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  • 1.  Successfully managing work related stress

    Posted 08-29-2025 07:18

    Good day to everyone!  In my organization it is our goal to grow and change every day to be our best!  This can come with many stresses.  I want to start a conversation about how to successfully manage work related stresses.  We all have them or have had them, and I believe managing them successfully will make or break a company.  If you have thoughts on this challenge or are currently coaching your team members to manage the work-related stress so it doesn't manage them, I would love to hear from you about your technics!  



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    Tony Burns
    Owner
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  • 2.  RE: Successfully managing work related stress

    Posted 09-01-2025 11:23

    As owners we all have many responsibilities and challenges that need to be addressed on a daily basis.  The more we communicate to our staff about each of these challenges as they arise the more buy in you get from staff to help solve those challenges.  We try too often to do it all ourselves and then we get burned out.  At our shop we have weekly lunch meetings where we go over these challenges and successes each week and try to encourage an open dialogue. It took a while to get everyone to be comfortable about opening up and being honest about things they want to change or even admitting their faults....but eventually it starts to get easier to have better discussions. 



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    Ellen Forster
    Owner
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Successfully managing work related stress

    Posted 09-04-2025 07:30

    To continue the discussion I have another thought on working with team members to manage work related stress.  I have a team member that has a driver personality. She is very organized and feels stress when things and tasks are not in order according to the standard she set or expects.  She displays a lot of emotions especially when she is feeling stressed.  I would like to hear how you would coach a team member to control their outward emotions that are giving the wrong message to the team around them or customers.



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    Tony Burns
    Owner
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Successfully managing work related stress

    Posted 09-04-2025 17:31
    I have one of those employees as well.   I understand how she feels because I also am one of those who likes things organized and details to be taken care of without being micromanaged to do so.  The best advice I received from a mentor early in my life.  She explained that since I am a high achiever and have high expectations of myself that I cannot expect everyone around me to have the same ideals and expectations.   Unfortunately, we have to remember that we have to manage others in a way that they can hear us and understand how some of these things affect the whole team.  We also have to understand that we need to ask those around us why they are not fulfilling the expectations to see if there might be a communication issue we are not aware of to help lessen the stress of dealing with it.  We also have to lower our expectations of performance to a more standard level that is acceptable...without disrupting the work flow of our business.

    Ellen Forster
    Furrin Auto Alley
    5019 W. Tharpe St.
    Tallahassee, FL 32303
    850-228-8283 (cell)



    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Successfully managing work related stress

    Posted 09-05-2025 07:42
    Hello Ellen.  Thanks for your insight.   There's definitely a total loss of communication between this individual and people who don't display the same level of emotions.   It seems to me others will avoid any communication except when there's no other option.   This is challenging to coach someone on in my opinion.  Since you've stated you have the same perspective how would you appreciate someone wanting to coach you to a point where others don't see you has someone they don't care to work with?  I am reminded of a character in The Ideal Team Player by Patrick Lencioni.   Nancy is her name.  She nows her stuff related to her position but she has low self awareness of how others perceive her communications because of the delivery.   I am thinking of finding a book on the concept of mirroring.   Maybe that could provide the needed training without her feeling insufficient.   What do you think?

    Tony Burns 
    President
    Lakeview Automotive Inc.
    205A Smith Rd.
    Moore, SC 29369
    864-486-8889 office
    864-486-8667 fax




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Successfully managing work related stress

    Posted 09-05-2025 11:40
    My work ethic perspective developed from working as an outside sales rep for many years and growing my territory to the point where I had to work tons of hours to keep up with the workload.  Then my employer convinced me to start leading a team of sales reps. I had to learn to adjust my way of thinking for each salesperson based on their abilities, desire to work hard, and what they were mentally capable of.  I also had a training class about personality types.  This helped the most when dealing with people who think from different perspectives.  Long story short....I quickly adjusted my expectations and tried to be as honest with each individual as possible and talk with them about their personal goals and the company goals.  Then you have to determine how best to achieve  both goals in an appropriate manner.   You also need to look at the things she is upset about with performance of others and if they are also a part of the problem. You need to ask them if they are willing to adjust how they do things to find some peace in the workplace.  It's always a fine line balancing the front office personnel with the auto techs.  You have to find balance with expectations from both sides for everything to work properly.  I believe there are training sessions in  ATi that address working with others and teams in the workplace.  Start there and see what perspective she has after that.  

    Ellen Forster
    Furrin Auto Alley
    5019 W. Tharpe St.
    Tallahassee, FL 32303
    850-228-8283 (cell)



    Original Message


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