20 ways to reduce workplace stress and increase productivity… at zero cost.

The secret is out. Work related stress is on the rise, causing a number of headaches.

Workplace stress is caused by a number of factors, the main ones being change and uncertainty; higher workloads and poor interpersonal relationships.

Most organisations are experiencing escalating levels of competitive challenge, which is impacting on the bottom line.  This is mainly due to increasing globalisation, the internet, technology improvements and higher customer expectations.

The pace of transformation is already relentless and predicted by futurists to continue to grow.

As a leader, you are likely to be expected to improve the success of your organization, against these harsher competitive conditions with rapidly eroding resources.  You may be concerned about your ability to be successful… and your future career.  Your health and wellbeing may be deteriorating.  You may be becoming less tolerant, more demanding and selfish; impacting employee, family and other relationships.

Just when you need all the help you can get, your employees might not be ‘going the extra mile’. They may be less motivated and productive; battling stress from juggling more hours, a higher workload, or the threat of redundancy. They may be struggling to connect effectively after having been thrown together from different companies, cultures and locations.

Incidents of mental stress are increasing, creating a number of costs.  Work-related claims, job absence, employee turnover, burnout and other illnesses are on a steep ascent.  Workplace stress also has the potential to negatively impact your organizations’ reputation, as its sources and impacts are being reported on by the media, more and more.

Here are 20 things you can instantly achieve at zero cost that will help to motivate staff, alleviate stress, increase productivity and improve corporate performance:

1. Create a lunch time exercise group, such as a running group.  Get all leaders to participate in the group to promote higher quality, trust building, informal conversations.
2. Replace working lunches with ‘walk-time’ lunches, with a sandwich and fruit at the end.  This will help stimulate brain power and afternoon productivity.
3. Arrange for all leaders to host offsite meetings at their homes. This both saves money and increases intimacy and trust between leaders and staff.
4. Replace expensive restaurant dinner and drinks with group exercise, followed by a spa treatment and healthy meal; in order to boost connectivity, brain power and productivity.
5. Include music and dancing at all group overnight functions to stimulate happiness, wellbeing and cognitive functioning.
6. Have a communal ‘nap area’ that can be accessed by anyone at any time. People work significantly better after a short nap.
7. Invite newly formed and/or remote teams to play a ‘getting to know you’ game. Members submit 3 anonymous facts about themselves into a central inbox and spend the first 10 minutes of weekly webcasts/ meetings guessing  who belongs to each fact. The increase in intimacy and trust established helps to boost team performance.
8. Hold regular informal lunches with remote teams via Skype.  This helps to establish intimacy and boost team productivity.
9. Create a rule that email can only be used when an audit trail is required.  Otherwise use face time, Skype, face to face, telephone or other two-way communication.
10. Replace email and intranet articles and teleconferences with more effective podcasts and webcasts.
11. Begin to monitor staff for informal communications patterns and use results in performance reviews. This helps leaders identify those employees who are conducting effective conversations and helps to keep an eye on the rumour mill. Communications Managers- who have reduced email/ internet/ newsletter workloads- may be able to help you do this.
12. Monitor formal meeting communications patterns to identify how teams can contribute to productive conversations better.
13. Create a team charter with agreed behaviours between team members. This helps meeting time and other team interactions to become more consistent, pleasant, productive and focused.
14. Borrow people from within the organisation to facilitate cross-business collaboration and problem solving meetings, as this will help get better results.
15. Use Edward DeBono’s ‘Six thinking Hats’ as a model for complex decision-making in teams.
16. Reduce office space by allocating cross functional teams into closely connected hubs.  Rotate on a regular basis to ensure cross-functional connectivity this helps to break down silos.
17. Begin to use visual prompts and storytelling in every presentation. Mandate pictures and storytelling across the company.
18. Arrange for the next important ‘townhall’ or group presentation to occur in an outdoor space or provide a distinctive but pleasant smell in the meeting room. The visual / olfactory change in environment will make the information more memorable.
19. Make staff awards health and wellness related e.g. replace the bottle of whiskey and watch with a free massage and pedometer or ‘Jawbone UP’. This will help to alleviate stress and boost productivity.
20. Post a picture of eyes above any ‘honesty boxes’ (where staff are required to pay for food or drinks). This impacts on the subconscious mind and makes people more likely to pay.

For queries, more information and ideas, please request a copy of the free book Co Solution no. 1- Contemporary and Cost effective solutions for Competitive advantage by visiting http://www.acorporateaffair.org or by inserting your name and email in the form below:

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