Feeling Stressed?
Today, we take a break from our ongoing series on Spotify, to consider a relevant topic: Stress and Resources at Work, and why they are important to managers in ensuring employee wellbeing. This is a follow up to our last OB article on Diversity.
The impact of Covid on how we live and work (limited interactions with colleagues, friends, and family) make this topic even more important.
Learning Objective
1. What is Stress? Why is it important?
2. Demand and Resources
3. The Work Home Resources Model
4. Questions for every Manager
5. TED talk: How to Make Stress Your Friend.
What is Stress? Why is it important?
We all have experienced stress at one point or the other.
Stress is a dynamic condition, in which a person encounters -
an opportunity, demand or resource related to their goals.
an outcome that is (a) uncertain and (b) important to the person.
Dynamic means it can change from situation to situation, and when it persists over a long period of time, can be negative.
In our bodies, stress hormones prepare the body for a ‘fight or flight’ response (e.g. accelerated heartbeat). Stress is important because it drives our performance, especially in the workplace.
Demand and Resources
Demands refers to responsibilities, obligations, uncertainties and pressures, which can lead to ‘stress responses’.
Resources refers to anything within the person’s control, they can draw on to address demands and can help ‘stress-coping’.
The Work Home Resources Model
Research by Ten Brummelhuis, L. L., & Bakker, A. B. (2012) developed the Work Home Resources Model. This described different types of resources and how long they last (Transience).
The source of our resources can be Contextual (based on particular context/environment e.g. Home, Employment, Social network) or Personal (based on our inherent attributes e.g. skills, Mood, Health, Attention, and Experience).
Transience: Can be structural (permanent e.g. family relationship) or volatile (e.g. mood).
We can also consider how these resources interplay to create positive outcomes for the individual and the organization:
WORK-TO-HOME PROCESS are experiences at work that influence what happens at home.
HOME-TO-WORK PROCESS are experiences at home that influence what happens at work.
Different demands and resources at home and work, combine to influence the individual’s personal resources, which determines the outcome.
Work Demand — deadline for a project or work task.
Work Resources — colleagues in a team that work together and thus influence personal resources, that leads to positive Work Outcomes.
Home Outcome — refers to how satisfied one feels with their home relationships, and life.
Home Demand — refers to the demand placed on your personal resources (energy, time, and mood) such as taking care of a sick child or ageing parent.
Home Resources — such as relationship with your spouse or siblings can lead to a positive contribution to your personal resources.
When looking at Stress and Resources, we can’t separate the home and work domain.
This is an interesting distinction from the popular conversation on Work-Life Balance. Instead of balance, we should identify the desired Outcome at Work and at Home, and optimize our Demands and Resources, for both domains, to achieve these desired outcomes.
If I feel stressed by the home demand and don’t have the home resources to respond to it, this will affect my personal resources, and ultimately work outcome.
Work outcomes can be influenced by work and home demands and resources.
Questions for every Manager
A manager is responsible for not only managing his own Demands and Resources, but also that of his employees. Their work and home demands would influence their work outcome.
Tony Schwartz and Emily Pines from The Energy Project have written an excellent article about the “Seven Questions Leaders Need To Be Asking Themselves Now”, emphasizing the role of mental and physical wellbeing for employees during COVID:
Am I skillfully managing my emotions?
What is my self-care plan?
Am I overvaluing certain qualities at the expense of others?
Am I fearlessly challenging my fixed beliefs and assumptions?
What else might be true here?
Am I grounded in a purpose and values I can easily articulate?
What can I influence and what do I need to let go?
TED talk: How to Make Stress Your Friend.
As you watch the talk below, think about your answers to the questions:
-What are the reasons why you have experienced stress lately?
-How could you change your believes about stress?
Can changing how you think about stress make you healthier? YES.
In a typical stress scenario, your heart rate goes up, and your blood vessels constrict. Hence, why chronic stress is associated with cardiovascular disease. When you view the stress scenario as helpful, your blood vessels stay relaxed, even though your heart is still pounding.
So, next time you feel stressed and feel your heart pounding, just think this is my body helping me rise to the challenge. When stressed, as you choose to connect with others, your blood vessels relaxes, making your heart more resilient.
There you have it. A healthy view of stress, and positive relationships.
Conclusion
Stress is a physical body response to a situation. What matters is not stress, but how we respond to it. Demands and Resources influence how employees respond to stress, and crosses over between the work and home domain.
A manager is also responsible for the Demands and Resources, of his employees. Their work and home demands would influence their work outcome.
It is important to identify your demand and cultivate your resources, at home and at work. These can be transient(relationships) or volatile(mood).
Instead of work-life balance, aim to optimize both domains to achieve the desired outcome.
When stressed, decide to have a healthy view of the situation, and consult your close relationships. This will enable you achieve your desired outcome and stay healthy.
I hope you found this informative and relevant.
To learn more about this newsletter and stay updated, subscribe below.
Click here to join my newsletter
You can also email me at notesbynero@gmail.com or follow me on LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Newsletter Update
I recently published a Table of Content to all my writing, which I update regularly.
Every Thursday I publish a new article.
(Paid Subscribers: 4 articles/month, Free Subscribers: 2 articles/month)
Click here to subscribe to this newsletter
Subscribe from Nigeria via Paystack, Monthly or Annually.
Stay Tuned.
Reference
This summary is adapted from the MSc Organizational Behavior course at Durham University Business School.
Related Article — Issue 3: Week 1& 2 — Organization Behavior
Paper — Ten Brummelhuis, L. L., & Bakker, A. B. (2012). A resource perspective on the work home interface: The work home resources model. American Psychologist, 67 (7), 545 556.