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The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that in 2016, 137.3 million working days were lost to sickness or injury in the UK.  Of these, stress, depression and anxiety accounted for 7.7%. (‘Serious Mental Health Problems’ were counted in a separate category) That’s over a million days lost.

The cost of this isn’t purely financial, there are also other impacts which are often more difficult to quantify.  These include high staff turnover, lack of productivity and low levels of motivation and morale amongst teams, along with the risk of longer-term and serious mental health and physical wellbeing issues.

Stress is often now seen as an inevitability.  A recent survey in the not-for-profit sector showed 79% of staff stating stress is a fact of life in their work and 46% saying they feel stressed all or most of the time.  Just check back on those figures again – nearly 4/5ths accept stress as a fact of life and nearly half feel stressed all or most of the time.

Having managed teams for over 20 years, I know that circumstances, often out of our control, can have a negative impact on staff and teams.  My own past experience of suffering severe stress and seeing the effects on others drives me to do what I do, to ensure people have as positive a working life as possible.  After all, we spend so much of our time at work and many of you will know that negative experiences at work frequently spill over into our personal lives.

I believe there are two issues to address here – communication and responsibility.  The responsibility for work-place wellbeing lies with everyone.  With the employee to flag up any issues and difficulties and to be willing to take positive action to resolve these.  With the employer/manager to truly acknowledge difficulties and challenges faced by the staff team and to be willing to give genuine, positive support and assistance where needed.

As a coach, I often find that a recurring barrier to a positive working life is lack of communication.  Employees often don’t speak to their managers about their difficulties for a variety of reasons, for example being afraid of damaging career prospects, appearing incompetent, or even negative past experiences.  Everyone makes assumptions that staff/managers ‘should know‘.  A recent report called Thriving at Work, recommends employers encourage better communication and involvement and routinely monitor employees’ mental health and wellbeing.  Remember, ‘monitor’ isn’t about forms and clipboards, it could be as simple as a manager taking time out to ask employees genuinely how things are going and being prepared to take supportive and positive actions to resolve any difficulties.  Lack of communication can become self-perpetuating, whereas building positive communication and problem-solving approaches can produce a ‘virtuous cycle’ of increased engagement, wellbeing and productivity.

Karen Amos is the owner of BrightBird Coaching & Training.  She is a qualified Executive and Professional Development coach and trainer.

Want to know more?  Check  out BrightBird’s open training workshops on Manage Stress and Build Personal Resilience and also Time Management and Work-Life Balance.  To find out more and to book, please click on the link – www.bright-bird.co.uk/book-a-course

If you’d like to know more about Brightbird’s professional development services and how we can help you and your business, school or organisation, please check out our website at www.bright-bird.co.uk, or email info@bright-bird.co.uk

And find out exciting news about our forthcoming alliance with GEM Compliance Training and Yvonne Sinclair Consultancy.

Well here I am – clear evidence that not all people in business are Richard Branson… I’ve several deadlines to hit this week, so taking bank holiday off, just isn’t an option. This isn’t so unusual for me and many other self-employed people, but the problem is today I’ve got the dreaded accounts to finish.

Yes, like many people, this is far from my favourite job, but of course it has to be done and my lovely accountant is eagerly awaiting the finished item, ready for our meeting in a few days time. (Amazingly it appears some people actually choose to do this stuff).

Prof. Steve Peters has a brilliant way of getting yourself to do things you wouldn’t usually want to do. He calls it ‘giving your chimp a banana’. The very basic tenet here is that your inner chimp is the bit of you that wants to go play/sleep/[insert own non-account-based activity here] – in other words chimps do NOT like accounts. One way of getting around this is to do a bit of a deal with your chimp. Prof. Peters calls this ‘Giving your chimp a banana.’ In basic terms this is you saying, ‘Hey chimp – I know you’re not happy, but if you sit here quietly and let me do these pesky accounts, then afterwards we’ll go out and play/socialise/[insert own chimpish, fun-based activity here].

This has the added advantage of getting the important, but boring stuff done, but also ensures you get to schedule the nice stuff in too!

So whatever you’re doing, hope you’re having/had a good bank holiday weekend. Now where’s my stapler…

If you’d like to know more about Prof. Peters’ work, I can highly recommend his book – Peters, S. (2012). The Chimp Paradox. London. Vermillion.

Tony Robbins often coins the phrase, ‘If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas’ and this, I think is the moral of my tale – not that I am saying Malcolm has fleas mind you – but rather, had I have hired an electric bike, or done the easy-peasy routes with the less advanced cyclists, I’d have never have improved (or had such a good time). What actually happened is that Malcolm would hurtle ahead of me on his bike and I’d rattle along behind, doing my best to keep up, but knowing that because he’d done it, it was in fact possible. As a result, I raised my game and got WAY out of my comfort zone.

But here’s the really interesting point I think – every time I broke that comfort zone barrier, that became my new ‘normal’. It really didn’t take time after time to do this, just doing something once became just ‘what I do’. This I believe, is the real key to personal improvement of any kind – growth and development will only come hand in hand with some discomfort or difficulty if it is to be truly meaningful and worthwhile, whether that’s in business, professional life, or just life in general.

So what’s your next challenge – and who are you going to enlist to help you get there?

I’m recently back from a super holiday in the French Alps and wanted to share a few coaching related musings I’ve had on my travels.

As I possess the boredom threshold of a small butterfly if sat on a beach, I’d been looking forward to an exciting fortnight of mountain biking and hiking.

The problem is I’m not actually that good at mountain biking, having a ‘More Enthusiasm Than Ability’ approach to most of my hobbies. The plan was that we’d stay in one of the ski resorts, which double as mountain bike destinations in the summer. A fantastic idea I thought – ‘get a ski lift to carry my bike up, then it’s all downhill from there’. Literally!

Having grown to the dizzy heights of 4 feet 11 inches in my 49 years, I guess I’m what could be called ‘diminutive’ in the mountain bike world. Especially when we arrived in resort to find clouds of testosterone filling the bike scene, with full suspension bikes, full-face helmets and body armour being de rigueur. I’m not sure anyone really noticed me with my little blue bike, complete with bell (I don’t really use the bell, but I like the dinging noise when I go over a bump!). Up I trotted to the ski lift, before promptly getting it stuck in the barrier because I went through the wrong way. (Much to the amusement of the trés cool barrier attendant – yes, laughter does transcend all boundaries!)

What I did find however, was that I became a ‘non-person’. My partner Malcolm, would ask for directions, or advice on the difficulty of a trail and the other mountain bikers would happily chat away to him, completely ignoring my presence. The final straw came when I asked a guy in an adjacent campervan to ours about his ride, for him to say, ‘Are you the pit crew?’

So what to do? I was pretty annoyed at myself for caring, but also quite intrigued about the assumptions that were being made. I then came up with a cunning plan/social experiment – if I made myself look more like the others, they’d think I was a good rider like them! Having ruled out growing a foot in height overnight as being a bit impractical, I trotted off to buy a biking jersey like everyone else’s, which I promptly named my ‘Rufty-Tufty Jumper’.

I saw this post on social media and thought, ‘Wow!’ This is so powerful and really taps into our personal values and why, when these are compromised, we find ourselves in difficult situations, working under pressure and often, increasing stress.

Whilst there are obvious practical difficulties with ‘doing the right thing’, particularly in large businesses and organisations, imagine the freedom of being able to live to your personal values and at least begin to voice what’s ‘right’. Remember, change has to start somewhere and your voice alone has the power to influence and begin a process that could improve things for the benefit of many…

So many of us see stress as a fact of modern life, whilst it continues to affect personal and professional productivity and well-being. The Third Sector is no exception in the current political and economic climate, with 79% of staff saying stress is a fact of life in their work and 46% saying they feel stressed all, or most of the time.

There are some issues that affect this sector in particular, including:

• Frequent, unpaid working hours.
• Lack of job security – due to short term commissioning and high competition for ever-decreasing funding pots.
• Dependence on an unpaid and/or casual workforce.
• Organisational structures meaning decision making and change can be slow and power is often devolved by default, rather than design.

It’s no surprise, that these and other factors often result in high staff turnover, lack of productivity and in some cases, mental health and wellbeing problems. Of course, the impact of high staff turnover for example, can compound the amount of stress workers experience. This is particularly true for those leading teams of paid or unpaid workers, who frequently feel the pressure of meeting targets and outcomes for funders, with ever-changing levels of resources.

One thing that’s often not recognised, is that the strong personal values of the people who work in the Third Sector can also lead to increased workplace stress. Both paid and unpaid staff in the sector often have a strong identification with their work. As our values drive our behaviour and decisions and help form our personal identity, it’s hardly surprising that the current political and economic challenges facing the Third Sector, can feel like an assault on a person’s very being.

As a coach, I believe leaders and managers within the Third Sector need to accept that ‘caring about the work’ isn’t enough. They need to actively take practical steps to regain control for the benefit and wellbeing of themselves, their teams, their organisations and ultimately the communities they serve.

BrightBird provides practical, result-focused coaching and training on Personal Resilience, Stress Management and Work-Life Balance. Check out our brochure, or contact us on 07714 855757 for a no-obligation chat if you’d like to know more about how we can help you reduce stress and increase staff wellbeing and productivity in your business or organisation.

References:

DUDMAN, J., et al. (2015) Revealed: How the stress of working in public services is taking its toll on staff. The Guardian. [Online] 10th June 2015. Available from: https://theguardian.co.uk. [Accessed: 11th May 2017].

OPEN LEARN. (2016) Causes of stress in the voluntary sector. [Online]. Available from: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=50114&section=1.2# [Accessed: 11th May 2017]

Check out my latest training workshop in partnership with Voluntary Action Leeds.

Course outline:

Stress is frequently seen as a fact of modern life, affecting personal and professional productivity and well-being. The voluntary sector is no exception in the current political and economic climate, with 79% of staff saying stress is a fact of life in their work.

Frequent, unpaid working hours, coupled with a lack of job security can result in high staff turnover, lack of productivity and in some cases, mental health and wellbeing problems.

We offer a practical and interactive course to identify and overcome the causes and effects of stress.

Our training will allow you to develop coaching-based approaches that can be used both in the workplace and personally, allowing you to enhance your own wellbeing and that of your staff and volunteers, to build a more positive and productive team.

Venue: Voluntary Action Leeds (VAL)

This course will help you to:

• Understand the physiological and psychological causes of stress and how to manage these.
• Set out personal strategies to be proactive in dealing with your own stress and to support others.
• Identify the importance of personal values to gain greater self-awareness and build resilience.
• Utilise practical coaching techniques to maximise personal and professional control.
• Understand the impact of ‘rules’ and how to manage the effect of these both personally and at work.
• Develop practical approaches and strategies to support yourself, staff teams and volunteers.

Suitable for:

Any managers or supervisors who wish to manage their own stress and support staff teams and volunteers to build personal resilience.

Date: 14th June 2017 – 9.30am – 4pm

To Book:

Visit VAL’s training page at: https://doinggoodleeds.org.uk/training-courses/ or phone 0113 297 7920

The course

Are You:

• Constantly fire-fighting?
• Overwhelmed with work?
• Working too many hours?
• Feeling unproductive?
• Missing targets and deadlines?
• Feeling like there aren’t enough hours in a day?
• Find out how to maximise your time and be more productive at our interactive, practical, Result-Focused Workshop.

Please Note: This is not the usual approach to Time Management, looking at minimising time-wasters, etc. We utilise proven coaching and management tools and approaches to allow you to build your own personal system to maximise your productivity, including managing the demands of the digital age.

This training is brought to you in partnership with Airedale Enterprise Services.

Date of training: Thursday 25th May 2017

For more information click here.

What is Team Coaching?
Team coaching is a new and effective way to build high-performing teams, though utilising coaching approaches and techniques in a group setting.

This approach can be used to improve individual and team performance, develop ownership, motivation and alignment with your organisation’s strategy and outcomes. It is also an excellent way to develop and embed skills as a team development programme.

How it Works
The coach works with an identified group for sessions lasting up to 2 hours. The frequency of the sessions is set by you, but usually takes place 4-6 weekly.

Coaching is an outcomes-based approach, leading to practical, tangible results. The coach works in an informal way with the group to set and work through strategies to achieve the outcomes you choose – e.g. Setting actions and responsibilities to implement the organisational business plan.

Sessions consist of a combination of coaching approaches and tools, such as incisive questioning and planning, but can also incorporate an element of training, such as passing on information to develop coaching and leadership skills.

Actions and practical strategies are agreed both collectively and individually at the end of each session.

Team coaching can also be used as a tool to develop areas such as Leadership, Time Management and Productivity, or Stress Management and Personal Resilience.

Who is it for?
Team Coaching is suitable for all organisational types, including:

• SME’s
• Large companies
• Schools
• Not-for-profit & Charitable sector
• Public Sector

And is suitable for groups working at any level, including:

• Leadership Teams
• Project Teams
• Staff Teams with mixed responsibility
• Peer Groups
• NQT’s
• Multi-agency and Co-Production Working Groups

The Benefits
Team Coaching provides excellent added-value:

• Participants receive coaching, both as a team and individuals.
• They are able to learn practical coaching skills and tools to coach themselves and others.
• It provides opportunity to embed learning, practice skills and implement actions between sessions.
• This is a bespoke approach, tailored to meeting your staff and your organisation’s needs.
• It can be used as a cost-effective follow-up session to embed 1 or ½ day training.
• This approach promotes individual and team responsibility, accountability and motivation.
• It provides excellent value for money, with costs as low as £20 per person per session.
• Staff only need to be released for a 2 hour session every few weeks, minimising the impact on your business activities.
• Sessions can be carried out at flexible times and venues.

If you’d like to know more about Team or Group Coaching and how this can benefit your business, school or organisation, please contact us at BrightBird for an informal, no-obligation chat.

Email: info@bright-bird.co.uk Tel: 07714 855757