How Meditation Can Help You Climb The Corporate Ladder

We all experience a lot of stress in our lives that can be particularly constricting to our productivity and potentially, and to our next promotion.

How often have you sat at your desk, trying to be creative or efficient, but found yourself staring blankly at a flashing line on the computer screen? The mental blocks that we encounter day after day are a product of our brains trying to process too many different things at once; better known as stress.

A method that you may not have originally considered helpful for you to climb up the corporate ladder is meditation.

Meditation practices are techniques that encourage and develop concentration, clarity, emotional positivity, and composure. Aren’t these all valuable aspects for trying to move up the corporate ladder?

Whether it is transcendental, chakra, zen, azem… meditation can seem way too left of field, too difficult, and time consuming. That is quite understandable. After all, how is one supposed to sit quietly and think of nothing for something to break up your lunch period, especially when there is a promotion to be had?!

Recent research has shown that meditation allows for the brain to process more cognitive and emotional information, providing it with greater freedom to think outside the square.

Perhaps we are simply re-affirming centuries old Buddhist beliefs!

The solution?

Taking five minutes to calm your breathing and clear your mind of any trivial concerns allows you to open up your mind to focus on the task at hand. This can simply be achieved by closing your eyes and focusing on three deep breaths. Or by taking a simple bathroom break or  a short walk outside to help clear your mind from the fogginess.

Some simple meditation can help you start the day with clarity and freedom for creativity. You might just find that work life becomes a lot easier and that corporate ladder becomes that much shorter!

To find more hints and tips on all work related topics visit us as http://careerexchange-advice.blogspot.com.au/

Simple Strategies to Prevent Workplace Anxiety

Workplace anxiety is more common than you might think. The ‘2014 Stress and Wellbeing in Australia Survey’ conducted by the Australian Psychological Society found ‘issues in the workplace’ was one of the top five sources of stress among Australians aged between 26-45 years, with a massive 44% of Australians identifying work as a key cause of stress. Work related sources of stress can include things like; starting a new job, lack of autonomy, heavy workloads, and poor resources, and limited support. Constant anxiety, worry, apprehension, fear, and feelings of impending doom can arise from stress and be long-lasting, even when the original stressor is gone.

With the fast-paced environments and pressures of meeting client demands, deadlines, and keeping on top of your game, it’s easy to develop work related anxieties. Struggling with anxiety at work can be debilitating; even the simplest tasks can become difficult to complete. Stress is often unavoidable in the working world, but it is helpful to identify key sources of stress, and have some strategies at hand to prevent it developing into a more serious problem.

Here are six simple ways to prevent stress and anxiety in the workplace:

1. Slow down. Close your eyes and focus on slow, deep breathing for several minutes until you feel yourself physically relax. This will make it easier to focus and gather your thoughts for the task at hand.
2. Break it up. Sometimes when faced with a difficult situation, rather than tackling it head on, break it down into smaller tasks. That way, you can set goals for getting each part done. Reward yourself by taking a break in between set tasks; go for a quick walk to clear your head.
3. Exercise. We’ve all heard that exercise plays an important role in keeping mentally healthy, and it’s true. Find and join a gym close by and go before, after or even during work. If you think you can’t handle those spin classes, make an effort to walk to and from work. Not only does being physically active improve mental health, just being outside with some natural greenery has been shown to have positive impacts to emotions and self-esteem. Every bit counts!
4. Enjoy your social life.  Don’t forget you have a life outside of work. Catch up with friends and family to keep yourself socially active. Organise things for 'after work', so you have something to look forward to and keep you going throughout the day.
5. Face your anxiety. That feeling of frustration, anger or nervousness might seem normal at first, but when it lasts a little longer than it should, it can be a good idea to talk it out to yourself, write your worries down, and actually stop and think about what is worrying you and accept the stress or anxiety might be more serious than you thought. Self-understanding is important to finding a resolution. If you think it’s weird talking it out to yourself.
6. Talk to someone else. Find a co-worker, friend, family member or a mental health professional that you are comfortable talking with. Sometimes just saying what you’re going through out loud can bring an immense amount of relief.

Stress is a normal reaction when something at work is a little more demanding or challenging. However, it’s good to learn to recognise the signs when it’s getting a bit too much for you. Many organisations have an Employee Assistance Program available to help employees enhance their health and wellbeing, and some even accommodate leave of absence from work so you can have a day away to mentally recharge. If you’re finding anxiety is getting the better of you, take a minute to discuss your options with your manager or supervisor, or contact a medical professional for extra support.

You have to be kind to be kind – Employee wellbeing through the Holidays

The old saying “you have to be cruel to be kind” may not be the best advice around the holiday period. Research has found that employee stress and depression levels increase over the Christmas and New Year period. While we understand that giving everyone leave over this time is not always an option, there are ways in which you can support an employee’s wellbeing throughout the festive season. 

During Christmas, it is not uncommon to experience financial pressures from debts, gifts and celebrations; family pressures due to hosting or attending gatherings (or a lack thereof). To add to the mounting social pressures, work pressures accumulate as New Year deadlines approach.
The mental health (and general wellbeing) of you and your team is vital to ensure you are able to contribute creatively and productively, and avoid droning on to get through difficult times where your efforts and output (and let’s not forget satisfaction) may suffer. 

Here are 3 tips to motivate you and your team to safeguard general mental health at this time of year:

1. Keep an eye out for red flags
While it is normal to experience a degree of pressure and frustration at this time of year, it’s important to note when this may become a larger problem for some employees. If a colleague (or yourself) appears sleep deprived, aggressive, anti-social, or negative, or may just appear down, this may be a sign that the stress they are experiencing is at an unreasonable level.  

If you see someone acting out of character for a long period of time, let them know you’ve noticed their behaviour is different and ask them how things are going. Be prepared to hear the response when you ask someone if they are ‘OK’, whether their response is positive or negative. They do not expect you to be able to fix their problems; all you need to do is listen as often people just need to talk something through. 

2. A little empathy or gratitude goes a long way
It cannot be overstated – a simple word of appreciation or understanding can motivate and encourage anyone. You don’t need to organise an elaborate event to thank work colleagues, as genuine personal encouragement can be enough to brighten their day or change their perspective. Go beyond sending an email - genuine communications are best done face-to-face; or, if you are competing with different locations, then a phone call is appropriate. 

3. If possible, review workloads
Stress occurs when our demands exceed our resources. Quite simply, staff may not have enough time or the resources to get the job done to the required standard. Pay close attention to whether work is being completed late or to a reduced standard than normal. Issues such as these may occur due to under-staffing and over-loading rather than a lack of enthusiasm or competence. Communicate these concerns with employees and investigate the cause of any issues. A good analysis to establish the root-cause of an issue is asking “why” 5 times to a response.

While Christmas is a stressful time of year for many, effective management through communicating with and supporting those around you can have a snowball effective to put the peace, love and joy (and the employee productivity and satisfaction) back into the festive season! 

Balancing Job Demands and Job Resources

Psychology research has made great headway in relation to uncovering the factors that influence
the interplay between job resources and job demands. However, finding a practical balance between the two within your workplace is often quite challenging. This article aims to introduce you to the various factors that may come into play if you are feeling stress within your workplace. Stress within the workplace is often attributed to high demands and low resources.

Bakker and Leiter in 2010 drew up a model of how demands and resources interplay and the effect they have on engagement and stress. The most popular model at the moment is the Jobs Demands Resources (JDR) Model, which highlights the following relevant factors:

Job Demands:

• Increased workload beyond what might be reasonably completed
• Role Conflict - when conflicts arise between the multiple roles that have to be filled
• When there is a low amount of resilience in terms of handling change
• Role Ambiguity
• Work pressures from employees or managers internal to the business or, customers and clients externally
• Emotional demands – this is particularly relevant to Allied Health as we work so closely with individuals, especially when they are requiring assistance
• Mental demands – this relates to when the role is mentally exhausting and there is an inability to have rest break
• Physically demanding work

Job Resources:

• Increasing the amount of social support
• Seek extra feedback, specifically relating to your work, but also your general behaviour in the workplace
• Increasing the amount of supervisory coaching that you are receiving or rather putting a slightly different spin when you request feedback
• Increasing the amount of autonomy or control you have in your job
• Finding ways to increase your optimism within the workplace whether this be through increasing the social aspects of your work or taking a needed break
• Increasing your competence in the role – this may be through seeking extra training or gaining clarity about your role

Reducing the amount of job demands and increasing the amount of job resources has been shown to have a positive impact on:

• Mental and physical health factors which decreases the likelihood of energy depletion and burnout
• Motivational factors
• Levels of engagement
• Increased job satisfaction
• Overall happiness and levels of enjoyment

If managing stress in the workplace is something you would like to know more about, we recently wrote an article on Mindfulness in the Workplace, which you may find useful. You can read more about that here. 

  

Simple Strategies to Prevent Workplace Anxiety

Workplace anxiety is more common than you might think. The ‘2014 Stress and Wellbeing in Australia Survey’ conducted by the Australian Psychological Society found ‘issues in the workplace’ was one of the top five sources of stress among Australians aged between 26-45 years, with a massive 44% of Australians identifying work as a key cause of stress. Work related sources of stress can include things like; starting a new job, lack of autonomy, heavy workloads, poor resources and limited support. Constant anxiety, worry, apprehension, fear, and feelings of impending doom can arise from stress and be long-lasting, even when the original stressor is gone.

With the fast-paced environments and pressures of meeting client demands, deadlines, and keeping on top of your game, it’s easy to develop work related anxieties. Struggling with anxiety at work can be debilitating; even the simplest tasks can become difficult to complete. Stress is often unavoidable in the working world, but it is helpful to identify key sources of stress, and have some strategies at hand to prevent it developing into a more serious problem.

Here are six simple ways to prevent stress and anxiety in the workplace.

1. Slow down. Close your eyes and focus on slow, deep breathing for several minutes until you feel yourself physically relax. This will make it easier to focus and gather your thoughts for the task at hand.
2.  Break it up. Sometimes when faced with a difficult situation, rather than tackling it head on, break it down into smaller tasks. That way, you can set goals for getting each part done. Reward yourself by taking a break in between set tasks; go for a quick walk to clear your head. 
3. Exercise. We’ve all heard that exercise plays an important role in keeping mentally healthy, and it’s true. Find and join a gym close by and go before, after or even during work. If you think you can’t handle those spin classes, make an effort to walk to and from work. Not only does being physically active improve mental health, just being outside with some natural greenery has been shown to have positive impacts to emotions and self-esteem. Every bit counts!
4.  Enjoy your social life.  Don’t forget you have a life outside of work. Catch up with friends and family to keep yourself socially active. Organise things for after work, so you have something to look forward to and keep you going throughout the day. 
5. Face your anxiety. That feeling of frustration, anger or nervousness might seem normal at first, but when it lasts a little longer than it should, it can be a good idea to talk it out to yourself, write your worries down, and actually stop and think about what is worrying you and accept the stress or anxiety might be more serious than you thought. Self-understanding is important to finding a resolution. If you think it’s weird talking it out to yourself…
6. Talk to someone else. Find a co-worker, friend, family member or a mental health professional that you are comfortable talking with. Sometimes just saying what you’re going through out loud can bring an immense amount of relief.

Stress is a normal reaction when something at work is a little more demanding or challenging. However, it’s good to learn to recognise the signs when it’s getting a bit too much for you. Many organisations have an Employee Assistance Program available to help employees enhance their health and wellbeing, and some even accommodate leave of absence from work so you can have a day away to mentally recharge. If you’re finding anxiety is getting the better of you, take a minute to discuss your options with your manager or supervisor, or contact a medical professional for extra support.