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Blood pressure, brain pressure etc… were the commonly heard terms till few years ago. But the latest in the list is work pressure. Work pressure can be as much a ‘killer’ as brain or blood pressure. If not, worse! Pressed repeatedly for "status" reports, you might guess that they don't want status — they want progress.
Every working person around the world experiences stress and pressures at work irrespective of the role they play at work. It is something which is inevitable and part of the job. Unfortunately, pressure cannot be avoided and hence it must be managed. Unless you are willing to stop some of these tasks, the only solution is to find a way to manage the stress which goes along with being so busy. Then again, stray dogs on the street are busy too. They keep running from place to place and hardly walk. What is the result they produce at the end of the day? ‘Busy’ people are quite similar and are very ‘busy’ morning till night but, what do they produce at the end of the day? Successful people are result seeking. They measure their growth with achievement – not the duration of effort.
Current work pressure
At present, many people feel as though they're being asked to do the impossible. Because they're good at what they do, employees are expected to do more, fix problems, handle crises, and in general, cope with all variety of situations with a level head. Managers are expected to deal not only with their own pressure, but also with the pressure of the people they manage. And when people themselves feel pressurized, they often put additional pressure on their colleagues: a kind of domino theory of coping with stress.
There are some people who literally feel like the meat in a sandwich because they are being squeezed from above and below. What is worse the spouse caps it all with the pressure you receive from him/her when you get home. Now, the one and only truism about stress, is that it's different for everyone: what causes one person to feel pressured won't be true for someone else. Unexpected things happen to us, extra demands are made, and time runs out, deadlines get passed - this is the stuff of our work-a-day and personal lives over which we may appear to have little control.
Feeling pressured?
Some of the reasons why employees feel pressurized are due to long hours of work, heavy workload, tight deadlines in work schedules, insufficient skills for the job, over-supervision, job security, changes to duties, lack of autonomy and equipment, harassment, poor relationships with colleagues or bosses.
In other words, one person's stress is another's excitement. Equally, it is not pressure itself which is the problem, but the way in which people react to that pressure. However sometimes, pressure becomes useful. The appropriate way to deal with stress is to make sure an employee manages the correct balance between good stress and bad stress. Right level of pressure makes work challenging and dynamic. It keeps the person engaged, motivated and productive. Pressure at work apply to different employees in different ways, some employees find it challenging and enjoy working under pressure. It keeps them focused and gets the job done.
Some pressure at work can be motivating, but when the pressures or demands become excessive it can lead to work-related stress. How we deal with the seemingly 'uncontrollable' is the key to good stress management. Stress is “the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other demands placed on them”,
Helping employees learn to cope with personal stress, to balance their home and work lives, and to build stress resistance can benefit everyone. The stress involved with these is a separate issue to deal with. However it’s pleasing to find out that managing pressure is not impossible.
Research has shown recently that more and more people are suffering from work pressure and job stress. In fact, workplace stress is on the rise. In the United States, experts at the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have found that: Stress is linked to one's physical and mental health and also one's decreased willingness to take on new and creative endeavors.
Tips to help you efficiently manage pressure
Elite performers thrive on pressure and their rise to the top is the result of careful planning – setting and hitting hundreds of small goals – and they use competition to hone their skills, reinventing themselves to stay ahead of the pack. How do they do it?
1. Learn to love the pressure
You can’t stay at the top if you aren’t comfortable in high-stress situations. The ability to remain cool under fire is the one trait of top performers that is most often thought of as inborn. Managing pressure is also easier if you can focus just on your own excellence. Don’t be distracted by the victories or failures of others.
2. Take a break
Unless you can put the day behind you, as athletes do, you run the risk of burning out. Many leading business people are passionate about their hobbies – diversions can help executives to tune out and reenergize.
3. Plan short-term goals
For Olympic athletes, training and preparation are geared to a four-year cycle, but they may also contest world championships every second year. Successful executives often plan long-term goals, but it is important to identify short-term goals that underpin your achievements. Plan daily goals and when you achieve them by the end of the day, you can be sure to jump into bed to sleep knowing that you have grown in capacity over yesterday.
4. Use the competition
Athletes sometimes train with the competition. If you want to make it to the top, you too will need to “train” with the people who push you hardest. Smart companies encourage elite performers to push one another. Talent development programmes that bring together a company’s stars for intensive training serve such a purpose.
5. Re-invent yourself
It is hard enough getting to the top, but staying there is even harder. But while it’s good to feel challenged, you need to make sure that any feedback you get is constructive. If it doesn’t feel helpful at first, see if you can get useful insights about what is behind the negative comments. You should then be able to see concrete improvements in your performance.
6. Celebrate your victories
Rewards remind you of your achievements and symbolize hard work, commitment and dedication. Celebrate – but then push on to the next goal. Don’t wait for your boss to praise you. Give yourself a ‘pat’ on the back and then focus on the next task that will give you ‘stretch.’
7. Keep the will to win
After setbacks it takes courage to get back in the ring. If you want to be an elite performer in business, that’s what you need to do too.
Apart from these, a practical outlook would be to find out remedies and ways to feel relaxed at work. It might also be true to say that, individuals react work pressure and depress themselves more than they should be. Mark Messier puts this as “The only pressure I'm under is the pressure I've put on myself.” The following tips would help you boost the ability to handle pressure.
What, why, how, when, and who will do the job. It is important to schedule obligations and your actions both long-term (weeks or months before), and on a daily basis. Maintain your diary intelligently.
Organise your time efficiently on a daily basis
Give priority to the most important or the most pressing issues. At the end of each day check what completed. Try to be flexible in your planning and programme. Make changes where needed, when needed
Certainly in the past you have faced problems and difficulties at work. Try to remember what you did to overcome the difficult moments. It may be something that you find it useful now.
Be open for discussions and have a good communication with others.
If not sure, ask your boss. Ask him what more he can give you that befits your capacity to deliver. If your responsibility and tasks are less than your capacity to deliver, frustration and lethargy will set in. Soon you will be looking for another job.
It is the usual practice to ask only when something goes wrong. Because of our ‘ego’ we are reluctant to ask what we don’t know. Ask a question when you need more clarifications for a task you have to complete.
Break a few minutes in the middle of the day. Relax, and do NOTHING for a few minutes. Take deep breathing and that helps you to relax.
Test yourself in this field. See how persuasive you are.
Keep in mind individual differences, for example some people perform better under pressure, others need more time to organise their work.
Delegate responsibility when necessary, and check the result.
Working Conditions
This is an important factor that is considered seriously by both employers and employees.
After all, we must remember that anyone in any area, any company in any position is not unaffected by work pressure. However what we know is that pressure can be ‘depressing’ and ‘challenging’ to some but it would be great if we could look at it the way Billie Jean King had, for he had said “No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win -- and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance.”
(The writer is the Managing Director and CEO, McQuire Rens Group of Companies. He has held regional responsibilities of two multinational companies of which one was a Fortune 500 company. He carries out consultancy assignments and management training in Dubai, India, Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. He is a much sought-after business consultant and corporate management trainer in Sri Lanka.)
