Stress Management

Literally translated from English, stress management means "Stress management". To give an unambiguous definition of this term is notsimply: stress management includes both managing yourself and your behavior directly at the time of stress, and overcoming the negative consequences of stressful situations.

You may ask: "Why learn to manage stress? It is better to learn to avoid it! ". The thing is that completely limit yourself from stressors (factors that cause stress) is impossible. Even if you are forbidden in four walls, this will not help you escape from stress: isolation can be the strongest stress factor.

But if stress can not be prevented, it does not mean that it is impossible to fight with it. A conscious management of stress will help successfully cope with the stressful situation and its consequences. To do this, you need stress management.

The management of stress in professional activity is divided into two levels: stress management at the organization level and stress management at the level of individual employees. These two aspects are closely related. On the one hand, workers can not overcome stress on their own, if the company does not have the conditions for this. On the other hand, the conditions created by management will not help employees to deal with stress if they do not want to do it themselves.

Stress management at the organization level includes such measures:

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  creation of a favorable organizational climate:


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  well-established feedback system
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  participation of staff in the decision-making process
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  team and project forms of work organization
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  clear definition of job responsibilities and limits of personal responsibility
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  even distribution of workload
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  social support of personnel
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  special stress management programs

But in order to combat stress, it is very important for the employees themselves to learn how to cope with stressful situations. Individual stress management includes two main areas: relaxation (the ability to relax "on command") and behavior modification.

Basic relaxation technique was developed at the beginning of the last century. It consisted of consistent concentration on various parts of the body, alternating relaxation and muscle tension. From patients it was required to concentrate their attention on the sensations arising during relaxation, which helped gradually to achieve more and more complete relaxation.

Of course, over a hundred-odd years these basic techniques have improved, and now relaxation combines the approaches of meditation and auto-training.

Behavior modification especially for employees who are differentincreased activity, excessive aggressiveness and living with a constant sense of time trouble. Modification of behavior consists in replacing the negative emotional reaction to a stressful situation with a positive one.

Individual stress management depends on the personal qualities of employees - then it is individual. There is such a thing as individual time limit of stress. To some, even long significantoverload, such workers are easily adaptable to stress, without losing efficiency. Someone has enough even a slight overload to feel completely knocked out of the rut. And there is a category of workers whom stress mobilizes - only in a stressful situation they are able to work with full efficiency.

Stress management is not just a fashionable phrase. Management of stress Is a necessary condition for normal professional activity</ strong>. Work without stress is impossible, even the mostfriendly team and the most relaxed position does not guarantee a complete escape from stressors. And if stress at work can not be prevented - it is necessary to be able to fight it, and conscious management of stress is your reliable ally in this fight.