Stress Management and Time Management Professional Development

Question: Discuss about the term for Stress management and time management tips aid to reduce his stress at work due to overload. Answer: Self-evaluation exercises For the estimation of the personal attributes and employment skills first the employee has to go with the self-assessment exercises, those reflect that where the employee stands now. Where the employee places their employability skills and attributes according to their expertise. After completing this self-assessment exercise, the second approach is to take the help of a friend or relative that will carry out this assessment for you (Austin 2002). Compare both of the self-assessment and assessment of a friend or relative and find out the different views. From all the above, the employee is capable to find out the three skills and attributes in which the employee is expertise and the three skills and attribute on which has to do a lot of work to improve himself (Bates 2012). Table-1: Self-assessment exercise Employability skills For the self-assessment, employee should tick the column from A-E, A is for very good and E is for the weak Communication A B C D E C1 Effective communication with customer/customer awareness/ customer empathy C2 Communication skill regarding letter writing and reporting C3 Effective communication with manager/supervisor/colleagues Working with colleagues A B C D E WC1 Establishment of good relation with different workers of the organization WC2 Assertive and being compromised by the need WC3 Inspiring and motivating work colleagues Improvement in learning and performance skills A B C D E ILPS1 Balance between social life, studies, part-time and house commitments ILPS2 Settlement and achievement of goals ILPS3 Acceptance of consecutive criticism and learning from this ILPS4 Work planning and stickiness to the deadlines ILPS5 Ability to work unsupervised that is alone Problem solving PS1 Calm under the stress condition PS2 Better decision making PS3 Clearly identifying a problem before deciding a solution for same PS4 Knowing about the losses of their solution PS5 Implementation of practical solution Number application A B C D E NA1 Appropriate calculation while serving customers NA2 Ability to interpret data Proficiency In information technology PIT1 Usage of information technology application for supporting work task, cash handling, reservation, ticketing, stock keeping PIT2 Preparation of information such as letters and reports through information technology PIT3 For editing and organizing data, such as using spreadsheet, manipulating databases, the use of information technology PIT4 Information technology used for creating tables and charts Table-2: self-assessment exercise Personal attributes Understanding of work/business world awareness A B C D E UWA1 Knowledge about the organization work, for example management structures UWA2 Ability of adjustment of timekeeping, work hours and shift demand UWA3 Flexibility in a task that is taking new tasks/responsibilities UWA4 Understanding within the business and operational system Motivation A B C D E M1 Cooperation willingness M2 Commitment given to the organization M3 Positive attitude at the time of personal problem M4 Work hard and going to ideas and progress task quickly Adaptability and flexibility A B C D E AF1 Ability to cope with the uncertainty and change within the organization AF2 Positive attitude to change Ethical integrity and awareness EIA1 Being honest at the situation when the being truthful is very difficult EIA2 Having tact in solving the sensitive issues EIA3 Consideration of ethical issues at work EIA4 Assurance of confidential data to keep confidential Leadership A B C D E L1 Supervising others L2 Helpfully to the new colleagues when they start work L3 Helping the other colleagues those are less experienced Self-confidence A B C D E SC1 Confidently and effectively dealing with the customers SC2 Confidently liaising with the colleagues SC3 Confidently liaising with the managers SC4 Confidently dealing with awkward customers SC5 Able to express their opinion clearly SC6 Able to value yourself in case any work is done wrong Initiative and creative A B C D E IC1 Able to build new ideas IC2 Building on others idea IC3 Inappropriate situation ability to act independently Judgment A B C D E J1 Able to form a reliable opinion about others J2 Knowledge of when to request for assistance J3 Time management Table-3: Self-assessment exercise Employability skills The employee three best employability skills 1. 2 3 The three employability skills in which the employee has to improve 1. 2. 3. Personal attributes The employees three best personal attributes 1. 2. 3. The three personal attributes in which the employee has to improve 1. 2. 3. Self-assessment results After completing the self-assessment exercise and having a discussion session with a friend or relative, there is clear understanding of following facts. What are the strengths of the employee, looking for what opportunities at work will support to demonstrate these strengths and final collection of these evidences for the addition in a job application at the time of interview (Brusilovsky and Sosnovsky 2005). The employee will also know about the area in which he has to do a lot of work to improve and the ways of improvement in these areas and after this collect the evidences of improvement. SWOT analysis For the self-assessment, the employee can have a better assessment through the SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis can easily help an employee to explore his strengths and weakness and also can analyze the opportunities and threats. Because with the help of SWOT analysis the meaning of all these facts shall be clear. From the all above understanding, the employee should follow the strategies and tips of experts to improve their weaknesses. Regarding this, the employee has to design a personal development plan that should be noted in his learning diary. The goal desired for the achievement of goals: For the achievement of this goal, the area of weakness for those he works to improve such as social, mental, spiritual, emotional, moral, physical aspects those affect the human behavior of motivation, leadership, delegation, assertiveness, positive thinking, stress, team building and decision making. Especially select the appropriate time for the achievement of goals. For the appropriate implication of the personal development program an employee should prepare his learning diary and the employee should write weekly about the learning improvement of all the aspects of learning by application of theoretical aspects of all the following Stress management Time management Decision making Positive thinking Motivation, assertiveness, delegation, team building and performance evaluation In the current personal development planning, first the employee has to be taken out their self-assessment exercise. From these self-assessment exercises the employee will gain the knowledge about their three skills and strengths in which he has to work for improvement and the three skills and strength in which has expertise and also about the three personal attributes that are strong and three personal attributes in which he has to work on. The SWOT analysis supports the employee in a way that he can easily analyze about the exact definition of strength and weakness. By knowing all these the employee access to explore their strengths and find the evidence where the employee can show these strengths and can finalize the goal of their life and make strategies to overcome the weakness for the achievement of the goal (Stewart and Powell 2004). But with this self-assessment exercise the employee can improve himself and also the performance of his team by improving his delegation, motivat ion, assertiveness. So the inventory of self-assessment exercise with the help of SWOT analysis can help the employee in a positive way for the achievement of his goal (VanĆºk, Mikol and Ã…Â ½vkov 2012). Stress management Some workplace stress is normal. But the excessive stress in the workplace can affect the performance and productivity of an employee at work. There are a number of steps which can lead the life of an employee to lower stress state. Acquiring responsibility to improve your physical and emotional aspect Attempting to reduce their negative attribute which sum up the stress in the workplace Ameliorate your communication skill to improve the relations with coworkers and management. Tips for stress management Recognize the warning signs of stress at work When you feel burdened with the excessive work then you will lose confidence and get irritated. This will affect your performance at work and decrease the productivity at the workplace (Davies 2005). Also, this stress will cause the health problems to the employee. The signs of excessive stress on the workplace are Loss of interest in work Feeling irritable and anxious Sleeping problems Stomach problems Fatigue Trouble concentrating Social withdrawal Consumption of alcohol or smoking to cope with stress Reduction of stress by acquiring responsibility of your own health When the stress affects your productivity and performance, it also results in commitment of more and more of mistakes by that concerned employee. When you take care of yourself, you will be free from any type of illness, strong and your ability to cope with stress increases. You can exercise the following activities for this purpose Regular exercise can relieve the stress Take the diet that can reduce the condition of stress Talking to alternative listener can lead to reduce stress Get enough sleep Reduce the workplace, stress by prioritizing and organizing your work For reducing the stress select the large project should be divided into the smaller projects, then work on it. You can also delegate the responsibility of any task, if other people can take the responsibility of the same. You ask of supervising every step (Laungani 1993). Reduce the workplace stress, through emotional intelligence Self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relation management are four components of emotional intelligence. For the emotional intelligence, you have to concentrate that when you are stressed, stay connected to your emotional experience, develop the capacity to fight with challenges through humor and try to resolve conflicts positively (Fuchs and Schwarzer 1993). Reduce the workplace stress, through avoiding bad habits Resist perfectionism, clean up your act, reduce your negative thinking, and not try to control the uncontrollable things. All these acts will grow to improve your bad habits. Time management Time management is also very effective tool to manage the stress in the workplace. This can be managed by following tips Creation of balanced schedule: analyze your work schedule, tasks and responsibility at work. Try to leave for a job earlier in the morning: Try to leave for job 10-15 minutes prior, it will decrease the stress of rushing to your desk and start your work. Plan for small break at work: schedule your time for short breaks at work for a walk, or to sit back and for clearing your mind and also schedule to get out from your desk at lunch time, it will help to relax and get recharged for the work (Sultan, Joireman and Sprott 2011). Do not over-commit yourself: try to drop tasks that are at the bottom of the list or eliminate them totally. Do not be over-commit to those unnecessary works. Positive thinking Positive thinking has the benefit of enhanced ability of improvement of skills and the development of resources in the future (Dunlap 2008). The positive thinking can also increase the performance of employees and also the productivity at the workplace. For increasing the positive thinking you should do the following things-- Meditation: Studies revealed that the people who practice meditation daily have more positive thinking than the people who do not practice. People who meditate regularly also construct long-term valuable skills (Hall. m, Treharne and Smith 2015). Play: Schedule your time for playing daily. We schedule meeting, conference, weekly events and our responsibilities then why we do not schedule our time-table for playing which is helpful in increasing positive thinking. Writing: Writing is also the best tool for positive thinking. When we start writing the daily positive experience of our life, it will bring to your mood swing and increase the positive thinking revealed by the research studies (Ellwood 2011). Decision making For the better decision making an employee has to develop the qualities of critical thinkers and has self-control. A critical thinker has following qualities for better decision making. Thinking about the issues in a critical and objective way Identification of different arguments regarding the issues Evaluation of point to determine the validation issue or argument Recognition of negative points regarding these arguments Provide reasoning and support to argue that you wish to make Sometime an employee thinks for decision in a critical way, but their self-control is elevated by anger, joy or grief. This will also affect the decision making process. So for better decision making process critical thinking and self- control are must. Successful Delegation The steps for successful delegation are Task definition: In the mind of the employee it should be clear that the task is suitable for delegates. Whether, it will meet the criteria of delegation (Grainger, 2014). Selection of team or individual: the reason for delegating a person or team. What he gets out of it? What you will get out of it. Assessment of ability and training needs: if the other people know to perform the task. If they know what is needed to do? If they do not know cancel the delegation. Explanation of reasons: You should explain why the responsibilities or job are delegated? Why that person or team. State required results: what will be achieved by this delegation? This can be understood by getting feedback from others. They must know that how you intend to decide about the successfulness of task (Hathaway, 2009). Consideration of required resources: consider the requirement for the task, such as equipment, money, premises, money, material etc. Deadline agreement: The date for the finishing of the job, if it is continuous job then fixes the review date. Communication and support: think about the other person who has to be known about the task and inform him. Take the support of others by informing them about the task. Feedback on result: It is important to know the team that they are achieving the goal or not by giving them the feedback (Huston 2009). Motivation Motivation word derives from the word motive the means of which is someone desires needs and wants. This is the method to stimulate the individual to meet the goals. At work, there are different physiological factor which can stimulate an employee. These are Job-satisfaction, Money desire, success, recognition and teamwork (Kneale 2007). The responsibility of a leader is to motivate the team that they can work with the best of their abilities. It consists of different stages which are as follows. Stage-1: A felt drive or need Stage-2: A stimulus which will stimulate the arouse Stage-3: the needs are satisfied and also the satisfaction of goals So the motivation is a physiological process in which the need of the employee should be satisfied in the form of incentives. Assertiveness If an employee is assertive, he will ask for their wants or needs, but not necessarily get them. Assertiveness helps in building self-confidence and improves the relationship at work and family relationship. For the development of assertiveness following skills should be improved. Skill of valuing yourself and rights Identification of your needs wants and desire and ask the organization for their satisfaction Skill to express your negative thoughts in a healthy and positive manner Skill of receiving complaints and criticism positively Skill of saying No when it is needed Team building Team building very good process to unite the employee in the team, to develop strength and to address the weakness but if it is done strategically. While planning for team building first consider the problems faced by the team (Norkunas 2011). Think about the strength and weakness of your current team and following question. Has there is any type of conflict between decision making members of the team Do the members of the team need to know about each other Is some members of the team are concentrating their own success only and harm the team? Is the poor communication affecting the success of the team? Do the workers know how to work together rather than individually? Are some worker resistant to change and this is affecting the growth of the team (Smith, 2001). Performance evaluation Performance is the best tool for the employee development and improvement support. For the enhancement of performance evaluation following points should be considered. For the regular performance evaluation, determine a schedule with those you manage directly. Regularly deliver the constructive and positive feedback (Brien and Jones, 2014). Improve your leadership and management skills. Train the employees in such a way to reinforce for desired behavior and two way communication skill. Support the carrier and professional development By the application of all above theories of motivation, assertiveness, delegation, team building, performance evaluation for others and stress management, time management, decision making, positive thinking an employee can manage himself and others in an appropriate manner (ROSKAM 2004). First of all, by doing self-assessment, an employee can analyze or evaluate his strengths and strength which he has to work a lot to improve and also his weakness (Lee 2010). By evaluating all these he can attempt to improve his weakness. With the help of this self-assessment, the employee can improve his weakness and can manage his weakness and others at work. Conclusion: Stress management and time management tips aid to reduce his stress at work due to overload. For the better decision making process, an employee should follow the rule of critical thinking and self- control. For the positive thinking, employee should try to do regular meditation, playing and writing of positive experience. For the management of others, he should follow the theoretical aspects of motivation, delegation, assertiveness, the team building and performance evaluation (McKelvey 2014). To know the effectiveness of these theories the employee should follow his learning dairy weekly and evaluate the improvement of his weakness. In the last it was concluded that with self-assessment exercise, the employee can achieve his goal by going on the right path of exploring his skills and improving his weakness (Cureton 2012). With the help to the improvement the employee can manage his stress, time, decision making and positive thinking and also manage others through delegation, assertiveness, motivation, team building and performance evaluation theoretical aspects. References Austin, J. (2002). Self and Others.Circa, (101), p.40. Bates, T. (2012). Professional learning in professional communities: the ultimate goal.Professional Development in Education, 38(4), pp.511-516. Brusilovsky, P. and Sosnovsky, S. (2005). Individualized exercises for self-assessment of programming knowledge.J. Educ. Resour. Comput., 5(3), p.6-es. Cureton, A. (2012). From Self-Respect to Respect for Others.Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 94(2), pp.166-187. Davies, R. (2005). Don't stress! [work-related stress].Engineering Management, 15(1), pp.20-23. Dunlap, C. (2008). Effective evaluation through appreciative inquiry.Performance Improvement, 47(2), pp.23-29. Ellwood, F. (2011). Understanding the importance of a personal development plan.Dental Nursing, 7(3), pp.160-163. Fuchs, R. and Schwarzer, R. (1993). Stress and stress management at the workplace.Anxiety, Stress Coping, 6(2), pp.153-154. Grainger, A. (2014). Your personal development plan.Br J Healthcare Assistants, 8(1), pp.6-6. Hall-McMaster, S., Treharne, G. and Smith, C. (2015). 'The positive feel': Unpacking the role of positive thinking in people with multiple sclerosis's thinking aloud about staying physically active.Journal of Health Psychology. Hathaway, L. (2009). Three steps to successful delegation.Nursing Made Incredibly Easy!, 7(6), p.4. Huston, C. (2009). 10 tips for successful delegation.Nursing, 39(3), pp.54-56. Kneale, P. (2007). Personal Development Planning (PDP) really happens at work.Planet, (18), pp.33-35. Laungani, P. (1993). Cultural differences in stress and its management.Stress Medicine, 9(1), pp.37-43. Lee, W. (2010). Consultative instructor supervision and evaluation.Performance Improvement, 49(5), pp.26-30. McKelvey, C. (2014). The Power of Positive Thinking.msdf. Norkunas, M. (2011). Teaching to Listen: Listening Exercises and Self-Reflexive Journals.Oral History Review, 38(1), pp.63-108. OBrien, J. and Jones, K. (2014). Professional learning or professional development? Or continuing professional learning and development? Changing terminology, policy and practice.Professional Development in Education, 40(5), pp.683-687. ROSKAM, G. (2004). Plutarch on Self and Others.Ancient Society, 34(0), pp.245-273. Smith, G. (2001). Making the team [project team building and leadership].IEE Review, 47(5), pp.33-36. Stewart, B. and Powell, S. (2004). Team building and team working.Team Performance Management, 10(1/2), pp.35-38. Sultan, A., Joireman, J. and Sprott, D. (2011). Building consumer self-control: The effect of self-control exercises on impulse buying urges.Marketing Letters, 23(1), pp.61-72. VanĆºk, M., Mikol, M. and Ã…Â ½vkov, K. (2012). Evaluation Methods of Swot Analysis / Metody Vyhodnocen Swot Analzy.GeoScience Engineering, 58(2).