{"id":25687,"date":"2020-10-22T06:37:56","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T12:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/corevalues.com\/?p=25687"},"modified":"2020-10-22T06:37:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-22T12:37:56","slug":"moderating-team-stress-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/2020\/10\/22\/moderating-team-stress-for-the-holidays\/","title":{"rendered":"Moderating Team Stress for the Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/stress-2\/stress-management-strategies\/remote-work-fatigue-and-how-to-manage-it\/attachment\/preventing_burnout\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25449\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-25449 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/preventing_burnout.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1018\" height=\"646\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I know. It\u2019s not yet Halloween in the United States and I am talking about team stress during the Holidays. There are a few reasons for this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Team stress for remote workers who are balancing children in their laps while delivering work is primarily falling on women who plan the holidays.<\/li>\n<li>Both leaders and employees must become mindful of how to adjust for stress this holiday season.<\/li>\n<li>Public health experts in the US warn that family holiday gatherings could become COVID-19 spreading events.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of all the public holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas are the most notable ones in everyone\u2019s calendar (employers\u2019 calendars, included).\u00a0 Both are public holidays with paid time off. They are always strategically scheduled to happen within the work week.\u00a0 Should the holidays occur on a weekend, that same holiday is moved to a Monday or Friday.\u00a0 Most US-based organizations follow a schedule similar to the federal holidays of the United States.<a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/?attachment_id=25690\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25690\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-25690\" src=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Canva-Stressed-black-male-entrepreneur-working-on-laptop-in-park-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"440\" height=\"293\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>No doubt, the holiday spirit is beginning to make its presence felt everywhere.\u00a0 As if the crisp, cooler weather wasn\u2019t enough, radio stations and retail stores are gearing up for year-end sales.\u00a0 And those endearing songs we sang as children are starting to give us that warm, fuzzy feeling we all look forward to. <em>There\u2019s a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<p>But for many, and unfortunately so, the holidays can easily morph into the loneliest and most stressful time of the year.\u00a0 It can be demanding for many reasons \u2026 shortened deadlines, buying presents, meeting the expected numbers before the end of the fiscal year, addressing similarly-stressed clients, planning for family visits (which are discouraged), the traveling (or the inability to do so), missing loved ones who have passed during the pandemic, keeping up with work during the hiatus, coping with the added workload, meeting the holiday sales quota \u2026 the list is endless.<\/p>\n<h4>Here&#8217;s the bomb when it comes to team stress<\/h4>\n<p>Employees NEED to be encouraged to take time off work. This isn\u2019t just to benefit mental and physical health but to prevent resulting costs for the employers as well.\u00a0 Anxiety is REAL, and by REAL we mean sick days (when you need them the most), missing out on deadlines, overlooking important tasks at work\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Research conducted by <a href=\"https:\/\/peakon.com\/blog\/peakon\/christmas-productivity-2018\/\">Peakon<\/a> revealed that a majority of workers report a fall in productivity as the 25<sup>th<\/sup> of December approaches. And happy feelings aside, the impact on the workplace translates to a substantial winding-down in the economy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/?attachment_id=25691\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25691\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-25691 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/profits-during-holidays.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"619\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Director of Employee Experience at Peakon, Michael Dean, comments how estimates show that the cost hovers in the 10 billion-dollar range (in the US).\u00a0 This figure alone should convince us that holiday stress shouldn\u2019t be taken lightly.<\/p>\n<h4>How do you moderate team stress?<\/h4>\n<p>With no end in sight to Covid-19 just yet, stress management becomes even more pertinent at the workplace. Here are conversations you need to have to help your organization cope with holiday stress.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>KNOW WHAT\u2019s STRESSING YOUR TEAM MEMBERS<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Stress can manifest in many ways. For some, it\u2019s the proverbial irritability, anger, or sadness.\u00a0 For others, it&#8217;s in certain behaviors or thoughts (recurring nightmares, self-blame, isolation, or keeping excessively busy or overly cautious).\u00a0 It can also manifest physically (persistent headaches, difficulty breathing).<\/p>\n<p>Knowing what members\u2019 stress signs are will make it easier for managers to address problem areas.<\/p>\n<p>2. BE PROACTIVE! PRIORITIZE SELF CARE<\/p>\n<p>Since employees find it hard to ask their managers for support, be proactive in communicating with your team. Let them know that you prioritize their self-care.<\/p>\n<p>Address concerns and questions during team meetings and make preemptive adjustments as necessary. For instance, discuss upcoming members\u2019 days off and work trips. \u00a0Find out how your team members feel about the travel.\u00a0 If it&#8217;s possible to work from home, encourage them to do so especially if they feel unwell.\u00a0 Take advantage of technology as well.\u00a0 Add video conferencing to all recurring meetings to enable employees to work from home when necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Important to note that it\u2019s the first \u201cpandemic\u201d holiday. Continue to communicate safety protocols.\u00a0 If you haven\u2019t done so, assign a team to send a company-wide email informing everyone about the preventive actions being taken by the company. When employees know that the company is taking active measures to ensure employee health and safety, it adds a layer of security.<\/p>\n<p>3. STAY INFORMED<a href=\"https:\/\/learn.corevalues.com\/courses\/tigers-among-us-book-club-kit\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-25533\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-25533\" src=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Do-you-know-how-to-build-successful-learning-circles-product-offer.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"422\" height=\"316\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There are so many news sources that cover updates relating to the virus.\u00a0 Avoid misinformation and stay-up-to-date from reliable sources.\u00a0 We highly suggest the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/index.html\">Center for Disease Control<\/a> as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/emergencies\/diseases\/novel-coronavirus-2019\">World Health Organization<\/a> websites.<\/p>\n<p>4. AVOID STIGMA<\/p>\n<p>Anxiety is real.\u00a0 Never has anxiety reared its ugly head more than this period.\u00a0 The stress and uncertainty of the pandemic coupled with the stress of the coming holidays are overwhelming.\u00a0 Keep things positive.\u00a0 Choose your words carefully.\u00a0 We can\u2019t tell for sure what team members have had to deal with the past few months. It could have been a spouse who has been laid off, a loved one who has passed from COVID or even having to deal with racism and discrimination.\u00a0 Stop any stigma-provoked comments in its tracks.\u00a0 If you see such behavior (whether online or offline) in the workplace, ensure that you create an emotionally safe environment for all employees.<\/p>\n<p>5. ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS<\/p>\n<p>Is it even possible to enjoy this year\u2019s holidays?\u00a0 Absolutely!\u00a0 No matter how we feel, reflecting on what\u2019s important to you will help you choose what you want and who you want to spend time with.<\/p>\n<p>In this light, try to plan at least one activity that\u2019s important to you personally. If you manage a team, initiate an activity that members can look forward to.\u00a0 Communicate and communicate some more.\u00a0 Ask for help and accept offers to help whether it\u2019s to shop, cook, schedule, or make those necessary client calls. People are happy to help.<\/p>\n<p>Keep in mind that the holidays are not sprints.\u00a0 Put simply, pace yourself.\u00a0 Since social gatherings may not be allowed at the moment, accept that certain concessions must be made.\u00a0 Manage your expectations as well as those of your team members.<\/p>\n<p>Last but not least, count your blessings.\u00a0 2020 was quite a year. Nobody saw that curveball coming!\u00a0 But there is always a silver lining to everything.\u00a0 Reflect on what went well and think about how you can take this improvement a step further for the coming year.<\/p>\n<h4>Take this a step further to mitigate team stress.<\/h4>\n<p>A successful team is a solid team.\u00a0 The mark of a solid team is a winning team culture.<\/p>\n<p>Team culture is an entirety of an organization\u2019s thoughts, behaviors, values, and work processes.\u00a0Not too many organizations know that success in the workplace and the ability to endure workplace challenges are dictated by how pervading a company culture is.<\/p>\n<p>Discover how a robust team culture gets your organization REAL RESULTS.\u00a0 Click <a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/product\/tigers-among-us-book-club\/\">HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h4>Care to dig deeper into this team stress conversation?<\/h4>\n<p>Here are some additional resources.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/peakon.com\/blog\/peakon\/christmas-productivity-2018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Christmas Productivity<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/stress-2\/stress-management-strategies\/reducing-workplace-stress-promotes-positive-employee-efficacy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">How Reducing Workplace Stress Promotes Positive Employee Efficacy<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.corevalues.com\/courses\/tigers-among-us-book-club-kit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TIGERS Among Us Book Club<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/uncategorized\/engage-employees-decrease-stress-and-promote-cooperation-with-team-building\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Engage Employees, Decrease Stress and Promote Cooperation with Team Building\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Copyright TIGERS Success Series, Inc. by Dianne Crampton<\/p>\n<h4>About TIGERS Success Series<\/h4>\n<p>TIGERS provides a comprehensive, multi-pronged and robust system for improving your workforce behavior, work culture, profitability and project management and team leadership success.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/my-schedule.timetrade.com\/app\/td-148770\/workflows\/n8psq\/schedule\/welcome?wfsid=16a5bdb5-baba97f6-16a5be04-baba97f6-00000002-kktoghi88im9i6mtd8k6go90sumc54sl&amp;view=full&amp;fs=1\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-23242\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-23242 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/zj3fwy98pqns.wpcdn.shift8cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Schedule-a-consultation-to-learn-more-300x225.png\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zj3fwy98pqns.wpcdn.shift8cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Schedule-a-consultation-to-learn-more-300x225.png 300w, https:\/\/zj3fwy98pqns.wpcdn.shift8cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Schedule-a-consultation-to-learn-more-768x576.png 768w, https:\/\/zj3fwy98pqns.wpcdn.shift8cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Schedule-a-consultation-to-learn-more-510x383.png 510w, https:\/\/zj3fwy98pqns.wpcdn.shift8cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Schedule-a-consultation-to-learn-more-400x300.png 400w, https:\/\/zj3fwy98pqns.wpcdn.shift8cdn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Schedule-a-consultation-to-learn-more.png 960w\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>We specialize in building cooperation among employees and collaboration between departments for profitable agile, high performance team outcomes.\u00a0 Scaled to\u00a0 grow as your organization and leadership performance improves, our proprietary\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tigerssuccessseries.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">TIGERS Workforce<\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tigerssuccessseries.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0Behavior Profile<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/tigers-micro-training-solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a0Micro-Training technology and group facilitation\u00a0<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/tigers-micro-training-solutions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">methods result in your\u00a0<\/a><\/strong>high performance team outcomes and change management success. We also license and certify elite internal and external consultants and project managers to use our resources for similar outcomes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know. It\u2019s not yet Halloween in the United States and I am talking about team stress during the Holidays. There are a few reasons for this: Team stress for remote workers who are balancing children in their laps while delivering work is primarily falling on women who plan the holidays. Both leaders and employees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[633,803],"tags":[896,946],"class_list":["post-25687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stress-2","category-stress-management-strategies","tag-employee-stress","tag-remote-work-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25687\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/corevalues.com\/dev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}