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A healthy and happy team is your ultimate aim, but this can be hard to achieve when your workforce, or even part of your workforce, is feeling stressed and anxious. While it is up to everyone to manage their own stress levels, it is essential as a manager that you are not adding to your team’s stress levels and causing them to feel burnt out or overtired.

Keep your team busy

It is important that your team is busy enough to feel rewarded, but not busy enough to be overly stressed with their workload. You want to maintain a high level of productivity without putting undue pressure on them. And on the same token, you don’t want them wondering what they are going to do to fill in their afternoon. It’s all about achieving a happy balance as often as possible.

Train your team

Having a team who are qualified to do their job and beyond can reduce much of the stress individual members face. While everyone likes a challenge, no one wants to feel like they are being thrust into the deep end without a life jacket. Investing in your team’s future will ensure everyone is happy with their workload and are fully equipped to do the job.

Avoid overtime

No one wants to be pulling long shifts and working overtime on a regular basis. Model best practices so your team can follow suit. When it is 5.00pm (or what is appropriate for your workplace), show your team you honour your work/life balance and it is time to head home. Don’t make them feel guilty that they are not staying behind just because you are. With proper time management and adequate processes, there is no reason why your team should work late, bar an unexpected emergency.

Encourage office breaks

When you give your team regular breaks, they will work harder and be more productive with their time. If you expect your staff to work consistently for hours on end without coming up for air, then the quality of the work won’t be as good. Everyone needs to relax their brain for a bit in between the hard tasks to clear their head. Again lead by example and demonstrate the importance of quiet time.

Stop the need to multitask

Multitasking is one of the worst things to infiltrate the workplace. While at one time it was thought that multitasking could show just how well you could handle whatever was put in front of you, it actually reduces the quality of your work and your concentration on the task at hand. When you hold meetings, switch off all communications so you can give everyone 100% of your focus. Make sure everyone else does the same. It’s ‘out’ with the multitasking and ‘in’ with the monotasking for razor-sharp focus and results.

By giving your team the adequate training and ensuring they take the necessary breaks, you are making the health of your team (and ultimately your health) a priority in the workplace. That is a huge step forward in reducing the stress of your team and encouraging productivity and ultimately success. If you would like to learn more about stress management, get in touch. Together we can help your company promote a positive learning culture and continuously build on your team’s skills and progress.