Sample Counselling : Workplace Stress
(It's a sample for those who are facing same sort of issues. Hope it'll help them to find a way out.)
Client detail :- Mr. JP (Don’t want to disclose original name)
Age – 37, married, father of a baby boy, lives with parents and family, younger brother resides abroad, has own house, bike and car(on loan), works in a leading private bank as operation manager, foodie, fond of music and long drive, loud and talkative, smokes regularly, drinks occasionally.
Upfront Stress ( as described by client)
J – Hello sir, good afternoon, I booked your time for some consultation.
Me- Hi, very good afternoon. Have a sit.
J – Thank you.(smile)
Me – Give me 2 minutes plz. Just have to refresh the laptop. (Actually I wanted to observe his body language in an unfamiliar place.)
J – Ok. No issue.
Me – So, tell me how can I help you? (eye-to-eye)
J – (after taking a pause) Well, I’m in a trouble, rather I’m feeling annoyed with myself, feeling restless.
Me – Any physical trouble? Then you should see a doctor immediately.
J – No no, not like that. Actually I’m not feeling peaceful. Amidst such pandemic, I’ve to attain office everyday, a lot of colleagues are infected, family wants me to take leave for few days as I’ve elderly parents & kid at home.
Me – Yeah, situation is not very healthy. You are also in direct public dealing. It’s a valid anxiety for your family, you know!
J – Yes, I can feel. But office didn’t allow me to work from home as my job involves a lot of things that can’t be accessed from private network. I need bank server for most of my preparations. That’s a big deal right now.
Me – Oh! You’ve a huge responsibility I believe. It’s great! ( trying to paraphrase)
J – That’s the tragedy sir. My job roll is the main cause of worry for them. And I’m getting sandwiched in between office & home demand.
Me – Quite obvious. Everyone needs a responsible person. They feel confident when they have an ace like you in their armory. (trying to boost his moral) Very few are there who has such genuine demand. You should be proud of yourself.
J – I understand sir. But I’m facing some problems.( loosens sitting posture)
Me – Can I be of any help? Will feel very happy to help a dynamic person like you. (some motivational punch). Tell me, how can I assist?
J – There are some differences running with family members relating pandemic, work pressure increased a lot due to unavailability of many staffs, feeling irritated all the time and that’s affecting my behavior. My patience level had gone down drastically, facing sleep disorder and everything is affecting my professional performance badly for last few weeks. Today also I had a rough exchange with my superiors. May be they were right at that point but I couldn’t hold myself on that teleconference. My line manager later scolded me for that inappropriate behavior. I know it may affect my appraisal as well as my career. You know, I’m feeling stressed, exhausted, helpless. Can you give some way out so that I can maintain my work life balance?
Me – (watching him sometime) Do you know why I took pause?(smiling) Just trying to figure out on which front you’re more scared of! It’s your job. You’re scared of recessions, lay offs or punishment transfers.
J – (taking a bigger pause) Right you are. Recently I’m feeling very nervous. Moreover my uncontrolled behavior and aftereffects can blacklist my name. I know that. But I’m failing to control my emotional outburst. What should I do?
Me – Congratulations! You’ve identified the black ship in your thought process. You are a step ahead towards solution. (watching his eye expressions)
J – (smiles normally for the first time) Thank you sir. Can you suggest something? I’ll be very obliged.
Me – Well, I can, rather I will. But on one condition. You’ll listen silently and try to realize the insight & will apply into your daily affairs honestly. Look, you’ve to help yourself with integrity to get you out from such situation. Are you ready to do that?
J – Done sir, I’ve to, I must. (Smiling with glowing eyes)
Me – Ok, life is not stress free. You’ll always have ups and downs, even a straight line in ECG denotes you’re gone! First accept it. Those who can overcome all sorts of negatives and land on accomplishments are called achievers. Every soldier wants to lose neither wants to have bullet on back. That should be your motto fighter. (pressing his shoulder with soft hand. He kept looking at me silently.)
Me- (after a minute) Just trying to make you understand about workplace stress first. Hope it’ll help you to minimize differences in personal life.
Well, it's too common in professional world that almost everyone faces stressed situation in their career. Dealing pressure at work is a psychological mastery. It's a tough test of mindset. How easily someone can shift thought process is the main game changer.
But, at first you should figure it out why you fall in pressure situation. There may be various reasons. Either you're designated to something beyond your qualities, or you have the tendency to procrastinate, or you are trying something different. Whatever the reason may be, end of day you'll find yourself in crisis.
Now, how to deal with. My first suggestion is deal with intellect. Don't engage emotion. It'll weaken your confidence. You've to track what went wrong in process. Take your own time to identify. Over thinking can't solve anything. So, your brain exercise with patience is need of hour. Don't be judgmental too early. You never know what step will lead you to solution. If you'd known earlier, you never had been in such distress. Seems complicated!! Okay, let's make a to do list and follow step by step.
Remain calm, always. Maintain a calm demeanor no matter what happens. You overreacting attitude will complicate the scenario. You know you're in trouble. Let me make it clear that you'll be held responsible for any system accident and also you'll have to continue the correction process. Others may help you as a support but you're on center stage. So, keep your cool. Observe the whole process carefully and plan step by step.
Stay focused on what needs to be accomplished. Avoid multitasking. Instead pick small tasks and responsibilities and complete the objective with options connecting to next one. Just assume you've to reach 10th floor in such a building where elevator is not working properly. You've to use stairs with such defense that your muscles remain active till last step.
Help others to get through their tasks. If you notice your co-workers are struggling with their tasks, help them finish and become the leader you know you are!
Sidestep the drama and stay positive. Don't aggravate your situation by involving in arguments and disagreements with colleagues. Do not waste your working hours by all nonsense. Better invest the time in focusing on correction measure. Keep your mind cheerful so that there will be no concentration issue.
Get help if you need it. Be open to your colleagues and superiors. If they can provide any expertise to take you through, your credentials will not be underestimated. Assessing the situation and taking care of issues right away demonstrates that you can think clearly under pressure.
Steer clear of too much caffeine. Coffee and chocolates are good stimulants. But too much of caffeine intake can produce irritation. Better make it small and periodic. Chewing gums also increase happy signals and increase confidence. The hard you can chew, the more powerful you can feel. Have you ever seen Sir Vivian Richards batting on crease? If not, try to explore ICC archives and watch his body language, style, confidence and poetic cruelty on bowlers.
Take your breaks. I call it happiness break. You must ensure enough rest for your brain. You need break. Do anything you love to do. It may be sleeping, listening to songs, watching movie, playing with pets, kids, outing with family or friends. Utilize the break as energizer. You can opt to take a walk or joining gym. Exercise increases secretion of happy hormones like Endorphin. Epitome is come back after the break with full energy and enthusiasm. Things will come in much better way.
Utilize your vacation time wisely. When work is going slow, help others. Do some extra responsibilities you're not assigned. Learn some new skills that can be helpful in future. Overall engage yourself in such a way that management should admit your commitment. When your bosses will happy with you, half of the pressure will be gone. Trust me.
Except all these, you can join bigger projects without any false intention. You can watch closely how experts are handling more complicated assignments. It'll be a good lesson for you. If you feel to much stressed , don't let it reflect on your upfront show. Better concentrate more to work and continue. Tireless trial can separate you from other stresses very easily. Staying positive and focusing on your work, regardless of the circumstances, demonstrates tremendous ability to handle pressure at work. Employers look for this trait when they hire new employees and when they consider which employees to promote.
[*Personal observation – J is perplexed, not for insecurity, actually for guilt consciousness. He knows very well that he’s digging his own grave by bad manners and anxiety disorder. He is lacking efficiency in office as well as creating uneasy environment at home by unnecessary encounters. As a result, his overall conscious thinking is getting too much disturbed and extra active stress hormones are spoiling his emotional equilibrium resulting in sleep disorder, less appetite, uneasiness. He is more concerned about career as he has to pay a lot of bills and dues. He wants to continue the job but his overall attitude problem is slowly dragging him to jeopardy. If he can settle down coolly at office, more than half of his anxiety will be gone.]
Would love to listen from you. For more such brainstorms please follow Nirmalya Saha - Put life into focus or Althought