have the time, the knowledge, the experience, the emo-tional capability, the energy, the expertise, etc. to cope?

This happens in a fraction of a second, and we react in the following way:

1. We go into the ‘alarm phase’. We react to the stressor by secreting the ‘stress hormones’, cortisol, noradrenaline and adrenaline. These prepare us to deal with the challenge by increasing our heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and releasing glucose into the blood stream. Typically we respond in a ‘fight, flight or freeze’ way.

2. Then we enter the ‘resistance phase’. We adapt to and cope with the stressor. If we cope well, or if the event is followed by a period of rest and relaxation, our bodies return to normal; just as they were designed to do. But, when we experience too many stressful events without recovery our bodies cannot cope because the hormones associated with stress are continually being secreted. As a result, our physical and emotional resources are gradually depleted.

3. It is at this point that we experience the ‘exhaustion phase’. We have become ‘worn down’ and thus cannot function normally. The effect is, inevitably, ill health of one type or another.

This is when we are at risk of a breakdown, a major health event or ‘burn out’

04WHY DO WE GET STRESSED?


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This progression is known as the General Adaptation Syndrome and the exhaustion phase is the result of too many ‘fight, flight or freeze’ responses.

The signs and symptoms of stress overload can be almost anything. Stress affects our minds, bodies, thinking and behaviour in many ways and everyone experiences it differently.

These are just a few of the common signs and symptoms of this complex process:

04WHY DO WE GET STRESSED?

COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS• Inability to concentrate• Racing thoughts• Forgetfulness• Poor judgment / bad decisions• Seeing only the negative• Irrational worrying • Needless guilt • Difficulty in learning new information• Reduced efficiency

• Mood swings• Irritability or short temper• Anger, frustration, hostility • Agitation, inability to relax• Feeling overwhelmed• Sense of loneliness and isolation• Depression or general unhappiness• Panic attacks• Anxiety

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS BEHAVIOURAL SYMPTOMS• Headaches• Jaw, neck or shoulder pain• General aches and pains• Cold, sweaty hands and feet• Tingling in hands or fingers• Diarrhoea or constipation• Nausea, dizziness, light-headedness• Chest pain, rapid heartbeat• Loss of sex drive• Frequent colds, infections, herpes• Sleep disturbance and/or tiredness for

no apparent reason• Rashes, itching, ‘allergies’

• Increase or decrease in appetite• Intentional isolation from others• Procrastination• Failure to meet responsibilities• Missed deadlines• Use of alcohol, cigarettes or drugs to

relax• Nervous habits; fidgeting, foot tapping• Frantic exercising; sometimes to the

point of exhaustion• Poor decision making• Use of lies or excuses to justify poor

work• Poor time keeping or working

excessively long hours


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04WHY DO YOU NEED TO MANAGE STRESS?

Apart from the fact that you have a legal responsibility to manage work related stress,[vi] it also damages operational efficiency and increases costs, negatively affects staff retention, creativity and the productivity of an organisation

Below are some common indicators of high stress levels in your organisation:

Organisational indicators• High staff turnover• Rising absenteeism• Poor performance• Lack of growth• Unacceptable levels of justified Client complaints• Projects being stopped• Complaints of bullying or an increase in the number of grievances generally• Poor employee survey results• Increased health and safety near misses and accidents reported

Team indicators • Team conflicts• Poor collaboration • Lower performance standards• Missed deadlines• Hostile team atmosphere • Lack of creativity

Individual indicators • Decrease in performance• Lack of engagement• Issues around conflict• Poor appraisal results• Negative Client feedback• Drop in generation of new work• Disengagement from social activities


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04THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND PERFORMANCE

One of the most noticeable effects of stress is a change in performance.

Pressure affects performance, as shown by the ‘Stress Response Curve’ below, which was created by Robert Yerkes and John Dodson as far back as 1908.

On the left side of the graph, you will note that low amounts of pressure result in boredom or lack of challenge, which can be experienced as stress. Even if the task is really important, in the absence of a level of pressure, attention and concentration to perform the task are significantly low. This state is known as ‘distress’.

As the level of pressure increases, performance levels also increase. This is the region called the ‘area of best performance’ where the individual experiences ‘eustress’ (or ‘healthy stress’). In this region, moderate pressure that is totally manageable leads to the highest level of performance.


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04THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS AND PERFORMANCE

So, stressors, (e.g. a short but adequate deadline), when properly controlled, facilitate a more helpful stress response and higher levels of performance. This motivates and encourages individuals to work actively and efficiently on tasks assigned to them.

On the right hand side of the curve you will note that extreme levels of pressure do not mean higher performance levels but, instead, result in lower performance levels.

This occurs when stress begins to be perceived as overwhelming or excessive (e.g. a very tight deadline given to an employee who has to take care of four children at home and has a sick relative in hospital). The individual reaches a fatigue point wherein the performance levels start to decline exponentially. This is the exhaustion phase of the General Adaptation Syndrome.

Therefore, individuals benefit most from a stress management programme aimed at training them to recognise when they are in their area of best performance, enabling them to understand when they are moving out of this zone and into the areas of distress and providing them with the resources to control it.

The physical effects of stress on the brain are very real

A study was carried out in 2012 at the Yale Stress Centre using functional MRI technology. [vii]

Scientists found that subjects who lived through stressful events had smaller brain volumes than less-stressed subjects. And this smaller volume was in the critical areas of the prefrontal cortex of the brain that govern thinking, planning, decision making, learning and memory.

Clearly showing that stress has a negative effect

The highlighted area indicates a critial region of the brain, the prefrontal cortex, where grey matter volume decreased with every additional stressful event an individual had experienced.


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04STRESS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARMFUL

A condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilise’. ~Susan Folkman et al [viii]

Stress can be described as

Therefore, the perception of the demands and the individual’s ability to cope with them dictates whether the stress response will be positive or negative – harmful or harmless. It is because of this difference in individual perception that people experience stressful events differently and may react with varying degrees of emotional response.

Recent science reveals that when we change our perception of stress, we also change our body’s response to stress.

Changing the way we think about and react to stress can make the difference between either experiencing stressful events as a stimulus (that can drive performance and increase productivity, motivation and results) or experiencing the harmful effects of distress (that can result in exhaustion, physical and mental illness and disengagement).


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This suggests that ‘just believing that stress is bad’ ranks as the 15th highest cause of death in the United States, ahead of HIV, skin cancer or murder.

In a landmark study[ix], in the United States in 2012, 30,000 adults were tracked for eight years

The study asked participants, ‘How much stress have you experienced in the last year?’ It also asked, ‘Do you believe that stress is harmful for your health?’ The results showed that a high level of stress increased death rates by 43%.

But this was only true for the people who also believed that stress was harmful for their health.Those people who did not perceive stress as harmful were no more likely to die prematurely even if they experienced high levels of stress in their lives. In fact, they had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study including people who had relatively little stress, but believed it to be harmful.

Supporting the above findings is a contemporary study at Harvard University [x] where participants completed a stress appraisal test.

They were then taught to rethink their stress response as being helpful. They were told that ‘the pounding heart is preparing you for action. If you’re breathing faster, it’s no problem, it’s getting more oxygen to your brain’.

When the participants learned to view the stress response as being helpful for their performance, they became less stressed, less anxious and more confident.


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An even more interesting finding was how their physical stress response changed. In a typical stress response, the heart rate goes up and blood vessels constrict. This is one of the reasons that chronic stress is often associated with cardiovascular disease. But, in the study, when participants viewed their stress response as being helpful, their blood vessels remained relaxed. Their heart was still pounding, but with a much healthier cardiovascular profile.


Finally, in another important study [xi], 1,000 adults in the United States, who ranged in age from 34 to 93, were asked, ‘How much stress have you experienced in the last year?’ and, ‘How much time have you spent helping out friends, neighbours or people in your community?’

For every major stressful life experience, like financial difficulties or family crisis, there was a 30% increased risk of dying; but that was not true for everyone.

And this is really what the new science of stress reveals; that how you think about stress really matters.

When we learn to view our stress response as helpful, we create the biological profile of courage. Caring seems to create resilience.

So instead of ‘getting rid of stress’ we ought to ‘get better at stress’.

People who spent time caring for others showed absolutely no increased risk of premature death related to stress.


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04HOW DO WE REAP THE BENEFITS OF STRESS - WITHOUT REAPING THE HARM?

Historically it has been assumed that stress is always harmful and we must, whenever possible, avoid it. In today’s world this is just not realistic.

But, as we see from the research, suffering harm from stress is not inevitable.

It is a fact that what one individual perceives as stressful may be exciting to another. Therefore, stress management techniques really need to be instilled at an individual level.

Developing the skills of Emotional Intelligence is an effective route to achieving positive results.

WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

Emotional Intelligence is a way of recognizing, understanding, and choosing how we think, feel, and act. It shapes our interactions with others and our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn; it allows us to set priorities; it determines the majority of our daily actions. Research suggests it is responsible for as much as 80% of the “success” in our lives’. ~ Friedman et al [xii]


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There are four domains of Emotional Intelligence, originally developed by Daniel Goleman [xiii].

01 | Self-awareness02 | Self-management03 | Social awareness04 | Relationship management

We are not all born with Emotional Intelligence but with training and coaching we can develop these skills.

01 | Self-awareness

Self-awareness is the ability to understand our emotions. It enables us to recognise our strengths and limitations, whilst maintaining a healthy level of confidence about our self-worth.

Self-awareness is a fundamental skill contributing to Emotional Intelligence.

Remember the poor frog? If we are not aware of the reasons we are getting stressed then we have no chance of either addressing or changing them.

We cannot change what we cannot see.

A study carried out in 1982 found that accurate self-assessment was associated with superior performance among several hundred managers from twelve different organisations. ~ Boyatziz [xiv]


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Self-awareness doesn’t come naturally to most. We all have ego-defence mechanisms that protect us emotionally. In order to cope with life we discount or hide information that doesn’t agree with our view of ourselves; for example, how other people respond to us.

This mechanism has its advantages and, for some people, leads to a more optimistic view of life. The problem arises when these defences distort our sense of self and interfere with our self-awareness.

How we think affects our stress levels. Positive and negative thoughts can easily become self-fulfilling prophecies. If we start thinking we will be stressed by something, the chances are that we will and our actions will reinforce any belief that we cannot cope with stressful situations.

On the other hand, positive thinking leads to improved actions and outcomes because, if we expect to cope, we usually will and therefore our confidence is strengthened.

The key factor in any outcome is how we think about and interpret the events in our lives.

Negative thinking can become a habit and we may not even realise that we are indulging in it. However, it is very possible to turn negatives into positives by reshaping our thinking. Self-awareness is the first step to this improvement.

By identifying problems in our thinking and behaviour, we can modify them to improve professional and personal success


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Another route to self-awareness is exploration of our Values. Values are the moral compass that guides us and, until we know our Values, we may not even be consciously aware that we are compromising them.

By definition, Values are intangible. They are not something we do or own. Money for example is not a Value, although the things we might do with money could be considered Values; peace of mind, service to others, security.

Living outside of our Values – or in conflict with them – is one of the major causes of stress.

02 | SELF-MANAGEMENT

Self management is the ability to control our emotions and act in a reliable and honest way.

A study of 130 executives found that how well people handled their own emotions, determined how much people around them preferred to deal with them. [xv]

Without an awareness of what we are feeling, it is impossible to fully understand our own behaviour, appropriately manage our emotions and actions and accurately ‘read’ the wants and needs of others.

Whether we are aware of it or not, emotions are the driving force behind most of what we do.

What we feel, rather than what we think, dictates our actions and intentions


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Emotions are powerful. They can override thoughts, transform relationships and profoundly influence behaviour. Emotional Intelligence allows us to harness that power enabling us to understand ourselves, overcome challenges and build strong relationships.

In the last decade or so, science has discovered a tremendous amount about the role emotions play in our lives. Researchers have found that even more than IQ, your emotional awareness and abilities to handle feelings will determine your success and happiness in all walks of life.[xvi]

Although emotions and mood may seem trivial from a workplace point of view, they have real consequenc-es on performance.

Unhelpful emotions, especially chronic anger, anxiety or a sense of futility, can powerfully disrupt our thinking – hijacking attention from the work in hand.

Anyone can be angry - that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not easy~ Aristotle

Distress not only erodes mental abilities, it decreases our empathy and impairs social skills, lowering the ability to build rapport with Clients and colleagues.

But although we can distort, deny, or numb our feelings, we cannot eliminate them. They are still there, whether we are aware of them or not.

Understanding the influence emotions have on our thoughts and actions is vital to managing stress. Emotional disconnection from our own emotions or those of others is actually another cause of chronic stress.

A major factor in distress is a feeling of being out of control.

Therefore, if we manage the way that we think, feel and act, we will be better able to handle any situation that we find ourselves in.


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03 | Social Awareness

Social awareness involves empathy and intuition. Socially aware people don’t just detect other people’s emotions; they interact with them and demonstrate that they care. They understand how their words and actions make others feel and are sensitive enough to change them when that impact is likely to be viewed as negative.

Social awareness increases our ability to express a message in a way that moves others. Think of Martin Luther King when he mobilised the civil rights movement with his powerful refrain ‘I have a dream’. He was aware of the power of invoking emotion in others - he didn’t say ‘I have a plan!’

Empathy is a fundamental element of social awareness. This doesn’t mean we have to adopt others’ emotions and try to please everybody. Rather, it means taking others’ feelings into thoughtful consideration.

Empathic people are superb at recognising and meeting the needs of Clients, customers and subordinates.

They are approachable and charismatic. They listen carefully, picking up on other peoples’ concerns.

This is because the emotional centres are ‘open loop systems’. Our brain circuitry sends out a steady stream of messages in response to our perception of others (for example, ‘he’s getting angry’, ‘she looks a bit bored now’), enabling us to use this information to fine-tune what we say or do next.

The messages are generated on such a deep neural level that we do not notice the process of the ‘open loop effect’ although it has been measured in a laboratory. People who sat in meetings together on a regular basis were found to share moods within two hours and the more cohesive the group the stronger the sharing.

Any time that we have a genuine connection with someone where we have felt ‘on the same wavelength’ there has been an interlocking of this brainpower.


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The process is known as mirroring and occurs strongly not only in the downward spiral of conflict but also in pleasant events.

Researchers can show how emotions spread, even when the communication is non-verbal.

We ‘catch’ feelings from one another.

The one who is most emotionally expressive transmits the strongest signals.

Scientists call it ‘interpersonal limbic regulation’ and the signals transmitted can even alter hormone levels, cardiovascular function, sleep rhythms and the immune function of another person.

How a Leader’s Mood Affects Team Performance

Research by the Centre for Creative Leadership has found that the primary causes of derailment in executives involve deficits in emotional competence. The three primary ones are difficulty in handling change, not being able to work well in a team, and poor interpersonal relations

A leader’s emotions are the secret driver of great performance.[xvii]

Research on Emotional Intelligence in the workplace has found links between leaders’ emotional maturity and their business success; their emotional style sets the tone of their team. Through their moods, leaders have the power to create a work culture that is either positive and productive, or negative and under-achieving.


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According to research, high levels of Emotional Intelligence amongst leaders tend to facilitate a workplace climate where information sharing, trust and learning flourish. Alternatively, low levels of Emotional Intelligence create a distrusting, fearful workforce where tense employees struggle to remain productive in the long-term.

Followers look to a leader for supportive emotional connection and empathy. When leaders drive emotions positively they bring about everyone’s best – an effect called resonance.

This is because people take emotional cues from the top. People listen and watch leaders more. The more open leaders are (e.g. how well they express their own enthusiasm) the more readily others will feel it. People with that kind of talent are emotional magnets.

Emotionally Intelligent leaders attract talented people.

Research shows convincingly that EQ [Emotional Quotient] is more important than IQ in almost every role and many times more important in leadership roles.[xviii]


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The ‘Amygdala Hijack’

When faced with moments of emergency the limbic centre appropriates the rest of the brain. We experience potent emotions that are crucial for survival, which is the brain’s way of alerting us to something urgent and offering an immediate plan (fight, flight or freeze). The thinking brain evolved from the limbic centre and continues to take orders from it when we perceive a situation as a threat or stressful.

The trigger point for these emotions is the amygdala, a structure in the limbic centre that scans what happens to us; ever on the alert for emergencies.

Any strong emotion trips the amygdala’s emergency response. The power of our emotions overwhelms our rationality and impairs our prefrontal cortex’s working memory. That is why, when we are emotionally upset or stressed, we cannot think straight.

Our thinking power is disrupted and there are deficits in our problem solving. It is like losing 10 to 15 IQ points temporarily. We are still thinking, but with reduced capacity and brainpower.In today’s economy most people are walking around with more stress, apprehensiveness and fear for the future than ever before.

We know emotions are contagious so, if one person is emotionally hijacked in a team or organisation, most likely others will catch it - like the flu. So, the team IQ can quickly lose points and jeopardise executive decisions and lower teamwork and collaboration.

Every organisation is probably suffering at some level from emotional hijackings and many are, therefore, likely to be

operating in a sub-optimal way


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Active listening is an important skill of social awareness and one that can be taught and developed and is essential in today’s diverse workplaces.


When we listen, the words go through various unconscious filters that we have put in place throughout our lives. Filters such as our Values, our attitudes, beliefs, experiences, feelings and also our current mood and physical state affect how we perceive the message.

We all think that we listen but we often simply do not hear. We are so busy crafting a reply, do-ing something else in our head or emotionally reacting to the message that we do not actually pay attention.

Listening carefully to others and striving to better understand what drives them will help us to influence them in an appropriate way. This assists us to control our environment and achieve better outcomes. It results in a feeling of control and confidence, both essential for good stress management - we can handle whatever comes up.

Listening is also a necessary skill in learning to quickly and effectively build rapport with others.

Building good rapport means our lives become easier and leads to better relationships.

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply~ Stephen R. Covey


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04 | Relationship Management

Relationship Management is essentially the skill of handling other people’s emotions. It is the culmination of all of the Emotional Intelligence skills.

Successful relationship managers can communicate clearly and convincingly, resolve conflicts and build strong personal bonds.

Emotional Intelligence vs Intellectual Intelligence

Research shows that intellectual intelligence (IQ) has less to do with success in life than Emo-tional Intelligence. Our IQ helps us understand and navigate the world on one level, but we also need Emotional Intelligence in order to succeed.

We all know people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially inept and unsuccessful.

What they are missing are the skills of Emotional Intelligence.

Of 515 senior executives analysed by the search firm Egon Zehnder International, those who were primarily strong in Emotional Intelligence were more likely to succeed than those who were strongest in either relevant previous experience or IQ. In other words, Emotional Intelligence was a better predictor of success than either relevant previous experience or high IQ.

More specifically, the executive was high in Emotional Intelligence in 74 percent of the successes and only in 24 percent of the failures. The study included executives in Latin America, Germany, and Japan, and the results were almost identical in all three cultures


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When it comes to the question of whether a person will become a “star performer” (in the top ten percent, however such performance is appropriately assessed) within that role, or be an outstanding leader, IQ may be a less powerful predictor than Emotional Intelligence. [xix]

~ Daniel Goleman



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04HOW DOES ALL THIS RELATE TO STRESSMANAGEMENT?

Feeling out of control or out of our comfort zone is a major cause of distress.

Therefore, enabling employees to maintain control of their emotions and reactions in almost any situation gives them the skills and confidence that they need to manage their stress response.

Many organisations train their people in relaxation techniques and certain work skills such as time management, managerial skills and coping tips. Whilst these are valid, they concern habit changes, which often don’t stick. Because, in order to change our habits, we need to be very self-aware. We need to be able to recognise what it is that we do now that is not effective.

That is why training the skills of Emotional Intelligence is key

By including training in the interpersonal skills that make up Emotional Intelligence in your stress management programme, not only can employees deal with the extrinsic factors of stress but they can also recognise and change their perception of work related stress.

When we know how our brain works, we can change the way we think, feel and act. And when we change the way we think, feel and act, we can change our response to stress to achieve positive outcomes. Our empathy levels rise, our relationships benefit and productivity and effectiveness increases.

Organisations benefit from well-managed stress.

By including Emotional Intelligence training in your stress management programme, you are giving your employees the gift of control and the confidence to manage their stress response. This gives them a solid grounding to develop other core competencies (such as time and email management, decision making, etc.) and deal with the day-to-day challenges of modern working life.

As well as retaining your best staff to become your Leaders of the future, you can avoid the high costs of staff recruitment.


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04HOW WOULD THIS LOOK IN PRACTICE?

In order to bring about real and lasting change, stress management training needs to include the following elements, which I often find lacking in conventional training:

• How stress develops, the effects on our bodies and minds• The basic neuroscience of the stress response and the amygdala hijack• How to recognise stress in others and ourselves.• Recognising what triggers our stress reaction • Choosing best options to diffuse negative states and return to equilibrium • What is Emotional Intelligence, its benefits and why it is so important in today’s workplace• Developing awareness of emotions and managing uncomfortable feelings • How to prevent ourselves being ‘hijacked’ or carried away by our feelings• Active listening and being aware of personal filters that get in the way of effective

communication• Developing empathy so that relationships are improved and the Client experience is

enhanced• The benefits of mindfulness to develop self-awareness, increase focus and change negative

thinking.

All of the skills of Emotional Intelligence can be improved via training with practical exercises either given to groups or on a one-to-one basis.

Self-assessment can be carried out as a baseline to assess current levels in the four domains of Emotional Intelligence. Then, a personal plan can be drawn up to develop Emotional Intelligence.

There are many ways people can develop their Emotional Intelligence, especially if assisted by a competent Trainer or Coach.

By giving your staff the skills they need to change their thinking, to manage their emotions and the emotions of others – the interpersonal skills of Emotional Intelligence – you can be confident that they can manage their stress levels, maintain good relationships and cope with the demands of work.


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04HOW WOULD THIS LOOK IN PRACTICE?

The increased self awareness and self management can then be used to further develop crucial skills in other areas to support the efforts to manage stress. Areas such as efficient time and workload planning, email management, decision making and recognising and managing perfectionism, procrastination and interruptions.

In this way you can be reassured that your staff have all the skills they need to thrive and survive in today’s challenging world of work.

Hazel McCallumDirectorMoving On Up Coaching Limited


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04ABOUT ME

Some years ago I experienced a very stressful period and realised that my old ways of coping were no longer working. I had to do something different. I researched various methods and finally decided that until I managed myself, my emotions, my thoughts and my beliefs, nothing would really make a lasting change. This was when I discovered and studied Emotional Intel-ligence and realised that this was the answer to the longer-term changes I needed to make to increase my resilience to, and better manage, stress.

I have always been interested in stress management and psychology – what ‘makes people tick’ and have studied this area for many years. Earlier in my career I had practiced as a Nurse Manager in the highly stressful areas of Neurosurgery and Cardiac Surgery both in the NHS and overseas.

During my time as as one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors for the Health and Safety Executive I was a Stress Champion and intensively trained in stress management. I worked with large public sector, NHS and private organisations to bring about positive change in the way work related stress was managed.

Then as a Director in a Top 10 construction consultancy, I saw at first hand how high levels of stress adversely affect performance and efficiency in the corporate world and the effect of work pressure on organisations and staff.

And it was obvious that the high level of work related stress was leading to disengaged, unhappy staff who were not achieving their best.

Being a qualified Coach and Trainer I decided that I wanted to work with organisations and indi-viduals to give them the skills to manage work related stress to enable them to retain their good staff and for employees to have a more fulfilling, rewarding work life.

I set up my own company as an Executive Coach and Stress Trainer specialising in using Emotional Intelligence as a cornerstone of stress management. This was an obvious progression for me, as it brings together all of my experience and knowledge. I enjoy presenting training, workshops, one-to-one coaching and webinars on all areas relevant to work related stress.


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04SOURCES OF REFERENCE

[i] CIPD/Simply Health Annual survey report 2013

[ii] http://www.mind.org.uk/media/44253/Managing_and_supporting_MH_at_work.pdf

[iii] CIPD/Simply Health Annual survey report 2013

[iv] Mental Health and Work in the UK 2014 OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social

Affairs. 2014

[v] CIPD/Simply Health Annual survey report 2013

[vi] All employers have legal responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 to ensure the health safety

and welfare at work of their employees.

[vii] ‘Does stress damage the brain?’ J.Douglas Bremner Published in Biological Psychiatry

December 10, 1998

[viii] ‘Dynamics of a Stressful Encounter: Cognitive Appraisal, Coping, and Encounter

Outcomes’. Susan Folkman, Richard S. Lazarus, Christine Dunkel-Schetter, Anita DeLongis

and Rand J Gruen

[ix] Keller, Litzelman, Wisk et al., 2012

[x] Jamieson, Nock & Mendes, 2012

[xi] Poulin MJ, Brown SL, Dillard AJ, Smith DM. ‘Giving to others and the association

between stress and mortality.’ Am J Public Health. 2013 Sep;103(9):1649-55. doi:

10.2105/AJPH.2012.300876. Epub 2013 Jan 17. PubMed PMID: 23327269.

Freedman et al.: From Handle With Care: Emotional Intelligence Activity Book

[xiii] ‘Emotional Intelligence. Why it can matter more than IQ’. Daniel Goleman

[xiv] Boyatzis, R. (1982). ‘The competent manager: A model for effective performance.’ New

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[xv] ‘Activity vector analysis: Some applications to the concept of Emotional Intelligence.’

Pittsburgh, PA: Walter V. Clarke Associates.

[xvi] John Gottman, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington

[xvii] ‘Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance’ by Daniel Goleman, Richard

Boyatzis, and Annie McKee

[xviii] Stephen Covey, American educator, businessman, and keynote speaker, author of ‘The

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.’

[xix] David Goleman Ph.D., Psychologist, author of the definitive guide Emotional Intelligence and

Emotional Intelligence and Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships.

Managing the Stress Epidemic

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