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Do you believe your stress management training and strategies are working? |
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Page reviewed July 2005
It is now believed that millions of working days are lost due to stress related illness and associated absenteeism. The cost to the country is estimated to be in the billions. The total cost to all corporations especially when including stress related inefficiency is much higher. What about your corporation/company/institution? How much are you losing?
I believe that the situation is exacerbated with conventional inadequate views of health choices. No, I do not believe that the answer lies in diet and exercise with the company providing reflexology or massage.
The traditional way of dealing with the problem has been a token one day/half day course where it is suggested that students learn to relax, change their cognition's or use a number of secondary strategies to alleviate the problem - all without teaching the relevant skills involved.
More recently counselling has been in vogue, but this also fails to address the skills deficit that causes stress related disorders. I suspect that many employers have become disillusioned with these strategies and I doubt that these solutions have been cost effective with regard to absenteeism, sickness and inefficiency.
However corporations can no longer afford this enormous drain on their resources or the litigation that may ensue from any one employee. With Government directives now in force and budgets getting tighter employers need to take a more realistic attitude to the problem especially when many are experiencing a large percentage of their workforce absent at any one time.
Based on 20 years experience of assisting individuals with stress related disorders and running Stress Management and Lifeskills packages I am able to redress this problem. You wouldn't give someone a half-day course in driving and then expect them to drive company transport efficiently and without serious accidents. Taking into account that skills are learnt over a period of time I can provide for the following options:
EXTERNAL OPTIONS:
- Enrol your employees on the Towards Optimum Wellbeing courses and workshops.
- Offer individuals with stress related or personal effectiveness problems one to one tuition.
IN HOUSE OPTIONS:
- Workshops and courses for stress management, personal effectiveness and optimal health.
- Individual and small group tuition for stress related disorders and personal-effectiveness, including assertion and communication skills, aimed at reducing absenteeism and increasing corporate productivity.
- In house trouble shooting.
If you feel your Stress Management training is not truly cost effective I can provide you with solutions that are.
Specifically and in more detail:
EXTERNAL OPTIONS
I was once approached by a computer company and asked if I would teach some "assertion skills" to their employees. They had already been offered a two hour course for £1000. I am sure they would get an enjoyable two hours with a lot of platitudes thrown in. But do you really believe that the behaviour of employees would change as a result? I don't! I think the company would not get the financial payoff they were hoping for.
Some might feel that the good of the individual is at the forefront of corporate thinking. As a realist I fully understand that, at this time of considerable strife for most companies, any training needs to be cost effective. This by way of direct savings, increased productivity and efficiency.
I have spent over 20 years teaching self regulation skills to individuals in order to relieve stress related disorders and 18 years teaching these and other life skills to adult education groups in order for them to improve personal effectiveness and move "Towards Optimum Wellbeing".
These individuals have not only included sick people wishing to become well but well individuals seeking to achieve peak performance. SKILLS ARE NOT LEARNED IN A TWO HOUR SESSION. They take time to acquire and will need follow up and individual help if required. If this is done the skills are internalised enabling the individual to achieve their objectives.
It has now been suggested that I offer my wealth of knowledge and understanding to corporations. As a trainer with over 20 years experience in the field I believe I can help your corporation to reduce absenteeism, improve employee effectiveness, reduce resistance, promote flexibility, improve communications and positivity, decrease employee turnover, and ultimately enhance productivity - cost effective?
In general, I believe that one day courses do not work. I am prepared to provide such a course as a taster but would prefer to continue with a skills acquisition package and follow up. At a basic level, employees can come to see me for individual help with stress related disorders or make use of my adult education course " Towards Optimum Wellbeing".
Here they have a choice of workshops or home study or a combination of both. The "Basic Skills Training Programme" includes the whole range of wellbeing and stress hardiness skills acquisition including:
- Physical methods of reducing stress related sickness and enhancing health
- Cognitive restructuring to reduce negative emotions
- Positive thinking, problem solving, and coping strategies aimed at reducing the negative effects of change, handling more demands and turning problems into challenges
- Assertion and communication skills aimed at greater interpersonal effectiveness
- Revitalisation skills enabling the student to reduce burnout and increase energy levels
- Other health related topics
INTERNAL OPTIONS for the whole Corporation
A colleague of mine who served with me on the founding committee of the International Stress and Tension Control Society - now the International Stress Management Association - one Phillip Morgan, has now spent 19 years running corporate training courses. He has found that the majority of employees, including managers, are functioning suboptimally. A large component of this will be stress both at work and in private life.
Phillip suggests that "Stress impairs organisational behaviour and reduces motivation. Therefore stress must be implicated in reduced performance and it's consequences - reduced corporate competitiveness."
Our own government has finally recognised that stress is costing corporations billions of pounds in lost man-hours and decreased productivity. A researcher for the Panorama programme rang me some time ago with regard to the EEC's concern about the human and financial cost. They ran the programme and together with items on "The Money Programme", amongst others, the time would seem right to stop dealing in platitudes and tackle the problem head on.
If you feel that your company is running suboptimally, due to stress or any deficit of personal/interpersonal effectiveness, I would be happy to apply my knowledge and skills within your company to help you in the following way:
- I can run an introductory workshop/taster session if required and/or
- I would liaise with your personnel department to identify problem areas. I would also prefer to meet with some of your staff and discover their views.
- I would then design and offer you a skills based learning package aimed at improving the aspects identified.
- The training would draw from those items given above and from the rest of this site but would be tailored to your specific needs. It could be carried out in the most appropriate way:- small group, large group or individual tuition. If requested it could include such items as improvement in communication skills where a particular group or individual has a problem and training in symptom reduction for any regular absentees.
- I am prepared to trouble shoot problem areas and provide suggestions for implementation.
- I would wish to follow through to ensure that the skills had been thoroughly learned and that the results are of lasting benefit to the individual and the company. I would also generally check that the programme you have bought is cost effective.
Although more time consuming than you might usually consider, in order to be of real benefit to your company a skills based tuition package is essential. Taken together with my realistic fees I am sure you will consider this opportunity.
A little more about myself. As well as the aspects already mentioned, I have spent a number of years helping corporate individual clients recover from work related burnout and I have worked in conjunction with the University of Bristol and the Bristol Royal Infirmary helping individuals with stress related/ dysponetic disorders. My clients and students have not only included employees but also managers and personnel managers who have valued my contributions.
As well as my work in stress and personal effectiveness I have also been able to help individuals work towards peak performance, not only at work, but also with regard to sport. Improving golf skills and helping a world class soft ball player are examples. If you would like me to help your company ring 01934 876181.
Derek Webster BSc (Hons) Psych; DACE; MAAPB; BCIAC (Senior Fellow); MISMA
Applied Psychophysiologist; Stress Management, Burnout and Life Skills consultant.
MORE ABOUT:
INDIVIDUAL HELP
TOWARDS OPTIMUM WELLBEING COURSES
STRESS MANAGEMENT
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Copyright © Derek Webster 2003 |
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