MCSS Making Change Successful Not Stressful

Your Results → Your personalized skill development action priorities

Your overall Profile Snapshot of Results indicates that corrective action is very important for you because your vulnerabilities outweigh your strengths. When the vital balance between stress and satisfaction at work shows that you have more stress and less satisfaction, a self-reinforcing cycle of decreasing vitality can be set in motion. This is especially true when you find too little support in your work relationships.

Fortunately, you can readily turn this around by consistently acting on just several carefully selected improvement steps.

Making Change Successful, not Stressful [MCSS] online workshop → Meeting your skill priorities

Your profile priorities reflect exactly how you answered the profile questions. Design of our five 1-hour MCSS online or in-person workshops is based in 25 years’ applied research with rapidly changing workplaces. Their building-block design creates a solid step-by-step roadmap for individuals to achieve their priority results: Building on Strengths and converting any Limitations into new strengths.

©2017 Canadian Institute of Stress and STCI

Overview

You are showing some signs that stress in your job is negatively affecting your performance and your personal wellbeing.

Build on Your Strengths

Some of your answers to the questions about your Work Stress could legitimately be called Strengths. It is always a good idea for you to remind yourself of what you are doing well and continue to do those things. Continue to build on these Strengths in order to enhance the level of Work Stress that you have already. By continuing to do what you are already doing well, you will be more able to turn any Growth Opportunities into Strengths. Here are your identified Strengths.

• You have indicated that you are generally energetic and tend to avoid being irritable. This would show that you are staying reasonably fit, eating well and generally avoiding stress build-up. This positive self-care attitude will help you continue to deal effectively with work stress.
• You have learned to avoid wasting time on rumors and other worries that may be unlikely to happen. You prefer to focus on discovering the facts. If you do have realistic worries, make certain that your plans to deal with them are clearly defined.
• You express optimism and seem to have no difficulty finding solutions to work problems. This indicates that you are doing a good job being proactive in defining and then acting on your problems.
• You have managed to avoid many health problems. While some of this may be good luck and good genetics, it is important to understand what you are doing well and to keep on doing those things. Keep watching your diet, getting enough exercise and rest and you should be able to manage your work stress well.
• You’re able to stay cool under pressure and because of that strength you will be especially able to help your co- co-workers or clients in difficult situations. People with the ability to deal with stress and maintain their self-control are valuable assets for every work environment.

Growth Opportunities

Some of your answers to the questions about your Work Stress could legitimately be called Growth Opportunities. Also, continue to build on any Strengths outlined above in order to enhance the level of Work Stress that you have already. By continuing to do what you are already doing well, you will be more able to benefit from the Growth Opportunities that were identified by the following questions

• Frequent distractions and urgent priorities can add up to a workplace climate of "firefighting". Being able to focus on your work seems like the exception. You begin to just wait for the next distraction. Avoid being infected by this firefighting mindset this way. (1) Be honest with yourself about just how much firefighting really goes with your job. If it's 40% of your time, stop calling it 60%. (2) Set yourself up to feel focused by writing down (a) the satisfactions you most want to enjoy in your work, and (b) your strengths or talents that you want to enjoy applying. (3) At the end of each day, write down which one or two satisfactions and strengths you were able to focus on and enjoy.
• Most often we allow ourselves to worry because we're trying to find a way to regain control over a situation that may turn out badly for us. Unfortunately, if we can't think of a workable solution, we just worry some more, creating more stress. To help yourself make a decision about what to do, try this: * Write down your worry, focusing especially on the specific unpleasant things you fear might happen to you; * Write down the solutions you have decided would not work.; * Now, pick a friend or advisor who you trust and whose judgment you would respect in your worry-situation. Meet with this person to ask for their advice for you. *Based on your thoughts and their advice, decide on your action plan. It is very important to remember that if you decide to take no action, that's probably your best decision. If you start to worry again, remind yourself that you've already made the best possible decision which is not to worry about things which are out of your control.
• When you say you feel "unreasonable pressure", you probably mean it's both stressful for you and bad for the quality of your work. In short, it's a 'lose/lose' for both you and your employer. To remove some of that 'lose/lose' pressure, it may be helpful to pick one of these 'lose/lose' pressure situations which your boss would likely see as being a costly and frequent drain on your productivity; then... *Think about the best realistically possible win-win solution and the steps required to implement it. *Pick a time when your boss is receptive and propose your win-win solution. *Invite your boss's input to making it succeed and seek agreement to test it out. Unreasonable pressure may also result from feeling overloaded with work so it may be a good time to ask for help in dealing with your extra work. If help is unavailable, it is important to break tasks down into achievable portions and work through them as best you can.
• While an optimistic mindset needs to be created and re-energized each day, pessimistic thoughts seem to breed each other, growing on their own. When you find pessimistic thoughts creeping into your mindset, take these steps: * Be a pessimist and write down all the negative things you see in a workplace change. Don't try to bury your negative thoughts. * Be an optimist and write down several good things that may happen for you because of that change (e.g. You may face interesting challenges and may learn a new skill). Develop an action plan to gain some benefit for yourself from what you saw while being optimistic.
• When pressure at work seems unjustified, it may be a result of not understanding the importance of some of your assignments. From time to time, it may be necessary for you to accept that some things have to be done simply because we have been instructed to do so by our managers. If you find that a lack of understanding is causing you stress which leads to wrong decisions, ask your manager or supervisor for a better explanation of the task in order to deliver the best results possible.

Overview

Your responses show a distinct lack of Work Satisfaction. We highly recommend that you consider taking action on some of these suggestions to make your work more satisfying.

Build on Your Strengths

Some of your answers to the questions about your Work Stress could legitimately be called Strengths. It is always a good idea for you to remind yourself of what you are doing well and continue to do those things. Continue to build on these Strengths in order to enhance the level of Work Stress that you have already. By continuing to do what you are already doing well, you will be more able to turn any Growth Opportunities into Strengths. Here are your identified Strengths.

• You are doing well at leaving work behind when you go home. You seem to have the ability to plan your work so that it’s is not interfering with your family and personal life. You have developed some habits that make this work for you. Make a point of understanding what it is that works for you so that you will always be able to use it when things become less satisfactory.
• You have learned to avoid wasting time on rumors and other worries that may be unlikely to happen. You prefer to focus on discovering the facts. If you do have realistic worries, make certain that your plans to deal with them are clearly defined.
• You express optimism and seem to have no difficulty finding solutions to work problems. This indicates that you are doing a good job being proactive in defining and then acting on your problems.
• You have managed to avoid many health problems. While some of this may be good luck and good genetics, it is important to understand what you are doing well and to keep on doing those things. Keep watching your diet, getting enough exercise and rest and you should be able to manage your work stress well.
• You are wisely avoiding the trap of over-estimating the number of obstacles in your work. When faced with an obstacle, you are able to decide which ones you can deal with effectively and which are outside your control. If you become consciously competent of how you are doing this, you can build on it and mentor others who may not be as skillful.

Growth Opportunities

Some of your answers to the questions about your Work Stress could legitimately be called Growth Opportunities. Also, continue to build on any Strengths outlined above in order to enhance the level of Work Stress that you have already. By continuing to do what you are already doing well, you will be more able to benefit from the Growth Opportunities that were identified by the following questions

• To get the kind of recognition you believe you deserve at work it is helpful to keep track of your various achievements as they happen. By recording the times you took on extra work or performed at a very high level, you will be able to list your contributions if your boss does not remember them all at performance appraisal time. Over the short term, when you help someone out, ask them to let you know how your contribution helped. That puts it on the record.
• Not getting your work done because you are faced with too many unexpected or unscheduled tasks may make it seem like you are always 'fighting fires'. There can be different ways to deal with this issue: Evaluate whether dealing with the unscheduled tasks needs to be done immediately. If not, schedule it to be addressed once you have dealt with the more important issues. If you are in a position of authority and you are doing your subordinate's tasks, you can be creating an undesirable dependency. Clarify which of your 'firefights' can be delegated. Investigate the ways that your colleagues deal with this issue. If they remain cool and collected, discover what they do to address their 'firefights'. If they are showing signs of stress, evaluate the habits that you have in common with them and then look for better habits to replace the bad ones.
• In many jobs, meeting pressing or urgent demands means that occasionally some important ones are either delayed or given too little time. When choosing what to do right now, ask yourself, "Which choice will leave me feeling on the most solid ground when I finish my day?" As part of your longer-term solution, ask yourself, "According to my own professional standards, what is the minimum % of my time I should be devoting to the 'important' parts of my job?". Make a plan around one or two key ideas that will enable you to protect that amount of time. Perhaps, discussing with your boss will help you negotiate a better 'win-win' agreement and support.
• To increase your work satisfaction by at least30%, take these four steps: Do the simple yet challenging exercise of listing on paper the experiences you enjoy most in your work. Rate each of the "work-satisfiers" (from 0 to 10) in terms of how much control you really have over getting that experience to happen. Plan and take action to get those you can control into your daily work more fully, more often. At the end of each day or week, set aside a little time to take stock of how your work satisfactions are adding up.
• If you want to see the big picture of where things are going and how senior management expects the future to be better, take these steps: Ignore rumors as much as possible. Check with co-workers to see if they can clarify your understanding. If other people share your concerns, speak with your manager about getting an update on your team's progress. Remember that it's human nature to be skeptical or even pessimistic when the future is unclear.

Overview

Your responses show that your work relationships provide little support for you. You are present but your commitment is often not there, which can drain both your feelings of personal vitality and your performance.

Build on Your Strengths

Some of your answers to the questions about your Work Relationships could legitimately be called Strengths. It is always a good idea for you to remind yourself of what you are doing well and continue to do those things. Continue to build on these Strengths in order to enhance the level of Commitment to Job that you have already. By continuing to do what you are already doing well, you will be more able to turn any Growth Opportunities into Strengths. Here are your identified Strengths.

• You have indicated that your work does not demand 'too high a price' from you. This indicates that neither you nor your family are suffering undue distress from your work commitments. Maintain your sense of well-being by looking for opportunities in potentially challenging work demands. These will provide you with experience and skills that can make you an even more valuable employee in your future career.
• You are doing well at negotiating your work plan so that you avoid too many instances where you cannot deliver on your promises. Keep managing this by generally providing a positive response to new requests with the provision that you will define deliverables and timelines when you have all the information. Give people the confidence that you will deliver while building your reputation for thorough and thoughtful planning.
• You have indicated that you feel confident that you and your friends at work will look out for each other’s interests. You appear to have a strong foundation of mutual trust and respect. Keep doing the things that build that trust while you focus on the things that you enjoy in your work.
• You are creating good relations with co-workers by resolving problems together. By sharing the same views of the problems and the benefits of resolving them you continue to reduce possible future sources of stress and disengagement.
• You have indicated that you feel that your company is better than most. What attracted you to the company in the first place may have changed over time but you are able to adapt to changes and focus on those which affect you positively. Sharing how you do this with a less engaged co-worker could help you both feel better.

Growth Opportunities

Some of your answers to the questions about your Work Relationships could legitimately be called Growth Opportunities. Also, continue to build on any Strengths outlined above in order to enhance the level of Commitment to Job that you have already. By continuing to do what you are already doing well, you will be more able to benefit from the Growth Opportunities that were identified by the following questions.

• Solving day-to-day problems for short term results can often lead to too little attention to your longer-term work plan, or to being sure that you clearly understand how your work fits with your team's overall work strategy. People work better when they see that link. Ask your manager to explain how your team's work can best support the strategic goals. Sometimes they are not as clear as they would like to be. Yet everyone knows that productivity is best when roll-down / roll-up feedback links broad targets to our daily work performance.
• Quite often a company is unaware of employee resentments or how strongly they are felt. These situations often turn out to be 'lose/lose' situations by creating stress and dissatisfaction which can lead to gradually reducing productivity or customer service. When management does not appear to see these losses, you may be able to turn your resentment into a positive by identifying the issue and proposing a specific 'win-win' solution. By showing how the company could benefit you will feel good about your creativity and should be viewed as a part of the solution rather than as part of the problem.
• Many managers believe that people do their best work when they get 'balanced' feedback. This translates into both positive recognition as well as what some may view as constructive criticism. Most of us prefer positive recognition and could do with less criticism. However, when you feel that your work is deemed not good enough, it can be helpful to do a multi-stage evaluation to see if what you perceive as criticism is valid: *It is useful to verify if your manager really does feel critical of your work. Ask your direct manager how your work is regarded. Ask for feedback on what you are doing well and take notes on the comments. If there are any suggestions about how you can improve, acknowledge and commit yourself to addressing those things in the future. * Ask your colleagues if your work is satisfactory and pay attention to their responses. Your friends will be honest and may provide you with some simple ideas on how to improve and thereby begin to feel better. Examine the belief system that you have and determine if it is correct. If management does not appear to value your work, examine your perceptions about how you are perceived and look for ways to change that perception. A great source of stress is to believe something is unfair but continue to do nothing to change it!
• Write down exactly what you would be experiencing if you were feeling well treated by the company. While you may have little control over some of these things, there may be one or two things where you could work out a change that would be advantageous for both you and the company. Think about how your suggestion could work and check it out with someone who knows the company well. By showing the company that you care enough to make well-reasoned suggestions for improvement is one way to make them appreciate you and make you feel better treated.
• When managers and company decision makers have been working under increased pressure and demands, it's not surprising that they begin to lose sight of how their decisions can affect employees' interests. You and your co-workers can help to rebuild the old feedback loop. You probably see several situations that are 'lose-lose' situations for the employees and for the company. If you understand the situation well, you may be able to propose a 'win-win' solution for consideration. Discuss your ideas with your manager to show that you are someone who offers solutions rather than only criticisms.