Identify your unique work and personal-life related stressors.
Every human being experiences the world differently, even if there are shared experiences. This includes our experience of stressors related to work and life.
According to the EU Commission’s definition, work-related stress is “the total of emotional, cognitive, behavioral and physiological reactions to unfavorable and harmful aspects of work content, work organization and work environment. This state is often characterized by strong arousal, and strong uneasiness as well as of a feeling of overcharge.”
It is important to start by understanding which specific stressors you are exposed to currently. The Persolog Stress Profile defines a total of eleven work-related stressors that are classified into four different types according to their cause. The 4 main categories are:
- Occupational Characteristics: This includes mental overload, unclear division of tasks and having to act under unrealistically high pressure of responsibilities all the time. These characteristics are a result of both unhealthy organizational culture and individual perceptions of their responsibilities. One common element I come across is the belief of employees that if they receive e-mails at unhealthy hours of the night, they should also engage in such behavior.
- Social Characteristics: This includes lack of support and appreciation at work while facing various social conflicts at work. 70% of unhealthy stress is related to unresolved relational conflicts at work or home. Organizations and individuals have to create healthy conflict management principles. Conflict is part of life. Growth often happens through the path of pain or conflict.
- Individual Occupational Characteristics: This includes the feeling of always having to keep yourself under control and be busy with something. Unhealthy self-aspirations and unrealistic goals also contributes to this stressor. These stressors are beliefs we should evaluate on an individual level.
- Organizational Structure and Conditions: This includes job insecurities or uncertainties while having limited scope of decision-making power and action. Within the current COVID-19 situation we are all confronted with the reality that certain things we found security in seized to exist.
Often when a specific stressor is found within the majority of the staff or the leadership team it results in the stressor becoming part of the culture.
We are all exposed to Personal-life stressors as much as we are exposed to work stressors. The personal-life stressors are the following:
- Family
- Partnership
- Personal Health
- Social Relationships
- Financial security
- My concept of myself
- Parenthood
According to the Persolog Stress Model there are 4 main reactions we have to these work and life stressors. They are:
- Avoidance: This does not mean no action. It actually means I am avoiding the real issue by creating ideas and moving forward with other actions or areas of my life. This is fine for short-term stress management but from experience we know that this have negative long-term consequences.
- Compliance: This implies that I do what is needed to steer away from criticism or creating more chaos. I do what is needed to help resolve the negative situation.
- Withdrawal: Once again, this does not mean no action. This type of reaction is focused on creating silence in the chaos in order to think and chart the appropriate course of action.
- Confrontation: This implies that I attack the situation by controlling what is in my power to control. Often this type of reaction tries to control even elements outside their power or responsibilities.
All these reactions are valid. We have to understand our own stressors and reactions before we can create a strategy for dealing with the stress in a productive manner. We often react to the stressors from an initial instinct without understand our unique reactions to the stressors we are prone to engage. We need to have a viable strategy in place, which we will discuss in the next blog.
In conclusion I want to invite you to make the investment to complete the Persolog Stress Profile to determine your own work and life stressors. It is okay to identify them at first from your gut but a thorough assessment will give you specific information regarding your own stressors and reactions. The assessment will reveal your specific stressors and your unique reaction to it. This investment will serve you well for the rest of your life.
We wish you all the best as you get to know your own stressors and reaction!
Complete your personal stress assessment and get support in handling your stress effectively!
Contact us at info-sa@xpand.eu or 079 434 9030.
Attention all trainers, HR and coaches! You are welcome to attend our Persolog Stress Profile License Training 29-30 October 2020.
Contact us at info-sa@xpand.eu or 079 434 9030 for more information.
Sincere greetings,
Xpand South Africa
Empowering individuals and organizations to thrive.
