Stress and staying strong
The sports arena has to be a very stressful workplace. All throughout this year, from the Winter Olympics to the World Cup, in the tennis courts at Wimbledon and at the European Championships in Glasgow this summer, it’s stress that arises out of the need to perform at the highest level – where every feature of the game or individual is scrutinised, analysed and evaluated in order to achieve tiny percentages of improvement. Sports people will tell you that stress isn’t always a bad thing, when harnessed correctly it can improve performance. But stress needs to be carefully managed.
When it is, the rewards can be great – for some. When it’s ignored or badly managed, stress can be destructive. It ruins performance and destroys teams. Listen to the commentary on tennis players and you’ll hear experts talk about the need to not just be physically fit, but to be mentally strong as well. Sport is not just played on the pitch or the court, it’s played in the head too.
The cost when stress isn’t managed
The management of stress in the workplace is equally as important. People need help to manage their stress and understand what employers do to support that management; such as who to speak to, where help can be found and what measures are already in place. Finding time to communicate these messages in an organisation’s busy training schedule might cause the topic to be pushed down the priority list; that is not a good idea.
In 2016/17, 12.5 million working days were lost due to work-related stress, depression or anxiety. The HSE also sites that stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 40% of all work-related ill health cases and 49% of all working days lost due to ill health. According to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), stress is the second most commonly self-reported work-related condition. The Health & Safety Executive suggests that over 236,000 new cases of work-related stress, depression or anxiety were reported 2016/17.
What are the triggers that lead to such cases? Research has found common factors include, work schedule, pace of work, job security, route to and from work, workplace noise, the number and nature of customers, leadership (or lack thereof), and work environment.
The Benefits of Stress Management
The secret lies in helping employees to manage their stress effectively. If that can be done there are some real benefits:
1. Improves the motivation of employees
2. Lessens the likelihood of decreased productivity
3. Improves the opportunity to lead/guide/support others
4. Allows the meeting of deadlines
5. Decreases the chance of unethical issues and poor workplace practice
6. Reduces workplace conflict
7. Strengthens the communication process
8. Ensures the smooth running of projects
9. Helps to improve teamwork
10. Helps ensure performance management is a positive process
Nimble has the solution when it comes to making it easy for such training to take place. The informative and interactive Stress Management Essentials online course takes just 45 minutes to complete and can be accessed on any device, making it flexible enough to be accommodated in most training situations.
Its objectives aims to help people to:
• Understand and identify stress and why it can be detrimental
• Identify stress and stressors in themselves and others
• Reduce their exposure to stress
• Develop a Wellness Action Plan
• Implement coping strategies in work and personal life and addresses topics such as:
• Causes of stress
• Responses to stress
• Reducing stress
• Wellness Action Plans
• Stress coping strategies
At a cost of just £14 per person (bulk discounts and 15% charity discounts are available), it’s a cost-effective way to make sure your workforce manages their stress like our sports stars! You can find out more, and see a demo, here.
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