Thriving in a Stressful Environment

In the animal world, we are familiar with the concept “survival of the fittest.” This principle is applicable to the many work  environments  we encounter in these tough economic times.  Our employees are expected to deal with a variety of cultures, personalities, international policies, unique procedures, and unexpected threatening and sometimes hostile situations.

To survive and thrive in this environment, research shows that employees will need to posses the following characteristics:

• Being physical healthy with enough energy to deal with the pressures
• Core skills: work, group, and organization
• Knowledge of the new work environment
• Creativity and resourcefulness
• Patience, perseverance, and determination
• The ability to plan, organize, and regroup
• The right attitude for the situation
• The ability to control fear, doubt, and insecurity
• The ability to control and minimize stress

A majority of these skills involve mental and emotional control.  Employees need to maximize skills and minimize shortcomings and not unconsciously undermine their own effectiveness.  Employees need to learn how to thrive in this tough environment.  Behaviors that undermine one’s effectiveness are common defense mechanisms, but work against an employee’s effectiveness and the  company’s ability to survive.

• Staying on the sidelines
• Overly critical of everything
• Not managing home/family
• Chronic negative attitude
• Not managing stress effectively
• Quick fixes with longer term consequences

With the work environment often being extremely intense, we fail to recognize when our behaviors undermine our effectiveness. Whether it relates to dealing with work demands, organization or family.  It is to everyone’s advantage to pay attention to the behaviors that we choose to manage these work stressors.  In this way, we can focus on the area that has maximum return for the time and energy investment.  Everyone can then reap what has been sown.

We have presented this seminar to hundreds of people in a variety of assignments, from criminal justice workers to United Nations Civilian Police Officers.  The course gives a road map on how to manage the tough situations that will be encountered and teaches skills that can be applied immediately.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]