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Stress and Your Locus of Control

April 25, 2019

The school year has well and truly kicked off and it’s probably about now that our intentions of taking better care of ourselves and not letting work overwhelm us are flying out the window. But before we throw in the towel and succumb to the ever-increasing pressure of work demands, let’s try reframing how we think about and deal with stress. Historically, stress was useful because it helped us survive (fight, flight or freeze), in response to a threat to our physical well-being. However, our bodies can’t distinguish between real and perceived threats and a stress response can be psychologically or physically detrimental to our health and wellbeing. It’s important that we commit to tackling this problem and use a…

What Resilient Teams Do (Part 2)

April 18, 2019

Helpful attitudes: Behind every helpful behaviour in teams lies a helpful thought or attitude. If we can get the right attitudes to be practised, the necessary behaviours tend to follow. Some of the great attitudes I see in resilient teams are listed left. When such attitudes are evident in teams, you see behaviours like people stepping outside of their role to help out other team members, thinking more creatively and embracing change rather than resisting it. Yes, we are all allowed to have a whinge from time to time, but we need to limit the amount of time we spend doing so and appreciate the impact continued negativity can have on those around us. What attitudes are you personally modelling?…

What Resilient Teams Do (Part 1)

April 11, 2019

There is no doubt that many workplaces go through periods of significant and ongoing stress. Your school might be in the middle of major stress at present. Yes, there are the day-to-day challenges – high workloads, challenging students, and difficult personalities. But there are also major challenges like restructures, major changes initiated by Central Office or school boards, new computer systems and the pressure of people being expected to do more work with less staff and resources. In some teams, I see the pressures coming out in very human ways – increased sick leave, staff becoming quite sensitive and less tolerant, people taking shortcuts with how they speak to each other and some people withdrawing into their work. I also…

Smart Systems to make You Smile

April 4, 2019

How is your workload going? The end of the first term is looming already and it’s time to assess whether you and your systems have been working effectively… or if you’ve only just been keeping your head above water, perhaps you’re ready to begin establishing some new systems! Systems can actually make us happier. When you start working towards a goal, you get an initial burst of energy that motivates you to act. It is this that drives you to wake up earlier each day, get to the gym regularly or finish your marking each weekend… for a few days or weeks, anyway. Unfortunately, this energy is limited and is reduced every time you exert effort towards your goal. It…

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