This module will help you identify causes of stress, recognize warning signs of being over stressed, identify the conscious and subconscious influences on behavior, and apply stress management skills to job situations. This module also explains strategies for effectively coping with stress and explains why employers value emotional control.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Develop strategies for managing stress to improve job performance.
• Explain the importance of emotional control in managing stress.
• Explain the influence of stress and emotions in employee job performance, job satisfaction, and motivation.

Module Contents:

• Introduction
• Stress Defined
• Life Change Scale
• How Stressed Are You?
• Personality Types Assessment
• Identify Your Personality Type
• Characteristics of Type A and Type B Personalities
• We Live with Stress Every Day
• The Signs of Danger
• Individual Profile of Stress Vulnerability
• Stress Reaction Indicators
• Personal Stress Control Survey
• Methods of Coping with Stress
• Ways to Achieve Emotional Control

Introduction

Knowledge of what stresses our coworkers and us, and how to deal with stressful situations is an essential key to effective supervision. Before learning to “deal” with stress, it’s important to know what it is.

“Webster defines stress as pressure, pull, or other force (psychological or physical) exerted on one thing by another.

Stress is anything that:

• pushes
• threatens
• scares
• worries
• thrills
• prods

Industrial psychologists, however, narrow that definition to fit today’s workplace. “Stress” is the tension people feel when they try to adapt to change.

Stress Defined

Change happens, but, unfortunately, most managers seem to spend most of their careers fighting it. However, fighting change is a losing battle and the casualties are all around us.

Ulcers, heart attacks, and premature graying are just a few of the symptoms.  Of people trying to fight   change and losing their resulting battle with stress.

We all know that change is not a picnic, so let’s begin by understanding the stages of changes.

STAGES OF STRESS:

The first stage is that we deny it. We make statements such as “Whose dumb idea was that? Don’t worry, they’ll see it won’t work and go back to the “old” way of doing things.”

Next, we resist it. We say “Nope, we’ve been doing it this way for the past 20 years. So, if it was good enough then, it’s good enough now.”

These are natural reactions, but, the key is the quicker you “get over it” and go on with the program, the better off you’ll be.

The next step is to explore it. Think to yourself, “Hey, this is not so bad.” Look for the good that can come from the change.

Finally, accept it. Before long, you’ll make statements like, “This system really does work better. Actually it beats the heck out of the old way.”

Changes in today’s workplace come in many forms, including the need to do a job faster, the need to master advanced technology, and the need to take on a new or different work assignment.

Let’s consider for a moment employees who have been accustomed to working alone and now must work with a team, or employees who have held jobs that required little contact with the public and now must spend a great deal of time with customers.

Changes such as these can be a major source of stress.

Life Change Scale

Complete this exercise based on events in your life in the last 12 months.

Total Score ___________

How Stressed Are You?

One way to determine the amount of stress in your life is through the Life Change Scale. It was devised by Doctors Holmes and Rahe at the University of Washington and identifies 43 of life’s major stress factors.

‘These events have an impact on our health according to the research. The events on the list are called life change units since they indicate changes that require adaptive energy and coping action. The more important the event, the more strain on a person’s energy system. The strain can make people vulnerable to the adverse effects of stress.

Be aware there are positive events as well as negative. Positive events can place a strain on the system, although not to the same extent as negative events.

• If your score is less than 150, you only have a 37% chance of becoming ill within the next two years.
• If you have a score of 150 300, you have a 50% chance of becoming ill within next two years.
• If you have a score of more than 300, you have an 80% chance of becoming ill within next two years.

A high score does not mean you will become ill, but it does indicate that you have experienced events that require coping energy. Your immediately accessible reservoir of energy may be under strain.

Illness is not inevitable, but if you have a high stress score, you may choose to look at:

1.  How you deal with stress
2.  How you can become stress resistant

Personality Types Assessment

For each item listed below, compare yourself with other people in general, and decide how well it describes your own typical way of doing things. Place a check in the appropriate space for each item.

For items 1 through 8, give yourself the number of point shown on the solid line under item 8 in the column corresponding to your check. Place this score for each item in the box to its right. For items 9 through 16 do this using the number of points shown on the solid line under item 16. Add all of the 16 point scores and interpret the degree to which you are prone to adverse effects of stress as follows:

16 44 Type A        Highly vulnerable to adverse effects of stress.
45 59 Type AB        May be vulnerable to adverse effects of stress in some situations.
60 80 Type B         Not now very vulnerable to stress related problems.

Identify Your Personality Type

Before we can learn to deal with stress and become more stress resistant, we need to identify our personality type. Our personality type has an effect on our view of stress and the events that cause stress, and may even help create the stress itself.

To score the Personality Types Assessment, use the following scale:

Write your score here:    ________

Write your personality type here: _________

Characteristics of Type A and Type B Personalities

Now let’s learn the characteristics of A and B personality types.

Someone with an “A” type personality:

• Is often impatient, racing with the minutes
• May be considered aggressive, even hostile
• Is highly achievement oriented and competitive
• Wants to succeed, and to win to the point so badly that he or she puts too much effort into it
• Redoubles effort when faced with a stressful situation
• Is seven times more likely to have a heart attack or coronary related illness such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol

People with a “B” type personality are:

• More laid-back and mellow
• More likely to succeed and complete the same amount of work without as much energy output
• Less likely to push himself or herself

Do you recognize yourself?

We Live with Stress Every Day

We live with stress every day.  Living a stress filled life is like driving your car 75 mph down the expressway with the brakes on. Sooner or later, we break down.

The Signs of Danger

• Irritability, depression
• Pounding of the heart
• Impulsive behavior, emotional instability
• Overpowering urge to cry or run and hide
• Inability to concentrate, flight of thoughts
• Feelings of unreality
• Emotional tension
• Trembling, nervous tics
• High pitched, nervous laughter
• Insomnia
• Migraine headaches
• Pain in the neck or lower back
• Alcohol and drug addiction
• Accident proneness

How does stress affect people on the job?

The prevalence of stress in your work and personal life is without question a major contributor to destructive lifestyle, disease, and premature death. Effects on the organization include reduced productivity, excessive absenteeism, and higher health care costs.

The next five exercises are designed to give you a private indication of your status pertaining to stress factors found to be important.

Individual Profile of Stress Vulnerability

Please read the following statements and circle the T if you think the statement is true or mostly true, and circle the F if you think the statement is false or mostly false.

The Individual Profile of Stress Vulnerability indicates the amount of stress you encounter as a result of your personal characteristics, situational environment, and your overall level of stress vulnerability.

According to the Interpretation above, what is your overall street level?  Write your stress level below:

Is the main cause of your overall stress level PERSONAL or SITUATIONAL? (Or do both contribute equally?)  Write your answer below:

Mental Stress Reaction Indicator

Read each of the following statements and decide how rarely or often it pertained to you during the past week. If the statement was correct more rarely than often, circle R; if it was correct more often than rarely, circle 0.

Give yourself 1 point if you circled 0 for these items: 1, 2, 3, 7, 10, 11; and 1 point if you circled R for these items: 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 12. Add up the points for an indication of your mental reactions to stress:  __________

Interpretation:    8 12 positive reaction to Mental Stress
5 7 neutral reaction to Mental Stress
0 4 negative reaction to Mental Stress

Write your reaction to mental stress here: _______________________

Emotional Stress Reaction Indicator

Read each of the following statements and decide how rarely or often it pertained to you during the past week. If the statement was correct more rarely than often, circle R; if it was correct more often than rarely, circle 0.

Give yourself 1 point if you circled R for these items: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11; and I point if you circled 0 for these items: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Add up the points for an indication of your emotional reactions to stress:

Interpretation:    8 12 positive reaction to Emotional Stress
5 7 neutral reaction to Emotional Stress
0 4 negative reaction to Emotional Stress

Write your reaction to emotional stress here:

Physical Stress Reaction Indicator

Read each of the following statements and decide how rarely or often it pertained to you during the past week. If the statement was correct more rarely than often, circle R; if it was correct more often than rarely, circle 0.

Give yourself I point each if you circled 0 for items I and 3, and give yourself 1 point each if you circled R for all the others. Add up the points for an indication of your physical reaction to stress:

Interpretation:    8 12 positive reaction to Physical Stress
5 7 neutral reaction to Physical Stress
0 4 negative reaction to Physical Stress

Write your reaction to physical stress here:

Personal Stress Control Survey

Read each of the following statements and circle T if it is more true than false for you; circle F if it is more false than true for you.

Give yourself I point for each T circled for the following group of items:

1, 5, 7, 11    ______Internal (your own actions and characteristics)
2, 8, 10, 12    ______Chance (random occurrences without predictability)
3, 4, 6, 9    ______External (other people)

The Personal Stress Control Survey indicates the relative strength of 3 sources of stress control:
?    Your own internal characteristics and actions
?    Chance occurrences
?    Other people

The resulting scores indicate the relative importance of these sources of stress for you. A higher internal score indicates that you already have sufficient power to minimize negative stress reactions. High scores on the other two components indicate that you believe chance or others have control.

Some Methods of Coping with Stress   I

Centering the physical and mental and mind body cooperation for greater relaxation are a few methods of coping with stress.

Taking charge of your breathing will help you control your emotions. Deep “abdominal breathing primes the relaxation response. To progress in your ability to reach deeper states of relaxation, you will want to be centered.

“Centering” refers to the process of being totally captured by the moment. Mind and body are together, ready to accomplish the task at hand. On the mind’s part, there is no pre judgment, no evaluation, and no concern about the past or future. The mind is relaxed and prepared to cooperate with the body. The body is balanced and ready to be in harmony with the mind.

To learn to be centered means to be able to quickly move to this state of total oneness with the moment. World class athletes know the importance of being centered. Likewise, a successful salesperson appreciates the skill of being totally caught up with his customer. All of us have experienced the positive effects of being “centered.” We feel whole, involved, and we enjoy the activity at hand.

Because centering is a process of mental and physical harmony, it is best taught through exercises.

Getting Centered
STEP I

A. Stand and spread out so you can swing your arms all around without touching. Feet are apart at about the width of the shoulders, arms hang freely. Hands should be unclenched and relaxed.

B. Close your eyes. Think about your body. Are there parts of your body which you are more aware of than others? Do you feel tension anywhere? What parts seem stiff and unused?

C. With your right index finger, touch the middle of your belly about an inch or two below your navel. This is your center  where your physical center of gravity is located.

Now press your finger firmly into your center, until the pressure is almost painful. Drop your hand and see if you can continue to sense that point.

Now let this single point of awareness expand through your whole belly. Let your belly expand with each incoming breath. Engage in deep abdominal breathing.

D. Breathing exercise. Use the correct breathing pattern.

Allow air to enter through the nostrils and travel downward, as if to fill the abdomen.

Exhale through the mouth until your lungs are as empty as possible and abdomen is again flat.

At this point of emptiness, close your mouth and wait  expect nothing.

The incoming breath arises spontaneously. Its precise moment of coming is always unexpected, a delightful surprise.

E. Continue to focus on your breathing with a slow, total inhale and a slow, total exhale.

The exercise is ideal before facing a situation requiring you to be at your best. Before you go to sleep is another opportune time for you to develop your centering skills, and that takes practice.

STEP II

A. With your eyes closed, focus your attention on your head and neck. As you exhale, give permission to your head and neck to relax  to be totally relaxed.

B. Do the same to your shoulders, arms, and hands.

C. Now, give your chest, back, and stomach permission to relax.

D. Now, your thighs, calves, and feet need to relax.

E. Now, exhale and give permission to your whole body to relax.

Some Methods of Coping with Stress   II

How you get up in the morning can influence your entire day. Start off the morning in a grumpy, irritable mood and the rest of your day may not go well. Start off the day feeling good and the rest of your day has a better “chance of following suit.

Too often, you stack the cards against yourself by starting the morning on the wrong foot. For example, by shutting off the alarm and saying to yourself that if you rush you can get an extra 10 minutes of sleep does two things. First, that extra 10 minutes of sleep does not really contribute to your restfulness. When you wake up, you will not feel as rested as when you get up immediately after awakening from sleep. And, by putting yourself under time pressure, you increase the likelihood of something going wrong.

By getting up immediately from the sleep state and involving yourself in your normal morning routine, you will produce a positive attitude toward yourself and your day.

If you need some help, try the following activity. It is great with the entire family.

The Morning Laugh

• Assume a standing position with your hands on the back part of your hips, palms faced upward.
• Now, begin to laugh.
• Keep laughing, letting your laughter feed off itself and propel itself through your body and out.
• Laugh fully and completely for at least one full minute.
• When it feels comfortable, stop laughing. Go about your normal morning routine.

Some Methods of Coping with Stress – III

Between 12% and 15% of the American population have serious sleep problems, with another 20% to 25% complaining of periodic bouts of insomnia. Also, excessive daytime sleepiness is a problem for well over 100,000 Americans. Not mentioned, yet, are other problems during sleep such as nightmares, sleepwalking and talking, and bed wetting.

Our sleep can be interrupted by body movements. Many people who report having slept well, experience eight to fifteen awakenings a night. Movement while we sleep (one every fifteen to twenty minutes) may be important for a good night’s sleep. Too few or too many movements are detrimental to a good night’s sleep.

As you get older, time spent in bed decreases up to the age of 45 (17 hours per day in bed near birth to about 8 ½ hours at age 12 to about 7 ½ hours between the ages of 25 and 45). After 45, there is a steady rise to about 8 ½ hours spent in bed, but after 45 you actually spend less and less time sleeping. In fact, the older people get, the longer they stay in bed but the less time they spend sleeping. In later years, the average sleep time is around 6 ½ hours. Also, sleep for the elderly becomes more fragmented with more and more awakenings and greater difficulty returning to sleep once awakened.

The following ten suggestions are the first steps toward better sleep hygiene. You tend to violate these rules when you are under stress. Adding stress management techniques to your daily routine will improve your night’s sleep.

Ten Rules to Better Sleep Hygiene

1.    Sleep as much as needed to feel refreshed and healthy during the following day, but not more. Curtailing time in bed a bit seems to solidify sleep; excessively long times in bed seem related to fragmented and shallow sleep.

2.    A regular arousal time in the morning seems to strengthen circadian cycling and to finally lead to regular times of sleep onset.

3.    A steady daily amount of exercise probably deepens sleep over the long run, but occasional one shot exercise does not directly influence sleep during the following night.

4.    Occasional loud noises (e.g., aircraft fly-overs) disturb sleep even in people who do not wake up and cannot remember them in the morning. Sound proofing the bedroom might be advisable for people who have to sleep close to excessive noise.

5.    Although an overly warm room disturbs sleep, there is no evidence that a very cold room solidifies sleep, as has been claimed.

6.    Hunger may disturb sleep. A light bedtime snack seems to help many individuals sleep. Warm milk contains tryptophan, which actually functions as a relaxant.

7.    An occasional sleeping pill may be of some benefit, but the chronic use of hypnotics is ineffective, and in some cases detrimental.

8.    Caffeine in the evening disturbs sleep, even in people who don’t seem to notice its effects.

9.    Alcohol helps tense people to fall asleep fast, but the resulting sleep is often fragmented.

10.    Rather than trying harder and harder to fall asleep during a poor night, switch on the light and do something else for a while.

Ways to Achieve Emotional Control

Emotions can be thought of as feelings that influence our behavior. When we looked at the signs of stress, emotional instability and tension were mentioned.

When we allow our emotions to become unbalanced, it is many times the result of stress. Stress will generally produce negative emotions which can inhibit our productivity.

What are our emotions influenced by?

Our emotions are ruled by temperament and subconscious influences.

• Temperament is our personality or identity
• Subconscious influences because our mind is a vast storehouse of memories, desires, ideas, and frustrations.

What are some ways we can achieve emotional control?

We can achieve emotional control by:

• Taking responsibility for our emotions
• Putting our problems into proper perspective
• Taking steps to move beyond anger and resentment
• Giving our feelings some exercise

How do these ideas relate to your companies or teams Core Values?  Write your answer in the space provided below:

Notes

To improve the efficiency of the a contact center, it is necessary to implement industry standard metrics.

• A call center has an opportunity to improve its efficiency by leveraging the right measures to drive accountability at the department, supervisor, and associate levels
• There are several industry standard call center metrics that the a contact center will benefit from implementing
• A cross-functional task force was developed to implement the right metrics for the contact center prior to peak season
• The role of the command center is changing to support these initiatives and to more effectively manage the network

The Current Contact Center Environment

An analysis of the a contact center uncovers some improvement opportunities.

Accountability
Associates fundamentally know that they should be on the phone, but the right measures are not implemented to monitor this behavior.
As a result . . .

• Supervisors do not have the right information to hold associates accountable for doing the job that they are being paid to do
• Management does not have the right information to hold supervisors accountable for their associate’s production

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Bill-to-pay (B2P), also known as Productive-to-Paid (P2P)

Bill To Pay is the measure of the amount of time an associate is productive  relative to the amount of time the associate is paid (or the amount of time billed to the client)

B2P is typically a measure that outsourced contact centers use to track percent of agent time that is billed to the client.  P2P is typically the measure in-house contact centers use to measure how productive their agent base is
Represented as a Percentage of total paid time.

When used in conjunction with Occupancy, is a powerful tool for managing the effectiveness of the overall contact center.  Here is the formula:

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This module teaches you how to analyze your current time management skills. You will learn how to determine which areas need improvement and how to develop a detailed action plan to achieve the improvements.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to

• Explain the purpose of effective time management.
• Better manage your time.

Module Contents:

• Where Does All of Our Time Go?
• Time Management Profile
• Daily Time Log
• Daily Time Recommendations
• Tips for Better Time Management
• Tips to Help You Use Your Time More Effectively

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This module explains what is involved in the delegation process. You will learn why some supervisors are reluctant to delegate, and how to delegate work appropriately.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain the importance of delegation.
• Avoid barriers to delegation.
• Pick the right person to delegate to.

Module Contents:

• What is Delegation?
• Test Your Delegation Habits
• Why is Delegation Important?
• Delegation Tasks Identification Chart
• Barriers To Delegation
• Learning What to and What Not to Delegate
• Rules for Determining What To Delegate
• Delegation of Responsibilities Planning Chart
• Picking the Right Person
• Delegation Process
• Delegation Plan Form
• Let Go of the Task
• Offer Feedback

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This module explains the importance of goal setting, clarifies goals and objectives, helps identify your goals, and describes methods of monitoring progress toward attaining goals.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Identify and create quality goals.
• Explain the importance of monitoring progress toward goal attainment.

Module Contents:

• Introduction to Setting Goals
• Life Without and With a Plan – Exercise
• The Importance of Goals – Introduction
• What are Goals?
• Why is Setting Goals so Important?
• Goals and Success
• The Importance of WRITTEN Goals
• Goal Setting   Exercise
• Guidelines for Effective Goals (S.M.A.R.T. Goals)
• Goal Planning Sheet
• Goal Setting for Employees
• Getting Acceptance and Commitment for Goals

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This module will help to identify your philosophies on motivation, examine motivational strategies to apply to specific situations, and demonstrate the importance of identifying employee motivators.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain the supervisor’s role in helping employees achieve satisfaction of their needs.
• Identify motivational strategies that can be applied in work situations.
• Properly utilize motivational strategies.

Module Contents:

• Definition of Motivation
• Two Dimensions of Motivation
• 5 Characteristics of Motives
• Theory X   Theory Y
• What Do People Want from their Jobs?
• Motivator   Hygiene Theory
• Hierarchy of Needs Theory
• Discovering Your Needs
• Needs Analysis
• Motivating Workers
• Case Studies

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This module outlines how to use team building strategies.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, participants will be able to:

• Develop an action plan for team building.
• Explain the stages of team development and identify the stage a team is at.
• Utilize the Characteristics of an Effective Team Member.

Module Contents:

• Teams versus Work Groups
• Stages of Team Development
• Examples of Team Ground Rules
• Team Needs During Each Stage of Development
• Assessment of Your Team’s Needs
• Characteristics of an Effective Team Member
• How Do You Rate as a Team Member?
• ?    Action Commitments

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This module presents the coaching skills required by supervisors in order to help develop their subordinates’ potential.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain what coaching means and the importance of coaching.
• Recognize when coaching should be employed and identify the appropriate coaching technique.
• Properly employ the appropriate coaching technique.

Module Contents:

• Coaching   Purpose and Definition
• Examples of Coaching Situations
• Four Coaching Functions
• Outcomes of Coaching Functions
• Skills of Coaching
• Coaching for Improved Performance
• How to Confront Poor Performance
• General versus Specific Statements
• “You” messages versus “I” Messages
• Parts of an “I” Message

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This module discusses the difference between positive and negative discipline, explains progressive discipline, and applies principles of effective discipline to work situations.

Objectives:

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Define discipline and why it is necessary.
• Explain the supervisor’s role in the disciplinary process.
• Properly utilize the disciplinary process.

Module Contents:

• Managing Discipline Self Assessment
• Introduction to Managing Discipline
• Positive versus Negative Discipline
• The Disciplinary Process
• The Supervisor and Discipline
• Supervisor Behaviors
• Case Situation
• Actual Examples

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