Reduce Business Stress with a Business Mentor or Business Coach
10th Jan , 2020
The right levels of stress can be a good thing, as it can be motivating and drive performance. But too much stress at unhealthy levels will inhibit your business performance and become corrosive to business and personal health. This needs to be managed to increase business performance.
Managing stress is one of the many areas in which a well-matched business mentor or business coach from International Business Mentors can help you. They can help you assess where you are at with your business and identify critical issues and stress impacts. They can then give you independent and confidential support to help you actively improve performance, stress awareness and management.
Tailored Assistance to Overcome Stress
As a business owner, leader or executive, you have responsibilities that affect you and a wide range of stake holders, such as the business itself, your employees, suppliers, financiers, customers and the wider community. It is not uncommon to feel overstressed while managing ongoing real challenges and pressing issues such as business growth strategies. Further, it is common for business owners, leaders or executives to take their challenges and related stress back home with them, which may cause further negative feedback loops, increase stress levels, and interfere in family relationships.
Constructive personal feedback on stress from a business mentor or business coach is tailored to you and your specific business. This support will depend on your experience and training, and the type, size, structure and industry of your business. There are many issues that create stress in the workplace; some affect everyone, while others are selective. For example, a business owner has the ultimate responsibility for their business’s success, whereas an executive team may be anxious about their job performance and/or job security. If not addressed early and well managed, too much stress can affect both the mental and physical health of individuals, and through them, the performance of the business itself.
A well-matched business mentor or business coach will be experienced and can assist you with business coaching to overcome issues such as stress. This stress dimension of your business performance can be improved significantly with business coaching and mentoring sessions to facilitate, guide and assess the legitimacy and severity of stress and the contributing factors.
Issues that Lead to Workplace Stress
Some of the issues that routinely come up when dealing with workplace stress include:
- Overwork
- Unrealistic targets
- Rigid workplace practices
- Poor sleep patterns
- Bad temper
The consequences of stress in the business may include:
- Bad choices
- Disharmony and poor communications
- Drugs and alcohol abuse
- Eating poorly and lack of good exercise
- Low morale and productivity
- Low performance
- Missing out on exercise
- Social exclusion
- Strained relationships
Furthermore, if unchecked, stress issues can encroach into family life, and at its severity it can cause destructive family relationship and breakdowns.
With their experience and independence of mind as well as their fresh set of eyes, your business mentor or business coach can help you to recognise the critical factors causing undue stress in you or the business and help you consider better systems and better leadership to solve the problems that are contributing to high stress levels.
A Classic Symptom of Business-Related Stress
A classic symptom of business-related stress is when the owners or senior executives conclude that they are working too much in the business and not spending enough time working on the business. Relief is needed.
An independent experienced business mentor or business coach from International Business Mentors acts as a confidential sounding board, offering candid feedback and support in a safe and confidential environment. They can help facilitate discussions on the issues causing workplace stress, covering the following:
- Delegating
- Health
- Prioritising tasks
- Quality control
- Skill levels and training
- Taking stress back home
- Time management
- Work/life balance
Some suggestions from your business coaching or mentoring professional will no doubt include:
- Fix business problems decisively
- Button down real opportunities to make the business focus on the important tasks
- Create defined boundaries between work and home
- Set realistic boundaries – e.g. No emails/phone calls after hours, limiting office time
- Enjoy some ‘me’ time – e.g. Sport, gym, walking, hobbies, reading for pleasure
- Take a holiday
- Spend quality time with family or friends
- If appropriate, perhaps work remotely from home sometimes
- Consider discussing the pressures and challenges you face with your partner to assist with support and improve communication
Call International Business Mentors to find out how a business coach or mentor can help you improve performance, better manage stress, and help you with business challenges such as devising business growth strategies.