How to improve Productivity and Performance in 5 Easy Steps!

1) Get at least 7 hours sleep! Mrs Thatcher famously only needed 4 hours sleep but she power-napped during the day to make up the time her brain needed to recuperate and rejuvenate. If you do not get enough sleep you cannot function at the highest level.

2) Spend at least 20-60 minutes every day in meditation/trance/prayer mode, with your brain waves  down to theta level. At this level, stress hormone release is significantly reduced. When you go back up to beta, you then have control of your subconscious mind and can act consciously instead of automatically.

3) Take at least 30 minutes exercise during the day. Go for a walk or cycle ride. People who walk or cycle have trimmer waistlines than people who don't! And their blood sugar levels are more likely to be normal.

4) Think positive thoughts. People who turn everything to the positive are much less stressed than people who just accept the situation for what it is or see it as a positive.

5) Eat more vegetables and plant-based protein than animal protein and refined foods to improve your energy levels and protect your future health.

Noah's Ark and the Art of Building a Business

The majority of people in this country don't profess to have a religious belief, but that doesn't mean we can't learn from the Holy Bible or other Holy books.  A few year's ago I found an inspirational article on the web from Woodstock Baptist Church entitled 'Everything I need to know about life, I learnt from Noah's Ark'. I would like to update it and call it 'Almost everything you need to know about  business is contained in the story of Noah's Ark'. because the words hold true for the business community. I hope Woodstock Baptist Church will approve!


1.  There is often only one chance in life to do something and if that moment has passed then catching up is impossible, so don't miss the boat.
2.  There is only one earth and whatever we do to it has consequences. Similarly, whatever we say or do has consequences. So whichever boat we find ourselves in, we need to look after it.
3. People laughed at Noah for spending so much time and effort in building his boat, but those that did ended up dead in the water. Closed minds lead to stagnation.
4. Noah was 600 years old when he built the Ark. He had kept himself fit and healthy and was up for the challenge. Do you look after your body by giving it good food and exercising regularly?
5. If you are going to do a job, do it well. Make sure you have a strong platform on which to build.
6. Don't listen to negative criticism,  Open-minded people will support you with positive suggestions - the last thing you want is negativity and nay-sayers around you.
7. For safety, get at least one other person on-side so you have a mutual support network. If at least one other person likes your idea, then surely more than one will.
8. Speed isn't always necessary. The Ark carried snails as well as cheetahs. Sometimes slow progress is more stable than fast growth. Look what happened to all those dotcom companies!
9. Remember to just float and enjoy the scenery. Stress is a negative emotion which leads to illness whereas relaxation and mindfulness allow the brain to make inciteful, appropriate decisions.
10. The Ark was built by amateurs who learnt as they went along. No-one is an expert in anything when they first start out - that doesn't mean to say that the project wont be successful.  The Titanic was built by professionals......
11. Be happy and stay positive. No matter how bad the storm, there will be a rainbow over the horizon.

Teacher Stress - how bad is it?

A recent post about stress and the teaching profession in the Linked-In Group Teacher's Lounge has, to date, had over 60 responses. All responses have commented that the job is so stressful that it is making people ill and causing teachers to leave in droves. Teachers feel they are undervalued by pupils, parents, their managers and the state; they feel they are overworked and under-paid; they feel they spend too many hours working; they feel demotivated; they feel they don't get enough down-time during the day; they feel they have too much paperwork; they feel they are governed too tightly and inspected too frequently; they feel that only they can understand what they are going through; they feel unique.

There is one word which links all these complaints - the word 'feel'. Their emotional response is one of negativity and negative thinking leads to stress hormone release. Stress hormones are protective hormones which make us want to run away, stand and fight or freeze like a rabbit in a car's headlights - in teacher's case it is making them want to resign, crawl away and hide. The very word 'teacher' is creating negative associations in the brain which instantly releases stress hormones, making them feel anxious. Stress is something which can be controlled because it is down to the way we think.

Teachers are not unique in the world of stressful jobs! It's not true that every pupil, parent, manager and member of the Government disrespects teachers; other professions work just as hard as teachers - and don't get the holidays, pay and other perks which teachers get (carers, the self-employed trying to get a new business off the ground and sales people with challenging targets and salaries paid as a percentage of sales spring to mind); other jobs have lots of paperwork (the police, for example); other professions are governed and inspected frequently (the pharmaceutical industry). However, what is true in the world of teachers is that they are unique in two ways. The profession tends to attract individuals who have been in no other environment than schools or colleges - they have little experience of anything other than a learning environment, whether being taught as a pupil or student and then teaching others - and the way the profession is organised is that there is little team-work as teachers work as individuals in the classroom unlike, say, a football team or a factory-worker. On top of this, teachers tend not to be reflective; their insight is into their pupils, not themselves and can therefore find it difficult to internalise changes which will help them rather than their pupils.

But there is hope! I am currently working with teachers to help them understand stress and how subtle changes to thinking can help them control it. We are developing team-working through mutual understanding of self and others in a supportive environment. We are improving diets and motivation to exercise - finding ways of incorporating these into the school day. And we are learning ways to create new neural pathways in the brain so stressful situations can be handled appropriately such as mindfulness and NLP. Teachers and lecturers benefit through the calmer atmosphere created in their minds which has a knock-on effect with the children. Some teachers have taught the children some of these methods, which can help with unruliness and their own stress at, for example, exam time.

If you would like to know more, please do not hesitate to contact me. Enquiries@releaseyourbusiness.com    +44 7585 802035

Recent research by AXA PPP Healthcare published in HR Review in the first week of April 2015 suggests that 2/3rds of managers do not think that stress, anxiety or depression warrant time off work. Other research has suggested that 88% of managers do not think that stress, anxiety or depression affects their place of work. This demonstrates there is a massive skills training gap in management education.
It is very worrying that managers are taught how to get the maximum return on investment from their staff without looking after their mental well-being. There is legislation to cover physical well-being, which is very necessary, but I would suggest mental well-being is just as important if not more so.
The reason for this is that anxiety, stress and depression affect thinking, decision-making and communication. Mental impairment probably affects a company's bottom line more than physical impairment; it is easier to train someone to carry out a physical task but not as easy to teach inherent thinking skills.

It was reported by the FT that the prolonged downturn was contributed to by  bankers being unable to take the necessary risks associated with wealth-creation due to their high stress levels. This was pooh-poohed by many, but the facts are there for all to see; stress creates a natural default system in the mind which causes the body to go into 'auto-pilot' to escape from whatever is causing the stress.
Fortunately, because we are intelligent beings, there are ways of actively overcoming this response. But they have to be taught and practiced! That's because 90% of what we do is automatic; we don't think about how we move, how our food is digested, the mechanism for breathing etc. However 10% of our activity is consciously motivated so in order to overcome our natural, inbred stress response, we need to harness the power of that 10%.
So as well as training and coaching management and staff to achieve more for the company using traditional sales, management, marketing and leadership courses, which are all important, I teach mind management techniques to prevent or over-come stress and anxiety. In this day and age, resilience development is a necessity  for companies wishing to get the best from their staff - it's a MUST have, not a nice to have. As an Anxiety UK therapist and a member of the International Stress Management Association, I work with individuals and teams, managers and staff, to improve their team-working and emotional intelligence which increases overall performance. Give me a call to find out how!

The Last Taboo - it's not Cancer, it's Stress!

Once upon a time, it was taboo to mention cancer. It was thought that you could catch cancer. Not so many years ago, it was seen as a weakness to admit you had cancer because there was little understanding of the mechanism of growth and how it could be controlled and treated. Until relatively recently, colo-rectal cancer was something that was unmentionable. Today, cancer is not the killer it once was; it is not 'the big C'. It is discussed openly, researched widely and patients are supported with a whole range of treatments and therapies, both medical and complimentary. Some cancers are considered curable and many have long remission times. Cancer is not surrounded by the wall of silence which it once was - that wall of fear has been broken down.

Today's cancer is stress. Stress is the last taboo.  It must be contagious because the cost to British business is increasing year-on-year. More and more people are admitting they are unable to think clearly enough to do their work, are exhibiting signs of presenteeism, are developing coping strategies or suffering from sleeplessness, negative thinking and becoming depressed. Yet when questioned about work, few members of staff (and that includes management as well as staff) will admit they are feeling stressed. Why is this? Because they think it makes them look weak, will reflect badly on them and might even cause them to lose their job.

So what's to be done about it? First, people MUST be able to admit they are stressed without fear of reprisal or ridicule. Second, it should be incumbent on employers to train all staff in techniques which will help them become resilient to the stress of the job in the same way as they are trained to actually do the job. Third, any member of staff who is signed off with stress should be encouraged to see a therapist as well as their GP to ensure they can pick up their work-load effectively when they return - there has to be a willingness on the part of the employee to develop resilience and return to full performance. Fourth, incorporating wellness into health and safety policies will reduce the number of staff going off sick and reduce the huge costs to the company and the exchequer.

As a Member of the International Stress Management Association and an Anxiety UK-endorsed therapist, life and business coach I have worked with several companies and organisations to help them understand why people can become stressed and how to handle it and/or change to reduce it. Interrupting the release of stress hormones involves creating new neural pathways in the brain by changing thought-processes, active relaxation and emotional intelligence development.

Stress is a normal biological event designed to keep us safe from danger but constant stress where the body is constantly on edge can be life-threatening - I personally know people who have had heart attacks, strokes and full mental breakdowns due to stress. Stress might be the last taboo - but, like cancer, it can be a killer.

If you would like to know more about reducing stress and improving performance in your company, please do not hesitate to give me a call.

Linda Jane Johnson - 07585 802035 - enquiries@releaseyourbusiness.com

ReleaseYourBusiness: Stress in the NHS is costing us all money!

ReleaseYourBusiness: Stress in the NHS is costing us all money!: Staff in the NHS are stressed, exhausted and burnt out according to an article written by journalist, editor and lecturer Emma Wilkinson wh...

Stress in the NHS is costing us all money!

Staff in the NHS are stressed, exhausted and burnt out according to an article written by journalist, editor and lecturer Emma Wilkinson which was published in The Lancet on March 7th, 2015. This is nothing new - almost everyone who I know who works in the NHS tells me that they are stressed; the NHS it isn't what it used to be; there's too much work with too little time to do it; patient expectations are higher and they are more demanding; managers control the services which are offered without really understanding what is involved; standards of care are dropping etc etc. And what's more, they all tell me they would leave if they could but they have bills to pay and they would be letting their work colleagues down if they did leave. However, they tell me this in private; as the article says - few are willing to admit their fears publicly in case they 'will lose their job or are deemed incompetent'.
                                                               

Ms Wilkinson says there is a culture of fear in the NHS as a result of constant rounds of reorganisation, insufficient funding and negative  reporting in the press which has lead to managers bullying their staff rather than caring for them. Resources which the NHS have put in place to help stressed or anxious staff  are 'closing or being down-graded' even though they are oversubscribed. On the whole, people go into medicine or clinical professions because they want to help people get better and, as Dr Mark Porter says in the article, they would rather take extra work on themselves than not treat their patients.

Staff who are suffering excess stress and anxiety cannot function and have to take time off. The NHS bill for private 'agency' staff is higher than ever (£2.5bn according to The Daily Mail, March 12th 2015, up fom 303m in 1997) yet little seems to be done across the board about the situation. Private providers who have the expertise to teach staff anti-stress techniques, who can help to change the culture and the way in which management, staff and patients interact, who can identify where stress-points are and offer suggestions for minimising them are seen as alien because they aren't part of the NHS.

And that seems to be the problem. The NHS is so insular that it finds it difficult to see or admit its own failings in a positive light, It trains people to work as 'wellness' interventionists but concentrates on diet (rather than nutrition), stopping smoking (rather than making positive lifestyle choices) and exercise (rather than increasing calorie expenditure and muscle tone by incorporating it into daily activities).

Constant stress can cause weight gain; high blood pressure; heart attacks; type 2 diabetes; strokes and more. Our bodies are not meant to be in a constant state of stress yet the NHS is actually causing the people who work for it to become unwell. It's great that some of its overweight staff have been sent on 'slimming' courses but losing weight in itself does not affect stress levels. NHS staff need to be sent on Resilience-building courses which include nutrition, exercise, lifestyle and, most importantly, relaxation/meditation techniques. And the NHS needs to look at its culture to turn it into the caring organisation it purports to be.

                                                             

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60470-6/fulltext

Happiness! It is all it’s cracked up to be!

Are you happy? Are you the kind of person who is always cheerful? Are you the kind of person who nothing phases, who takes everything in their stride? Are you the kind of person who people go to with their troubles, because you encourage them to get back on track?

According to Dr. Travis Bradbury, happy people are 36% more motivated, 6 times more energized than and twice as productive as those who say they are not happy. But happy people are just so much nicer to be around. Happiness is infectious; when you smile, the whole world smiles with you (to coin a phrase)!

So can you become happier? Yes, you can! Because it’s all to do with how you process the information which your brain receives – if you process information in a positive way you are much likelier to be happier than if you process it negatively. Happiness is down to the way you think, because the way you think affects the way you feel and the way you feel affects those around you.

In business circles, people who are intuitive about their actions, thoughts and feelings are said to be Emotionally Intelligent. Leaders are emotionally intelligent because they understand what motivates the people they interact with. As we know, motivated people are happy people, are more energized and are twice as productive, which is why leaders want happy people on their team. But a good leader is also able to work with an unhappy person to increase their motivation, raise their energy levels and increase their productivity.

So next time you are feeling sorry for yourself, behave like a leader! Remember you are in charge of your own happiness and the happiness of others, think positively, don’t judge yourself and just get on with it! You know you can!

Communicating Decisions Well is Key to their Acceptance

Mahatma Gandhi was so insightful when he said 'The future depends on what we do in the present'. And there are so many things we can do! At every minute of the day there are multiple choices. Deciding whether to do one thing or another and trying to work out the consequences can drive us to distraction, but the decision we make ultimately depends on our objectives. However, there are further complications when we take other people's objectives into account. Our partners usually have very different ideas as to what we spend our money on, for example!

In business, decision-making can be fraught, because you have to live with your decisions. But the way in which you communicate your decisions also has an impact on your future, because both verbal and non-verbal communications contribute to the way in which you and your decisions are perceived. Being open, honest, calm and rational can make the difference between  your decisions being perceived as reasonable and worthwhile and you being perceived as a true leader.

No-one likes being shouted at and told what to do. Why? Because it triggers our emotion centres and causes the release of stress hormones, making us want to run away from the situation, slap the person who is shouting at us or freeze in fear. Sometimes even being asked to do something elicits the same response because we are conditioned to think the worse of requests - our childhood is filled with requests and orders to do things we don't particularly like doing such as tidy our bedrooms rather than invitations to go out and play with our friends. However, if we are asked our opinion about a situation and invited to suggest how we would solve the problem before being presented with the decision which has already been made, then we are much more likely to accept it rather than rebel against it.

Being sensitive to others is a necessary quality of being a good leader. For some, leadership comes easy, but others need training and coaching. Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness sessions are key skills which can ensure your management and staff not only make the right decisions but communicate them effectively to.

Resilience Management Training

Stress costs British business £3.7bn in 2012, according to Business Matters magazine; 10.4 million people are affected and off work with stress or anxiety every year; stress is taking over as the No. 1 reason for people being off work. Stress could be costing you and your business more than just money.

Stress is a fact of life – we need a certain amount of stress to function.  But too much stress could be life-threatening. Some people can handle significant amounts of stress but others are not so resilient. Release Your Potential's courses can help you and your staff learn how to deal better with stress to reduce the costs to your business. Experience of working with and dealing with stress in the real world is the basis of these sessions.

Training Courses

Introduction to Stress Management

The introductory, interactive course for staff of all levels is designed to inform your staff as to what stress is, why too much stress can be dangerous and what can be done to manage pressure. A variety of tools are employed to increase understanding of the way stress can affect the whole body and therefore, importantly, techniques are taught to help reduce personal and work-based stress - relaxation, mindfulness, healthy eating and exercise - which can together help ensure you and your staff remain fit, confident and energised to contribute fully to work, as well as to their social and family life.

Participation as a company in stress training will enable all levels to handle stress so they can remain in control as pressure increases. Individuals will be enabled to identify the situations which cause their stress levels to rise, and given tools and techniques so they can learn to relax quickly in order to function to meet the demands of the task in hand and achieve optimum results.

Introduction to Stress Management (half day suggested itinerary)

9.30       Coffee on arrival, registration

10.00     Introductions, Housekeeping, Aims and Outcomes.

10.05     What is stress? Definitions. Biology of stress, short- and long-term effects on the body and mind.

10.45     Areas of work which can cause stress (HSE Guidelines)

11.30     Coffee

11.45     Changing perceptions and attitudes towards stress; putting things into perspective; positive thinking; reframing of identified problems

12.00     How to control stress – lifestyle choices e.g.  diet, exercise, mindfulness, relaxation, keep a stress diary. Positive thinking. Role of alpha waves in switching off stress hormone release.

12.45     What changes can you make to reduce your stress levels? Goals and Intentions.

13.00     Summary and Close

Stress Management for Managers (half day suggested itinerary)

This short course provides a useful overview of the current legislation regarding stress and possible changes to the Mental Health Act in 2013 and tools freely available from the HSE and CIPD to managers which measure their ability to deal with stress and stressed staff. It will also give managers  the opportunity to discuss ways in which stress can be identified and to develop a personal action plan to manage their personal stress.

14.00     Role of Management in controlling and managing stress in the work-place; emotional intelligence

14.15     Signs and symptoms of employee stress

14.30    HSE & CIPD Guidelines and questionnaire

15.30     Tea

15.45     Feedback on Guidelines. Management style, strategies for handling workplace stress, available resources, work-loads, communication etc

16.45     Personal action plan; goals and Intentions

17.00     Summary and Close

Why your company culture is so important - even in a company of two!

Culture - it underpins who you are, what you stand for, how you behave, what you value and what your customers can expect from you as a company. Culture is more than just a mission statement - it binds the company together and informs how staff behave. Companies with 100s of employees need to identify and reinforce their company culture to ensure all of their staff are aligned in the profile that they present to the world - but isn't that just as important for an SME or a two-man band? If your company culture is healthy then everyone works for the benefit of the organisation, pulling together to ensure the customer is satisfied; in an unhealthy company there are frequent instances of individuals working to benefit themselves and their own needs. Company culture can make or break a company!

                                                                                                                 Picture: Stuart Miles

Where there is a healthy company culture, where Directors, Management and Staff are all valued for the job they do and the contribution they make and are recognised and rewarded equally, stress and anxiety are minimised; staff retention is reduced too. There is a buzz about the place, employees are proud of working for their company and company reputation soars. As reputation increases, so trust increases and sales increase - if sales increase then salaries and bonuses can increase.

Companies experiencing high levels of staff absenteeism and presenteeism and reduced productivity due to stress and anxiety in the work place often only need to look dispassionately at their culture to see where things are going wrong. Aligning teams to a single goal, viewing culture as a strategic tool and training staff to be emotionally intelligent are interventions which take a relatively short period of time but have been proven to improve individual performance and company productivity.

                                                                                                                      Picture: Renjith Krishnan

Release Your Potential works with senior and middle management initially and then facilitates team involvement to ensure your company culture is working for you, to release the potential of your staff and your company.