Senior BCT Organisation: 1. Stress 2. SMART Goals

STRESS  What is it?  What causes stress?  What is the effect of stress?  What are some strategies to overcome stress?

Stress - Define  What is it?  Stress is the pressure to meet deadlines at work or the inability to anticipate what may/may not occur and prepare for unexpected challenges.  Stress is the body’s reaction to demanding tasks and challenges.

Stress - Causes  Some possible causes:  Failure to plan  Going with the flow and then flustering when changes occur  Overloaded with work  Failure to see the big picture  Commonly reactive people (not enough stress)

Stress - Effects  Impact on workplaces:  Increased days off work due to health issues  Payments for workers compensation  Retraining costs associated with replacing some staff  Increased pressure on other workers who have to take up the slack

Stress - Strategies  Ensure adequate breaks for all staff during the day  Ensuring staff are trained to handle the job they are asked to perform.  Training staff to evaluate the effectiveness of their work processes  Improve planning and organisational skills of staff  Improving staff knowledge of technology to assist with planning  Improve staff knowledge of stress health issues  Assisting staff to identify timewasters and ways to better plan their day Strategies for employees and employers

Response Q: In a structured paragraph respond to the following: Explain what stress is, give two broad causes of stress in a workplace, describe the affect of stress and provide some possible strategies which can be implemented to reduce stress in the workplace.

S M A R T Goals  Why should goals fit this criteria?

SPECIFIC Each goal must have an explicit objective to be reached with detailed information as to who, what, when, where, which and why.

MEASURABLE Establish criteria for measuring progress and completion. How do you know when you’ve finished?

ACHIEVABLE The goal must be at a level which is attainable according to your skills and time frame.

REALISTIC Exaggerated and impractical goals will not be effective as the likelihood of reaching the goal is minimal. The goal must be suited to your willingness and ability to accomplish.

TIME BOUND A suitable time frame/date needs to be set which aligns with the achievability of the goal, this is important to create urgency instead of a ‘someday’ mentality.

Revision Q’s