What do you do if your team is struggling with workplace stress?

First, acknowledge the issue openly. I've learned the power of creating a supportive environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their concerns. Have a candid conversation with your team about the stressors they're facing. It's essential to listen actively and empathize with their experiences. From there, consider implementing practical measures to address the root causes of stress, such as workload adjustments or offering more flexible working arrangements. Encouraging regular breaks, promoting a healthy work-life balance, and providing access to wellness resources or stress management workshops can make a significant difference. Also, fostering a culture of appreciation and recognition goes a long way in boosting morale.

A stressed team can quickly become a less productive one. If you notice your colleagues struggling, take action! Start by opening up communication. Talk openly about stress and see how everyone's feeling. Identifying specific stressors allows you to tackle them directly. Next, work together to prioritize tasks and delegate fairly. This can ease the burden of overload and make projects feel more manageable. Don't forget to support one another! Offer a helping hand to colleagues who seem overwhelmed, and recognize everyone's efforts, big or small. Finally, promote healthy habits. Encourage breaks throughout the day for walks, stretches, or even mindfulness exercises to help reduce tension.

Focus on fostering open communication to address their concerns. Collaboratively identify root cause and implement strategies such as stress management techniques and promoting work-life balance. Lead by example and regularly monitor progress to ensure effectiveness. By prioritizing a supportive environment and proactively addressing stress, you can enhance well-being and productivity within the team.

To address workplace stress in your team, promote open communication, identify stressors, provide support and resources, encourage work-life balance, promote self-care, address organizational issues, offer training, lead by example, monitor progress, and create a supportive culture.

Stress at workplace is conveyed and experienced in multiple ways. Some employees hide it in their humour while others in their action and some suffer silently. While training people on stress management, my observation varies from gender specific to role specific stress. Addressing mental health is not a one time activity or a workshop; there has to be a planning to action strategies incorporated in the SOP of any organisation.

Group or circle times work only when people are aware of their mental health or stress related issues. With the numbers rising in stress related suicides globally, the gap of reaching out to receiving help is huge. Building trust in an organisation is far-fetched dream especially post covid if the organisations have not taken care of their old, seasoned or young employees. It might take time but the momentum of efforts must go on.

What we need in any organisation, big or small, is the #ubuntuculture that signifies the humanity in being. Sharing burdens, supporting each other, uplifting as a community rather than competing for status or promotions should be ingrained in the work culture. Creating a community within an organisation helps in addressing work related stress issues.

1. Encourage open communication 2. Guide them to Identify the source of stress 3. Help them Prioritize tasks and deadlines 4. Provide adequate support and resources 5. Encourage work-life balance 6. Lead by example

1. Find out the source of the stress. Ensure one has the integrity and the will to address it 2. Do not attempt to address the problem, if you cannnot provide a solution to it. It would be better to let the problem persists, than the hopes of the team mebers dashing. 3. Please do not look for external support, if the changes suggested by could not be implemented. 4. Majority of the problems can get solutions, through the forum with people occupying the leadership roles are trusted. 5. Do not procrastinate the solution. The sources of stress are to be eradicated at the earliest. 6. An opportunity to address the problems can be lost, but not the hopes of the people. People without hopes are difficult to change.