Botox your way to the top

With stress levels higher than before, it will come as no surprise that there are some people who will go to intense measures to relieve stress. Whilst most will resort to extreme sports or alcohol to take the edge off, there are others that will go the extra mile, not only to reduce stress, but at least try to look calm, dahling.

 

 

Take this guy as an example (most likely a model but at least he’s wearing an apt pinstripe suit), with his high flying job, decides a few shots of botox will give him ‘a calm and awake look’.  Is he having a laugh?  Has he seen Madonna’s new face or Heidi Montag for that matter??

 

I think not.

 

Whilst the majority of us would think twice before resorting to spending so much on cosmetics, no matter how ‘calm’ it makes us appear, this does raise the issue of stress in the office and how it is best handled. 

 

Taking a break to do something completely different is a must if your mind is to be focused whilst at work.  Is this pressure doubled if you are managing people?  You bet it is.  Like a parent keeping the children calm during a crisis, it is the manager’s responsibility to ensure their team is being lead via a level head, and not a headless chicken.

 

So how to handle a situation where your staff are under so much pressure that they start making mistakes? 

 

-          Promote honesty and support – ask them how they are feeling about the job they are doing.  They will most likely welcome the opportunity to get it out in the open

-          How are they handling it?  What alternatives are there?

-          Ask them how the team can support them.  Is there responsibility that can be shared by the team – can this be an opportunity for another member of the team to develop a skill?

 

So … how do you work with the team to ensure stress is not taking over delivery?  How do you de-stress when you are not in the office?  You can send us answers on a post card, but better to share with everyone and comment below, right?

 

Posted by Razwana Wahid

BSC Associate

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2011 at 5:36 am and is filed under Fresh News, manager, stress management, team management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.