The worry caused by the COVID-19 outbreak is ever-present. Social distancing, school and workplace closures, and the uncertainty of the future are weighing on the minds of many. The last thing you want to do is cause undue stress during work.
It's up to management to spring into action and master one of the key management concepts for successful leadership: recognizing stress in employees. Here are three ways managers can help employees cope with stressful situations during work hours, especially amid the current climate.
Evaluate employee workloads
To prevent overworking employees, organizations must first and foremost adequately distribute workloads across team members. But managers should also be trained in how to assign and track reasonable duties to employees. Managers may not even realize they've assigned their employees too many tasks. Proper documentation and tracking tools can help keep on top of employee workloads. Managers should then collaborate with HR to reassess job descriptions or tap other resources to tackle the workload.
Set reasonable goals & expectations
A learning management system is a powerful tool in managing change in the workplace. Not only does it engage employees with learning, it stores work information, too. Individual, team and organizational goals frequently change. Managers are often tasked with tracking and communicating these changes. To avoid stress, employees require a clear understanding of what's expected.
One way to quickly update and communicate goals to employees is by recording them within the LMS. Managers can use the LMS to confidently track goals and measure team progress. Moreover, managers can leverage an LMS to empower employees to achieve personal career goals that also align with business needs.
Offer stress management training
Stress is impossible to completely eliminate; however, we can control how we react to stress. Conversations about stress can quickly lead to discussions about personal matters. Managers may not know how to approach this type of conversation, but training management concepts via the LMS can equip these supervisors with the tools they need. Management concepts to cover in training about stress include conversation starters and reading body language. With everyone working from home, video conferencing is an invaluable tool to observe nonverbal cues. Finally, your managers should know when it may be appropriate to loop in HR or an emotional wellness expert.
Make sure to keep tabs on your managers' stress levels, too. Stress can be contagious, so it's possible for managers to pass their worries and attitude to their direct reports. Consider integrating a wellness content library into your online learning platform to inspire all learners to manage stress and improve their emotional intelligence, sleep habits, physical health and focus, especially during these uncertain times.
Empower your learners during stressful situations. See how an LMS can mitigate business disruptions during challenging times.
If your ready to learn more about Absorb LMS, talk to us. We can get you live in days, not weeks.
