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What does a successful business look like to you?
Is it a huge, multinational deal that spans the world and has thousands of employees? Is it a business that makes huge profits and owns most of the market share? Or, is it something different?
You see, business success is such a personal idea. What is success, exactly? It varies from person to person in terms of their own opinion. For a small business owner, success could be breaking even at the end of their first year, or increasing their market share a little.
In order to become successful, whatever that means to you, the first thing is to make sure that your employees are happy. When you have happy employees, you’re going to be more productive and that means higher profits, fewer mistakes, and more success - again, whatever that means to you.
So, in that situation, surely there’s no space for workplace stress?
While a small amount of stress can actually be helpful because it acts a motivator to hit a deadline or get a particular task done, when left to fester over the long-term, it can be extremely damaging and unhealthy. If you want your employees to be happy and productive, you need to give them the tools they need to either avoid stress, or learn to manage it and eventually kick it out of their lives.
This video shows you how.
As a manager, you can do your bit too. Make sure that your office door is always open - metaphorically speaking. Don’t just sit behind your executive office desk and avoid eye contact with anyone. That makes you seem every unapproachable and isn’t going to help your employees feel like they can talk to you when they feel stressed or overwhelmed.
You should also make sure that you provide them with a comfortable office environment. They need supportive office furniture, a space that is easy to work in, and an office that is attractive to look at. These are all elements which helps to boost morale and in turn, reduce workplace stress.
Team-working situations are also far better for reducing workplace stress than expecting people to work alone at their office chairs all day long. Embrace the idea of a collaborative environment and allow your employees to share their ideas, talk things through, and support one another.
By doing that, you’ll notice that workplace stress slowly starts to dissipate and, hopefully, disappears eventually.