Stress-O-Meter🌡

I've been reading a recent article about how our own productivity, including our team's productivity, is often related to the stress level that we are facing in our day to day work.

With the recent pandemic and now shifting back to pre-pandemic working conditions, we are thrown back in to normality but with a tinge of risk and uncertainty. 😣

So if I'm a team leader, how do I know what to look out for when it comes to stress levels in my team? 🧐

I use my STRESS-O-METER! 💦

The most obvious for me, is the changes in emotions, communication, body language, choice of words etc. Those are things we can pick up when we communicate with our team members.

⬇Other signs that STRESS is seeping in to your team are⬇

🤬 Arguments
Arguments happen but when there's one too many, quickly understand what's on the ground.

👋 Turnover
You notice a higher staff turnover and by reading the exit report, many are citing highly negative reasons for leaving

👨‍⚕️ Consultations on various matters with HR/Management
There's a lot of people going to HR or management to speak about their problems. Usually that'd mean there are problems they are unable to resolve by themselves. I always keep a close eye on this and also check the number of tissue boxes used...😥

🚑 MC
We can avoid sickness but when you see that it's popping up more often that usual, start to investigate deeper. A highly stressed individual is less motivated to come to work.

💹 Performance
Highly subjective, but if we are watching our bottom line closely, we can clearly see the sudden changes in performance. Quickly find out if it's procedural or a people issue.

🤷‍♂️ Stories that linger
If you are seeing or hearing more complaints and grievances, through your own trusted grapevines, there's potentially something happening there.

😳 Lacking sense of belonging
People are stress for many reasons, and once you are in that situation, often you would feel out of place and alone. And sometimes, there'll be those that prefers to stay away and communicate less.

Whilst we are managing our business bottom line, do also consider the mental health bottom lines of our team members and ourselves.

Without the right mindset and positive energy, it's impossible to build the right forward momentum you need. ✅

These are just some of the signs we can look up for at work to detect stress. It's pretty basic.

📣What else can we watch out for, to know our team members' mental health state? 🙄

#stressmanagement #mentalhealthawareness #teammanagement #people #theincompleteleader #stressometer