After the Floods – Coping in Times of Crisis – and Thriving Once They Have Passed

I live and work in Yorkshire, which has been hit pretty hard by summer flooding. Tens of thousands of homes ruined and businesses disrupted across the county. It is taking an enormous physical effort to get things back on track – and hundreds of people are putting in super-human efforts to try to get things on the mend.

One of the upsides of this disaster is way it renews faith in human nature. The news is full of communities pulling together, helping each other and bouncing back; journalists proclaiming that ‘the people in this community are special’.

Unfortunately we don’t have many super-humans in Yorkshire and the strain is taking its toll. That is why I was pleased to see a great post today from Carmine Coyote on a one minute “stress busting” technique. If you are reaching breaking point, or even just beginning to feel the pressure then why not try it. It is a simple, 6 step – 60 second routine that if repeated several times a day will help you to recognise and manage your stress.

While it might help to manage the symptoms – and raise your awareness of the need to make changes in the way you work – Carmine’s technique alone will not provide a long term remedy to your stress at work.

That will only come when you start to manage differently – to:

• build better relationships of trust and respect with fellow workers
• give, receive and act on feedback on a daily basis,
• coach every member of your team every week
• delegate more and more effectively – so expanding your teams capacity to do more with less resources
• focus on what really makes a difference – and stop doing the marginal stuff.

This requires

1. a little bit of skill (it is easily learned)
2. an iron will (otherwise you get sucked into ‘fire-fighting’ again!)
3. a real determination to deliver on your responsibility to build a great team.
4. a real belief that people are special and have tremendous potential.

Your job as a manager is to provide them with a context in which they do great work.