Page 38 - Perfect Phrases for Motivating and Rewarding

■ Your decisions, behaviors, and ability to handle stress have
a direct impact on the stress of employees who report to
you. Know your own stress levels and take command of your
reactions. In hectic times, your state will either add to the
problem or be part of the solution.
■ Are you overextending your department? Are you
overextending yourself and, by extension, your employees?
Assess what you can do to change the state of your office.
■ A well-placed no could keep you from crossing the line from
a bustling workplace to an out-of-control environment in
which frenzied mistakes and burnout are the norm. Before you
say yes, consider the importance of the request and available
resources. It’s okay to say, “I’ll think about it,” “Let me check
our workload,” or “Can it wait until next week?”
■ Burning out your staff won’t help you build momentum. If
you own your own business and it’s growing too fast, you
may want to extend yourself to meet demands. (Hire one or
two more people if one would have to work around the clock
to satisfy you.) Usually, the additional financial output comes
back in multiples. If that won’t work for you, slow down until
you’re ready to consider expansion.
■ Not every fire is a fire; not every tragedy is a tragedy. Being
selective in emergency responses helps real emergencies get
the immediate attention they deserve. What would happen
to emergency response systems if people called 911 every
time a cat was stuck in a tree or they wanted to ask a general
question?
■ A short break—one for fresh air, a phone call, meditation,
stretching, or maybe even just thinking (or not thinking)—can
change the tenor of a day.
■ Any investment in teaching stress management techniques is
worthwhile for handling both long- and short-term stresses.
The fight-or-flight reaction is a defense mechanism that
physically gears us to react in the wild. In the office, the urge

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