Stress Management: is it all about management?

Support organizations are (rightly) concerned about stress. Working with clients experiencing problems takes a lot out of us, but stress management is often considered a private activity, something we need to take care of at the individual level.

What if it was not? What if stress management was mostly a matter of how the team is managed? The Neuroscience of Trust, an article in the January-February issue of the Harvard Business Review, details how common-sense management actions can activate trust and decrease stress. The recipe is simple:

Recognize high performance (both the slow-and-steady performers and the heroes).
Induce “challenge stress”, not too much but just enough (think about challenging assignements).
Give people discretion on how they work (we are often not so great at this in support by scripting interactions top much).
Share information broadly.
Facilitate social bonding (a nice place to sit and relax would be nice as a start)
Show vulnerability

And if you can do all this, you will get: