|
|
| www.1001TopWords.com |
|
|
Control Stress with High Morale
When Army leaders fail to control battlefield stress, they lose as many soldiers to combat stress as they do to enemy bullets. Even when they are well trained, these soldiers are more likely to collapse in the face of great stress. Units with high morale and esprit de corps, however, lose only 10% as many troops to stress. The training and preparation are important, but the high sense of teamwork makes all the difference. This same sense of teamwork and belonging is important in the corporate environment. Where teamwork, morale, and esprit are good, the companies find improved productivity and increased profits. Employees are willing to sacrifice personal gain for the sake of the team. Some of the bonding is so great that employees brand themselves the same way as the elite soldiers, wearing, wearing visible ID tags, logos, and apparel wherever they go. Where morale and esprit are weak, employees refuse to wear these identifying symbols -- and productivity suffers as unmotivated employees pay more attention to personal gain than to the team effort. If absenteeism, early departures, accidents and other problems make you think employees need a morale booster shot, you can try some of the following successful techniques. 1. Develop logo mugs, caps, shirts, or sweaters for everyone. You can do this annually to keep the items fresh, but you'll defeat your purpose if you buy cheap stuff. 2. Recognize team accomplishments with graduation certificates, plaques, mugs, and other items to brand teams and compliment individuals. 3. Povide logo items to special task force or problem solving team members upon completion of the project. 4. Sponsor special team nights out, in recognition of achievement or as an annual affair to encourage team bonding and relationships. People don't really have time for this type bonding on the job. Be sure to give corporate gifts at these events. 5. Establish athletic teams to compete with other departments. You pay the space expenses and equipment costs. Many corporate problems can be solved by getting team members to compete together. 6. Present special training for team members to enhance job performance and team relationships. 7. Send key team members for high-adventure training where physical excitement encourages bonding. Make sure everyone gets to participate in some way, even if they are in support of those taking part in the more adventurous outing. 8. Sponsor annual company picnics where teams compete in athletic events or participate in unique ways to provide food, entertainment for others in the organization. 9. Generate internal competition so departments compete for best overall improvement or fewest quality complaints. Be careful not to have internal teams competing for cash awards, e.g. annual bonuses, or you'll create a lot of negative stress and distrust that is hard to repair. 10. Leadership participation is important in each of these morale building team efforts. Leaders need to be a part of the competition and the adventure. They also need to personally award the logo items and compliment those teams that achieve. Investment in team awards or recognition items is returned many times over through decreased stress, improved productivity, and decreased absenteeism. These efforts are even more important in hard times, so budget for morale building and esprit in good times and bad. Get my free article on three kinds of workplace stress by sending blank email to 3kindsofstress@couragebuilders.com Dale Collie - professional speaker, formerUS Army Ranger, CEO, and a Fast Company top50 innovative leader. Author of "WinningUnder Fire." (McGraw-Hill) collie@couragebuilders.com
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Fighting For Your Life Recently the well known American news anchor Peter Jennings died of lung cancer, just a few months after he publicly announced that he had the disease and that he was going to fight it with everything he had. Adventures in Relieving Stress Whether we are at work, traveling, or at home, we've all had bad days. Those stressful times can be difficult, but important, to shake. Your mental, emotional, and physical health depends on you to find ways to relax and regain equilibrium. I'm going to be sharing some practices that you can do to help throw off that stress and reclaim your Happy Self in no time! How Stress Effects Neurotransmitters The brain uses feel-good transmitters called endorphins when managing daily stress. When the brain requires larger amounts of endorphins to handle increased stress, the ratio of many of the other transmitters, one to another, becomes upset creating a chemical imbalance. We begin to feel stress more acutely -- a sense of urgency and anxiety creates even more stress. As a result, harmful chemicals are released in our bodies that may do damage, causing more stress. This vicious cycle is called the "stress cycle." Emotional fatigue might result and be experienced and felt as depression. Stress Impacts Your Health Health Impacts of Stress 10 Ways to Benchmark Workplace Stress With almost 50% of workers complaining that their jobs are very stressful, it is no surprise that more than two-thirds of all medical problems are stress related. Children Playing - How Play Is Important To Kids And Adults You can learn a lot by watching children playing. There is no greater sight than to see children pretending to be superheroes or digging for treasure in a sandbox. To hear the laughter and see a child's excitement can bring a smile to any adult's face. An important part of a child's development is through play. A child's problem solving skills are developed through play. Children are able to work on relationships, build self-esteem and decrease their anger. In the course of a child's life adults usually teach children, but on the playground children can teach adults how to have fun.Unfortunately, some children had to grow up so fast that they never had the experience of play. When this happens, they often miss out on a healthy part of their development. These children often grow up to be adults who are more angry and depressed.Whether you are an adult who missed out on play as a child or an adult who lost site of the importance of play, take the time out of your busy day to watch children playing. By watching children play you can regain some of that fun, enabling you to see how carefree and fun life should be.To incorporate play in your life, think back to your childhood.* What did you do for fun?* Did you experience play or did you observe children playing?* Ask yourself how you can bring play into your adult life?If you are having difficulty in your life and are in need of a break just take the time out of your busy unrelenting day to watch children play. If you feel comfortable doing so, join in the fun. The stresses and strains of your daily life will just slip away. Stress Stress. The word brings to mind many different definitions doesn't it? It is an individual thing in many ways ? although the Canadian Stress Institute's founder, Dr. Hans Selye was the first one to define the condition. He is known as the Father of Stress. Let's say you are walking through the park. All of a sudden, out of the bush at the side of the path, a black bear appears. Fear surges through every cell of your body. Your mind and body are stressed, and together they will prepare physiologically and psychologically for the "fight or flight" stress response. The heart pumps faster and blood surges through the blood vessels, lactic acid is released into the muscles, adrenalin and other chemicals are released, breathing becomes shallow, and the bowels loosen. Self-Healing Basics * The material presented in this article is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or prevent any illness. Stress Management: 9 Universal Laws for Problem Solving 1. The Law of Gifts Taming September: Avoiding Fall Frenzy When September rolls around, does it generally hit you like a ton of bricks? Do you feel as if that invisible being in charge of your life has suddenly ratcheted up the speed on your treadmill? WAY up? Turn Your Stress into Success! Stress is often seen as being unhealthy, but for some it is the very key to their success. How to Relieve Stress One question that is not asked enough by people under stress is how to relieve stress. Unfortunately, people who are under stress tend to simply take it as a matter of course and simply accept its existence as though it was some sort of natural occurrence, or even a boon! Thus, people who are feeling the effects of stress do not actually take the time to notice that they are under stress and need relief. And when people are under stress, the first part of tackling the problem of how to relieve stress is actually realizing that there is stress that needs to be relieved. Stress Management: 4 Steps to Massive Stress Relief by Having Fun Over the years I've collected scores of comics and cartoons about marriage, families, stress and change. There is just something about a good comic strip that can many times explain something much better than I can. Stress Relief Tips With how busy we keep ourselves on a day to day basis, it's no wonder that so many of us suffer from stress. Stress is something that is almost impossible to avoid, because of the way that we are wired. With that said though stress can be easily dealt with in many ways. The Case Of The Missing Vacation This is the time for daydreaming about your annual vacation. Sounds enticing. 3 Kinds of Workplace Stress Workers across America will tell you that stress Life Happens Shit happens. I know this to be a fact, because I read it on a t-shirt. ;-) FEAR: How to Defeat the Monster What is the greatest fear of man? Is it death? Pain? Poverty? Physical ailments? Loneliness? Surveys tell us that the number one fear among modern people is public speaking, of all things! How to Cope When Things Go Wrong There are times in every person's life when things do not go according to the way we would like. All of us have our ups and downs. These can consist of periods of poor health, emotional problems, financial struggles, relationship challenges, accidents and the like. Extreme Self-care: Make Time for Yourself If you've recently experienced loss or are going through a time of high-stress or uncertainty, it's important that you make a special effort to look after yourself. Here are a few things you can do to care for yourself physically and emotionally:
|
| © Athifea Distribution LLC - 2013 |
