Hi and welcome to this webinar. My name's Kirsty Sterman. I'm one of the training advisors at VDS Training.

And we're going to be looking at how stress can affect team performance and what you can do about it. Obviously, stress is a hot topic in the veterinary industry, and we're always looking at ways in which we can minimise stresses and allow ourselves to perform at our best, both individually and as teams. So through this webinar, I'm going to be looking at what stresses tend to or can affect individuals and teams, how they can affect the performance, our individual performance and team performance, and what you can do about it.

So the first thing to recognise is that stress is a normal psychological, mental and emotional response to pressure. Stress occurs when we have, when the pressures placed upon us are above our ability to cope with them. So obviously this can vary depending on the type of pressure, the amount of time that that pressure has been on us.

But what we should recognise and remember is that our normal response to pressure. Is our flight, fight or freeze response. And we were designed to, to deal with these situations, maybe once or twice a day, perhaps when we were running away from predators.

And whilst our environment has changed around us, our physiological makeup has not. So we were probably designed to have our sympathetic nervous system activated, where we have an increase in cortisol, for example, increase in blood pressure, etc. Maybe once or twice a day.

So just take a moment now to think about how many times that occurs for us in this day and age. You know, we get up for work, we, perhaps we see something on the news that, upsets us or frustrates us. Perhaps somebody cuts out in front of us when we're driving to work.

Then we get to work and somebody's throwing a curveball in, and the day that we thought we had has completely changed. So even before 9 o'clock, potentially, we've had 2 or 3 situations where our, our stress response has been activated. So it's really important to understand how we behave when we respond to, to stress and pressure, but also what we can do to switch that sympathetic nervous system off and reactivate the parasympathetic nervous system.

And this will prevent stress or manage our stresses better and prevent them having long-term effects on us. So what are your signs of stress? It's really important to think about this because we all have different signs of stress and we all respond to stress in different ways.

So when you're under pressure and feeling stressed. How do you feel? And there's a difference between being under pressure, smashing it, feeling like you're really, thriving under pressure.

So you, we all need a certain amount of stimulation, but there's a difference between that stimulation and feeling stressed. So how do you think, feel, behave? What do you do when you're stressed?

Do you perhaps get a little bit more snappy, or do you go into yourself? Do you move faster or slow down and think about things? Know your signs of stress, and then it's much easier to pick up when you're slipping into that mode or slipping into that feeling stressed and not coping with the pressures.

It's easier for you to recognise when that is happening and just press pause or do something to to reboot a little bit. I think it's also just as important to look out for each other and watch each other's backs in practise. And so it's useful to know how your colleagues react under pressure and stress.

Because some of us won't show any outward signs. So some of us will go perhaps a little quieter. But we, but if we're quite a quiet person anyway, that may not be obvious to our colleagues.

So it is a conversation to have so that we can watch each other's backs, particularly if you're somebody or you work in a team where you're not likely to say that you're not coping or you're, you're feeling really quite stressed, because you don't want to trouble other people perhaps. So it's important to know what those signs are and to, to just make other people aware so that you can look after each other. So what is the difference between pressure and stress?

We've, we've mentioned those words a couple of times already. Well, some of us need, we do need a certain amount of stimulation and we do need a certain amount of pressure. But stress is when the pressures become too much.

So stress is our inability to cope with the pressures on us. And resilience is our ability to bounce back from those situations. So it's our ability to deal with the pressures that are on us.

And whilst we might have situations that come as curveballs or put an increased amount of pressure on us, it's our ability to pick ourselves up and reboot and carry on and be able to cope with the pressures that we experience throughout the day without them having a detrimental effect on either our physical or mental well-being. So what's it like for you currently? Do you feel like you're clinging on by your fingertips?

Do you feel like you get caught in the whirlwind? And you're running really fast like a hamster on a wheel to, to get everything done in the day and to cope with the pressures that are on you. Or do you have a plan?

Are you actively going in the direction that you want in our planning? That's not to say that there's a blinding difference and it's either one or the other, but we do need to have some sort of strategy or plan to make sure that we don't just get bowled along. And, not having that clear direction and not being in control of what's happening to us.

And one of the things that we need to keep in mind is the human performance curve, because there will be some of you that say, yes, I thrive under pressure. And undoubtedly, you do thrive under pressure, but you need to be very aware of the difference between pressure and stress. And when you start to slip from thriving under pressure to not really thriving and feeling the, the, The detrimental effects of stress.

So when we look at the human performance curve, there's an element of healthy pressure. And that's when we're stimulated. We've got enough pressure on us, enough stimulation, enough variety of or whatever it is that we particularly need to feel like we're performing well.

And there's a peak where we have that optimal performance. So we've got the right amount of pressure and stimulation for us to enable us to perform at our best. But we have to be very aware of our ability to overestimate how much pressure we can cope with.

And to believe that we are still in that optimum performance, when actually, actually, we've slipped into the hyperreactive stage. And this is where we think we're still smashing it, but actually, we're starting to, to really become a bit hyperactive, and we're starting to, move either very quickly, we might start to miss things and might be at more risk of making mistakes. We're starting to get fatigued and we're getting a bit impatient, perhaps.

And again, it's different signs for different people. But we must recognise that there is the optimal performance peak. And what's most important is to stop and reboot before we start to go downhill and out over the other side towards physical and emotional exhaustion.

And if we let that continue that downhill slide, then that can lead us to things like burnout, compassion, fatigue, etc. So it's really important to recognise throughout the day where we are on this human performance curve, and also to think quite carefully about what keeps us in that optimal performance, section, because we do need a certain amount of stimulation, and actually, we can become just as stressed and, suffer the consequences of stress just as much if we have no stimulation as if we have too much. So it's a balance, and we need to keep ourselves in that optimal performance section.

And if we don't recognise and understand how we feel when we're under stress and what our signs are, then it's more difficult to manage ourselves well, to be in that, in that right place. And that's when we can lead on that slippery slope to things like breakdown and exhaustion. And ultimately what we're doing by doing the things that keep us in that optimal performance section is we're building our resilience and we're building our ability to cope with the pressures on us.

And to do that in a way where we're thriving in practise rather than simply surviving. So this diagrammatical representation is of the human performance curve. And what we need to think about is what are the things that keep us in that middle section where we're having a good day.

Now, having a good day doesn't necessarily mean a quiet day. It could be a really busy day, but we're having a good day because we're coping and we're thriving. And we're doing the things that keep our dial up there in that green section.

So we're making sure that we don't allow ourselves to slip into the overwhelmed section. We're thinking about the human performance curve. Do we need to take a break?

How much pressure do we feel from that particular task that we're undertaking at the time? And equally, are we getting the right amount of stimulation? So are we doing things that give us that fulfilment and enjoyment?

So moving on, let's think about what are those things that we do. What do you do when you feel the pressure mounting? Do you have a tendency to just keep going?

Do you have a tendency to still take things on for other people? What are the risks to you? So what are the things that might push you into Overwhelm and prevent you staying in that green zone?

How do you recognise when you're heading into Overwhelm? And what do you do about it? So the first thing is really to recognise, as we said earlier, as signs of stress.

How do you know when you're heading into Overwhelm? What do you do, what do you say, how might you behave? How can you recognise that and how can you pick those signs up early?

Then what are the things that are most likely to tip you there? So what are the things that you find more challenging? What are the things that might, make you go into that mode of just keep going, keep going, keep going, and therefore slipping into that overwhelm.

What are the things that put you at risk of going into the red zone? And what can you do to be proactive about these things? So how can you take control?

It's very easy to get into that scenario of saying to ourselves, there's nothing I can do about it. It's happening to me. But actually, resilience isn't something we're born with.

It's something we develop. So the only way we become resilient is to take control, understand the things that are threats to our resilience, and do something about it. So not only thinking about the things that cause us stress and are most likely to threaten our resilience, but also thinking, well, what can I do about it?

What is in my control? So what stops you from thriving? What sort of things, and again, thinking about the human performance curve and our nice representation in that dial, what things would push you into the red zone?

Is it other people? Is it conflict? Is it taking on too much and being too optimistic with your time?

Is it when people change things or you get curveballs, do you find that particularly stressful? It's different for different people, so it's really important to know what those stresses are. And then we can think about how we can manage them more effectively.

We all have different needs, and we all have different things that cause us stress and different things that help us to thrive and that we enjoy. Some of us like a flexible working routine, and some of us like a lot of structure and like to know exactly what's happening. Some of us have to know that the environment we're working in is safe or supportive.

We might need to know where we're going. We may need to feel that we're valued and that might be represented by pay or other things, and that we're respected. So to be a good team, we need to understand our individual different needs and how we can play to our strengths as individuals and as a component of that team, and how we can minimise people's blind spots or weaknesses.

And if our needs aren't met as an individual, then conflict is more likely to occur. So it's absolutely crucial to work effectively as a team that we understand each other's needs. And thinking about our emotional intelligence and how much we understand each other, the first place we need to start with is how aware we are of our own behaviour and our, our own self-awareness.

Once we understand ourselves, and then we can understand others more effectively. When we understand ourselves and others, then we can develop and increase our, our communication and social skills to work together effectively as a team and have a positive impact on each other. And in order to do these things, we need to manage ourselves and our own behaviours because we can't necessarily change other people's behaviours, but we can change our own behaviours and influence other people through managing our own behaviours.

And when we're looking at change in a practise, change can be a big stressor for, for some people. So some of us deal with change differently than others. And understanding how we all perceive change and our concerns around change, whether that be changing how we do something or changing our roles slightly, or dealing with different types of people as it as new people come into the practise or new clients.

How we deal with those, changes that we meet with day to day. Is determined by how we manage ourselves and, and our development of, emotional awareness. So are we self-aware?

Do we know what our, our tendencies, our, our normal behaviour preferences are and what our trip ups are? Are we aware of others, others' behaviours, how we communicate and our skills in which we influence each other, but work together to understand each other's needs and how we manage ourselves. And this is a great quote about teamwork and how important it is to work together.

Coming together is the beginning. Keeping together is the progress. Working together is success, and that's a lovely quote by Henry Ford.

So it's absolutely that for important for a team to be successful, we need to thrive. And to thrive as a team, we need to understand each other, and as part of that, we need to understand where our stressors are and where we are most likely to have threats for our resilience as individuals and as a team. One of the things that we, we must appreciate, and I think one of the key learning points from this webinar is that we are all different.

We all behave differently and we all see things from different perspectives. And so for that reason, we can find other people very frustrating, upsetting, irritating, etc. Because not everybody behaves in the same way that we do.

But we expect everybody to see things from our perspective and to do things in the same way that we would. So how many times have we heard people say, speak to other people, how you would be like, you would like to be spoken to. When in fact, what we should do is speak to people how they want to be spoken to.

We should give them information in the way that they will best receive it, but how do we know what that is? We should speak to them in a way that's going to encourage them to be positive and to come on board with our ideas and to support us. But how do we know how to do that?

Well, whilst we're all different, we're all predictably different. And we can use behaviour models to, to look at that. So all of us sit somewhere on a spectrum of being more or less people oriented or more task orientated.

And we sit somewhere between being more outgoing or more reserved. And there are various models that we can use that stem from the same theories, such as Jung theories. And we tend to use at VDS training, the disc behaviour profiling model.

And what this shows us is that whilst we're all different, we're all predictably different. And wouldn't it be useful if we could have a user manual, which said, you need to speak to this person in this way. If you don't give this person enough detail or enough evidence, they won't come on board or they won't do what you want them to do.

How useful would it be if we had lots of little signs that we could hold up? Well, whilst we don't have that, disc behaviour profiling is something that we can use to get that or behaviour profiling generally. Because it gives us a clear picture that shows us how that person wants to be communicated with, interacted with, and gives us those user manuals.

But we don't necessarily have to have a full disc profile or report on every single person to have a good idea of the concept and to look to allow ourselves to be more understanding of people's behaviours. And instead of perhaps thinking, why do they do that? It's driving me mad.

To start to be curious about why they are doing things, and to be curious about people's behaviours and try and understand them so that we can communicate more effectively with them and as such reduce our stresses of that are created by communication challenges. So as I said earlier, we are all on a spectrum of being more people orientated, more task orientated, more outgoing, or more reserved. And I'm gonna give you a brief overview of what that means, so that you can use this in practise day to day to help to communicate, you to communicate more effectively with the wide variety of people that are out there.

So for the purposes of DC, the Dyle is the one that's outgoing and task orientated. So these are the people that are very directive, they're very decisive, they can be quite dominant. They're the whirlwinds of the practise.

They seem to get 100 things done in a, in a minute, you know, they, they really are focused on getting things done and moving on to the next thing. So they're quite fast paced. They're very much focused on task.

So they will do what they say they will do if they believe it's important. If they haven't done it, it's not that they've forgotten. It's that it's not important or something else was more important.

So they're the people that like to, lead because they like to make sure that things happen. And for that reason, they can struggle with delegation because they like to feel in control, because then I can make sure it happens. So they're the doers, they're the get on with it, people.

The I style is outgoing, but more people orientated than more than task oriented. So these are the people that are the people people. They love to influence, they love to be involved with everything.

They like, to be around people. They don't particularly like to work on their own. They're the sunflowers of the practise, and they are absolutely brilliant at building rapport and influencing people.

So they're quite fast paced as well, but they are much more orientated and driven by relationships and their interpersonal skills, which are really strong. They can be quite impulsive. They get bored easily.

They love to be creative and innovative. They don't mind, curveballs or challenges. They see them as opportunities to solve problems.

So these are the sunflowers of the practise. They're the, the people that are normally very positive, and they like to do things for other people. They like to be liked.

Then we move on to the S style. And these are the reserved, but people-oriented. So they're more about the relationship and the team than the task.

They are very conscientious, they, they tend to put other people before themselves because they're very much about keeping the status quo, keeping everybody happy and everything nice and calm and harmonious. They like to be supporting other people, and, and looking after other people, and they're very sensitive and they're sensitive to other people's feelings as well. So they like to keep the status quo.

They're quite steady and reliable. So, because they don't like upset and they like to keep the status quo, they can also be slightly resistant to change for change's sake. So if you want the S stars on board with things, you need them to understand the why.

And they can be quite strong characters. If they haven't understood why you're going to change something or if they believe it's going to have a negative impact on other people, they can be quite strong-minded, even stubborn. Then we come on to the C style.

So these are task oriented and reserved. So these are the people that are focused on task, but unlike the D Style that just wants to get it done, the Cy wants to do it perfectly. These are the perfectionists.

These are the people that like to do things very methodically and carefully, and they're always striving to achieve the gold standard. They can be very cautious and they can perhaps sometimes suffer from analysis paralysis because they don't want to start something for fear of getting it wrong. They're extremely conscientious, and they will be very compliant.

They dot the I's and cross the T's. Be very careful when you criticise their work because they will be very much trying to do the best that they can do. So how can we use this information to help us to manage stresses within the practise?

Well, we know that it's very easy for communication or poor communication, rather, to cause stress in, in, in practise. And if we think about it, If we look at the opposites on the disc, representation here, we can see that how we can work together when we are opposite and really complement each other, but equally, we can have conflict. So the D style is very outgoing, they're very task orientated, they're fast-paced, they like to just get things done, and they'll get them done quite quickly and maybe worry about whether it was perfectly afterwards.

But they will move through through things quite quickly, ticking the box and moving on. Whereas the S style is very cautious. And they're very orientated around other people's feelings.

So whilst the D is making decisions based only on facts and evidence, the S style will be making decisions based on how other people feel, will feel about that decision and how they're they're going to perceive that decision and whether it was made fairly, for example. And we see the I style and the C style are, are opposites as well. So the eye style is very outgoing and people orientated.

They're not hugely detailed. They perhaps don't need too much evidence. They'll make decisions based on gut feeling.

They make decisions quite quickly and quite lightly, and they enjoy moving around from one thing to another. They might try and juggle lots of balls in the air at the same time and occasionally drop one. Whereas the Cy doesn't need those large groups of people around them.

They don't need to interact with lots of different people, but they do need to be allowed the time and the space to work methodically through something from start to finish. They will want to complete and finish things. And they might be become frustrated by the eyety who seems to pick things up and drop them like hot potatoes.

But when we work together, effectively, the Cy can allow the eye to do the big picture thinking to problem solve, to, to maybe move around from one thing to another where necessary. And the eye style can allow the C style to do the detail and to check those forms that need to be filled in very carefully to make sure that they're done correctly. The Sy can allow the Dyle to make the quick decisions, to deal with the crises and to decide, OK, we're gonna do that now, we're gonna move that to tomorrow.

We're gonna delegate that out there. And they, they can also then allow the S style to decide whether they think that the team would be on board with a decision that they've made, or to go and seek the input from the team so that they know that the team will be on board and that they won't have resistance to that decision, for example. So when we understand that we're all different and we all see things from different perspective, and we all have different communication, needs and desires, but that we can play to the strengths of each, each of the styles, and we can minimise the blind spots, then it's easier to work more effectively as a team.

So for example, If we're dealing with, change, how do we manage that? Do we give the Sile reassurance that it's not going to cause upset in the team, or that there's nothing to be fearful of? Do we involve the eyes in the decision making process and get them on board first so that they can then go and influence the rest of the team and help them to understand how the change is, is one for the better.

Do we give the C style the evidence and time to read it for both the C and the S actually, so that they can go away and understand how the decision has been made and look at the evidence that backs up that decision. And do we allow the dees to feel like they are slightly involved in that process and that they are in control? So perhaps we give them two options, both of which they're happy with.

How do we communicate effectively with each other as we want to be communicated with, rather than how that person wants to be communicated with. So we make sure that we give people what they need in terms of their, their, their needs and desires for communication. Because when we don't do this, we tend to just talk to people how we want to.

So if we don't need much detail, we expect that nobody else does either. If we need to make decisions based on facts and evidence, we assume that everyone else does that too. And we don't factor in, perhaps that there is an emotional aspect to decision making for them.

So understanding that team interaction and how this also has an impact on how we communicate with clients. So when we're frustrated with clients who don't seem to do what we want them to do or they don't follow instructions. Whereas we might have previously been frustrated by that and thought, why aren't they doing that?

We might now just step back and look at it with different eyes and say, OK, that's interesting. Why aren't they doing that? Is it because they need reassurance, they need more detail, they need me to be straight to the point with them.

So think about our natural communication, preferences and whether you're doing that in practise, whether you're thinking about your colleagues and what their desired communication style is, and your clients, and how you can use that to minimise communication as a stressor. So let's think about thriving in practise and how we minimise the, the stressors in practise and what we do to recognise what those are and how we move forwards with actions that are going to minimise those. So this is something that you can do at home.

We often do these in a group, but think about some of these things, and how you answer these questions. So I want you to stand up. And I want you to sit down.

If you get frustrated. When people talk over you. So does that really annoy you?

Or is it that you get frustrated when people are late? Or do you get frustrated when people make a mistake? Or is it perhaps when people don't do what they're supposed to do?

Or other people don't ask your opinion. Or perhaps it's when you don't, feel that people take on board your instructions and they challenge or question you. So what does this tell us about you?

So if you get frustrated when people talk over you. Are you somebody that needs to practise your active listening skills? Are you somebody that perhaps has an eye preference in your, in your disc profile?

So you like to talk, you like to interact, but perhaps you're sometimes a little guilty of talking more than listening. When it frustrates you when people are late, is that because you are very punctual and you like to do things absolutely by the book. So if you say you'll do something, you will do it.

And are we expecting everyone else to be the same as us. We all have our own strengths and our, our own weaknesses or blind spots. And it's making sure that we don't expect everybody to be the same as us.

Do you get frustrated when people make a mistake because you don't believe you ever make a mistake, or perhaps you are very, very careful to avoid making mistakes. But perhaps they are more fast paced and sometimes they do make a mistake, but equally they can make quick decisions. So there are benefits to that aspect of their, of their personality or style.

When people don't do what they're supposed to do, why, why is that? Why are they not doing it? Is it that they don't understand what you want?

Is there a reason why they're not on board with it? Have you not given them enough information or explained it to them in the right way, or got them on board? Perhaps you've just told them to do it, and there's a reason why they're not doing it.

When others don't ask your opinion, so do they know that you want to be involved in decision making processes? Have you had that conversation? What about when people challenge or question you?

Do you feel like you're losing control? Is it that you feel you need to be in control of everything? So if people challenge you, do you see that, do you take that personally?

Or you, do you feel like you're wanting to take control of the situation? Or could you change what you say about that or how you see it? And see it as an opportunity to discuss how you came to your decision and to understand the merits of that decision, or even to understand and discuss somebody else's view, perspective or opinion on that, on that decision.

And maybe to balance the input and, and, and you might even change your mind. So think about the things that frustrate you. Where did you sit down?

Where, where were those things that cause you stress and cause you frustration and what can you do about that? What can you learn about that, about your own behaviours and how you see things and what your perspective is on things, and what your natural style is? So thinking about team performance and how stress can have quite an impact on our team performance and individual performance.

We're talking about building resilience to minimise stress. And these are the factors, the key factors that would affect our ability to build resilience because none of us are born resilient, we have to work at it. So when we're thinking about our team performance, and we look at these factors, and some of the things that can affect our ability to perform well as a team.

Well, self-awareness, we've discussed the disc profiling system as an example of how to increase our self-awareness. But what do we know about our individual strengths and our blind spots? And how do we look at our team?

Do we, do we sit down and look at our team and maybe have a visual representation of our team, the individuals within it, and what each of our strengths and blind spots are. And how do we manufacture the day or orchestrate the day to try and play to each individual's strengths and minimise the effects of our blind spots? That ties in nicely with our relationships and how we work well as a team and cohesively.

And again, how we interact. So are we communicating with people in the way that they want, or are we still habitually communicating with everyone in the way that we want? How do we problem solve as a team?

So what do we tell ourselves about situations? Do we tend to, as a team, say that we are, That we have a problem and this is going to be a nightmare? Or do we look at something and say, OK, we've got this.

What can we do about this? And what do we see in terms of ours success in the ways that we manage and, and, and deal with problems? Do we use those people who are able to make quick decisions, to deal with those, those urgent situations where it seems like everything is going a bit pear-shaped up, and we have to make some quick decisions about prioritisation and moving things around, for example.

And how are we deter how we determined as a team? What motivates us as a team? Do we know where we're going as a practise and what our vision is, and what we are all striving to, to achieve as a team?

Because then it's easier to stay focused on the things that we need to do every day and to make sure that we manage our time well, for example. And when we're looking at stresses that have an impact on the whole team, what can we do to manage those? So for example, do we ever sit down and think about the stresses we experience as a team and what we can do about them?

So are we a team, for example, that is built into into a habit of not taking our lunch breaks or taking lunch breaks, but sitting down and talking about work or looking at emails? What can we do to break those habits? So one of the ways that we can look at the, the health of our team is to do a stress management survey.

So we, in order to understand how we can improve management of stress and building resilience as a team, the first thing we need to do is know where we are. So one of the things we can do is a culture survey. And when we do a culture survey at VDS training, we send, a questionnaire out.

The team completes it, and it asks a number of questions which are answered anonymously, but it gives us a very clear picture of which, which teams, depending on the size of the team, which teams or departments are struggling with different aspects. So what are the things that are causing stress to that team? And it can then give us a really, really clear picture of where the stresses are, what are the triggers that are going to cause stress in that team or that department.

Then it's much easier to do something about it. But if I said to you now, what causes you stress at work, you'd probably be quite general about it. When we're more detailed about those specific things that cause stress to us as a team or as individuals, it's much easier to do something about it.

So think about the things that cause you stress as a team, as an individual, and then what you can do to build your resilience and to build your ability to cope with the pressures on you. So for example, if you find perhaps that some of your team members, you're not on the same page as, or you find that you, you tend to disagree on things or you don't work together quite as well as you do with other people, what can you do to improve that relationship, to improve the communication? How can you build that relationship to be more constructive, more positive?

If perhaps you struggle with assertiveness, so you're not very good at saying no, or perhaps you're not very good at taking your lunch break because you will just keep going and, and not say when you really need a break. So what can you do to build your assertiveness and your, perhaps your self-confidence as well. If you're, if you worry about dealing with a certain case or a certain scenario or a certain client or a certain surgery, what can you do to build your self-confidence in that area?

How can you take control? Because if you don't take control, it will become a bigger and bigger worry. And it will start to have an impact on you day to day as you start to worry about whether you're going to have to try and avoid that scenario again.

So think about the things that you can do, such as a culture survey or things that you can do to understand what the stresses are in your team. And as an individual as well. So what are the things that you most need to develop in these areas, whether it be self-awareness, personal vision, self-confidence, your organisational skills, etc.

What are the areas where you need to build your resilience? Where are you strong and where are you perhaps a little bit weaker and you need to build that area? So we've talked a little bit about assertiveness.

And assertiveness is not being aggressive. It's not being selfish. But equally, it's finding that balance between not being passive and feeling like you're walked over, or feeling like you're always the one that says yes, but wishes you could say no.

It feels like you don't stand up for yourself when you should. Because if we're constantly passive, and we always say yes, and we're never assertive when we need to be, we end up building resentment. So in actual fact, what we're often trying to do, often the reason that we are perhaps a little bit passive or not assertive, is because we want people please, and we don't want to upset anyone else.

But actually, what happens is we create the opposite outcome than the desired outcome. We're working very hard not to upset people. And if we keep saying yes, and we're not assertive, then we end up being resentful, and that can manifest itself in being less tolerant of other people, or we just extract ourselves from the situation or leave because we get fed up with being overwhelmed.

And nobody really knows why we've suddenly become upset, but it's been building up for some time. So we have to be fair to other people by being open and honest. And sometimes that means being assertive and saying no, I'm afraid I can't help you with that today.

But I could help you with it tomorrow. Or saying no, I'm afraid I don't have time today, but I could find someone else to help you. Oh yes, I can do that for you if you can do this for me, rather than just saying yes and effectively not being honest about your feelings or your situation.

So think about how you can manage yourself better, to be fair and open and honest to your colleagues, or perhaps with clients where you need to be assertive, because otherwise you'll feel frustrated that you, that you said yes when you wish you could say no. Or that you didn't say exactly what you were thinking. Or you didn't, exercise a little bit more, your assertiveness and say, no, I'm not happy with you doing it that way.

We, I really feel we must do it this way, for example. So we talked about communication being quite a large factor as a stressor for individuals and teams in practise. And the other big stressor for individuals and teams in practise is time.

You know, very often when we, when we talk to people about, OK, what's the thing that, most, causes you stress in practise, it's time-related if it's not communication related. So what are your biggest time drains? What are those things, that cause you stress?

If we go back to the beginning of this webinar and I asked you to think about what were the one or two things that caused you the most stress in practise, if time was one of them, what is it that causes you stress around time? And be specific about that. Is it your own ability to manage time?

Is it that it takes you too much time to do some things? Is it that you give your time to other people too readily when you haven't got any to spare? One of the tools that I use quite a lot is the urgent important matrix.

So when we're thinking about prioritisation, it's quite a a big factor that can be a challenge in practise, because we start off, maybe we do start off with a bit of a plan as to how we're going to manage our time. And then curveballs come in, things come into practise, and we have to rejig everything. And so we have to very quickly work out where our priorities lie.

And depending on the type of person you are, you'll have different stresses in practise around time. And some of us will tend to, just say yes to everything and end up with too much on our plate. Some of us will try and be, a little optimistic with the amount of time we've got and try and fit too many things in.

And other, others of us will feel a little overwhelmed by the amount of things. And not be sure where we can, how we can prioritise them. So this grid can really help you with that.

. So when you, when you look at all the things you need to do, and perhaps you're feeling a little overwhelmed or you can't see how everything can fit in, look at writers to do this down and then look at them and think, OK, which of those are urgent? I they have to be done today. So if they're not done today, it's over, you know, it's too late.

And those are the things that are classed as urgent. And important is stuff that's business critical and clinically critical or stuff that's really important to you. So for example, if you find that going for a walk during your lunch hour really helps to distress you, then that would be something that is really important because it is going to allow you to perform at your best after you've done that because you'll be rebooted, you'll be re-energized.

So factor in the things that are important and urgent. And then put those into the, into the top right-hand quadrant, urgent and important. And give them a time as to how long it's gonna take you to do.

And then slot that into your diary, so diarize it and make sure you allocate time to doing it. Try and have some buffer time as well. So perhaps a little bit of buffer time in the morning and a bit of buffer time in the afternoon.

To allow for those curveballs, those things that come in unexpectedly. And then we look at the important quadrant, which is on the bottom right-hand corner. So this is stuff that is important.

It's business critical, clinically critical, or it's really important to you. But it doesn't need doing today. It will still be there tomorrow, it will still need doing tomorrow.

And that stuff needs planning into your diary. So put it into your diary, factor time in again, work out how much time you need to do it. If it's a large task or something that feels a little overwhelming, break it down into smaller chunks and put those little chunks into your diary individually.

And then we've got the stuff that is urgent, but it's not important. So these are little things or distractions. So they're the odd email, the odd phone call.

They're other people's urgent and important. They're the, the things that we allow to distract us as well. So perhaps when we're procrastinating about starting something that feels overwhelming or challenging.

We might look for distractions. So try to see these things and, or look at these things and see whether some of them could be delegated. The things that are little things, little distractions like emails.

Group them together and allocate them some time into your diary that day, so that you're not dotting backwards and forwards all the time between one email and then going back to what you were doing. Try to manage those distractions. So do what you can to reduce your stress of, of distractions coming and interrupting you.

You might need to ask people for help. You might need to manage people's expectations. And then in the bottom left hand quadrant, we've got neither.

So they're neither important nor urgent. These are the things to ditch. They're probably things that have been on your to do list forever and a day.

They're things that aren't really important. Perhaps they were important, but the time has passed, and perhaps they were urgent, but the time has passed. Or perhaps there are things that you think you should do, but actually you don't really want to.

So maybe you plan to start a project, but actually now you've found something much more appealing or you've changed direction. So these are the things that tend to just sit on your to do list from day to day to day. So they need ditching.

It might be that there are one or two things in there that you can delegate as well. So when we think about the impact of stress on team performance and individual performance. We can't necessarily control what other people do, or the factors that come into play in our day, but what we can do is control how we react to them, and how we deal with them, and how much we let them impact on us.

So whether they have a negative impact on us for 5 minutes or 1 hour, 5 hours, or for days. And this is when we're thinking about self-management and how we manage our own approach to things. So when we look at this model, which is the ABC model of stress, We can clearly see how what we tell ourselves about the situation, results in how we, how we believe things are going to be and the consequence of that.

So let's say we have an activating event, which is being in a challenging situation. So that might be, perhaps that, I don't like curveballs, and I had a clear plan as to what I was going to do in the morning. And then suddenly the whole thing changes for one reason or another.

If we stand there and think, oh my God, this is going to be a disaster, ultimately, it probably will. But if we look at it and think, OK, that's interesting. What can I do about this?

What's in my control? And, OK, I have dealt with this situation before. What did I do then?

Or who is really good at thinking about these things? What would they do? Or could I ask them for help?

What we tell ourselves about that situation. Is our will, will, develop our beliefs. So when we think about these situations that cause us stress, what are we telling ourselves about that?

What's going on in our inner chatter? What are we saying to ourselves about that situation? Are we telling ourselves that we can't do it or that we're not very good at it?

Are we telling ourselves that it's going to be a disaster because X happened or Y happened? So what are we telling ourselves? What beliefs are we building in our own mind?

And these will result in the consequence. So what we do or feel as a result of that situation. So whether we're able to deal with that situation proactively, positively, or whether we go into that situation feeling negative and not having a clear plan and not feeling confident.

So think about what you tell yourself about those situations and how you can manage those situations proactively and take control and make a plan. So at the beginning of this webinar, we talked about stress being a natural function for our flight, fright, flight, fight or freeze reaction to stress. And we talked about how that was a natural reaction and that how it's designed to protect us.

But also we talked about how that can be quite an unhelpful reaction, because it activates our sympathetic nervous system, it increases our cortisol levels, our blood pressure, and perhaps our inability to think and focus and think strategically and to make a plan. And you know, when we think about day to day situations, sometimes when we have that moment where we feel quite panicky or overwhelmed, we don't seem to be able to see the wood for the trees. It's when we can't find our car keys and we've looked everywhere, but we still can't find them.

And then they, when we calm down, we find them in the most obvious place because we just can't see, we can't think, we can't process properly. So It's really helpful to be able to switch off that sympathetic nervous system and reactivate the parasympathetic nervous system. And one of the quickest, most effective ways to do that is through breathing exercises and a really useful quick fix.

Is is to breathe in for 7 seconds and out for 11 seconds for 90 seconds. So in for 7, out for 11 for 90 seconds. And that is the quickest, most effective way to switch off your sympathetic nervous system.

It then allows your brain to work normally again and to function and to be able to think through the problem and to find a solution or to map out the way forward. So when you're in that scenario, just press pause and take a minute to breathe, so that you can think rationally and find a way through that situation. And remember, we choose our response to situations.

So we're looking at the locus of control here. When you're in a situation that you find particularly stressful, think about what's in your control. So what can you do?

What factors could you have some control over? And that allows you to have a problem-focused strategy or to develop a, a strategy to deal with that problem. It allows you to create a plan of action and to make constructive changes or to be assertive, to think of the way forwards.

So when you're in that situation, the first thing to do is to breathe so that you're able to think. And then to think, OK, what's in my control? What could I do about this?

And you might want to think a little bit outside the box when you're thinking about the options you have that are the options you could take to deal with that problem. What's in your control? What factors could you have some control over?

When we look at the things that are not in your control, what is, in fact, in your control is how you react to it. So what emotions you, you, you have and how you deal with that situation mentally. So what are you telling yourself about that situation?

And this comes back to again, the ABC, pathway of, of stress. So what are we telling ourselves about that situation? How do we deal with it emotionally?

So whilst we might not be able to control all the factors, the factors that we can't control, what are we doing about that? So do we need to go and talk to someone about our lack of confidence when dealing with, When doing pitch space, for example, or if we have a particular client we find really difficult to deal with, we can't change the fact that we've got to see that client. We've got to do that consultation.

But what we can do is perhaps talk to somebody else about how they handle that client. We might just take a minute or two to think about what we find challenging about that client. And what we could do about it?

Or is there another way of approaching them, perhaps approaching things a different way? Or perhaps giving them information in a different way. So what could we do to, to control our emotion and to, to decide what we're going to tell ourselves about that situation?

We've talked about teamwork, and we've talked about the importance of coming together as a team, in order to manage the stresses that are on us in day to day practise, and how important it is to understand each other and to be sensitive to each other's strengths and also our blind spots. But it's also really important to take on a positive attitude as a team, a can-do attitude, a problem solving attitude, and to be positive day to day. And not to dwell on the negatives, but to see solutions rather than just problems.

And the 5 people we surround ourselves with the most or spend the most time with will have an impact on our ability to be positive. So we're each responsible for adding something to that soup of positivity. Each of us is an ingredient that contributes towards that.

And that will build a positive atmosphere. And when we talk to people who are in practise, and we look at what people enjoy about working in a certain environment, positivity is a key aspect of that. So we're each responsible for contributing towards that.

So try to come each day with your positive pants on. So think about what you're going to do to take action as a result of this webinar. Do you need to manage people's expectations of you?

Do you need to establish the boundaries with the rules of the game that you want to play with? Do you need to say no or learn to be a little more assertive and perhaps a little responsibly selfish? And remembering that the reason that we need to be assertive is so that we're fair and we're reasonable and that we don't build resentment when we keep saying yes, that's fine, when actually we don't want to say yes.

Identify what's working for you, what's keeping your dial in that green zone, and what are the things that are most likely to push you into the red zone? What are those triggers that cause stress for you? How can you manage them effectively and minimise them as stressors?

So what positive action are you going to take to minimise those things that cause you stress and to get more of the things that keep you in the green zone? Surround yourself with positive people. Learn from others.

We're all different. We all have different strengths and blind spots. So if you're, worrying about something or you feel that you're lacking confidence in an area, talk to somebody, learn from them, ask for their help, develop that healthy support system, lean on each other, talk to each other.

Have those bodies and don't think that it just has to be within within that bubble of your working environment, environment. You might have a good support system outside of work as well. Make sure you're organised and you plan your time carefully and protect things that are really important and urgent.

So make sure that they have the time allocated to enable you to focus on them. Make sure you're proactive rather than reactive. If something's not right, think about how you're going to change it and make a plan to change.

So, as a team, you can work together to minimise the stresses placed on you as a team and to work to each other's strengths and weaknesses. And the quickest, most effective way to do that is to do things like a culture survey to understand and have evidence to show you where those stresses are and then to discuss as a team, what you can do to minimise those stresses. But as individuals, you can also think about what those individual triggers are for you.

So what are those things that are most likely to push you into overwhelm? What behaviours do you need to change? What factors do you have some control over?

Those that you don't have control over, how are you going to change your attitudes to them? So what one action are you going to commit to take as a result of this webinar that's going to reduce the stressor that is, has the most impact on you in day to day life? What one thing is that thing that really is the largest contributing factor to pushing you into overwhelm?

And what's the one action that you could take that would have the biggest impact or would be the most helpful thing to minimise that as a stressor or even eliminate it? And just take a minute now to, to write those down. So going back to the beginning of the webinar, thinking about how stress affects team performance and individual performance, what's the thing that has the biggest negative impact on your ability to perform at your best to keep your dial in that green area?

Write it down. And then what's the one thing that can help you to minimise that as a stressor? Or help you overcome it.

And write that down too. And let's remember that we're each responsible for our own happiness. Our happiness is created by our own actions.

And as individual members of a team, we are responsible for making our own happiness, for making our own choices, for taking our own actions. We can choose to turn up and be positive, but we can also choose to identify those things that have an impact on our ability to thrive in practise. And we can think about what we can do to maximise our ability to perform at our best and to minimise the impact of those stresses.

And if you want it to be different, you need to do something different. If you go away from this webinar and do the same thing as you've always done, don't expect a different outcome. But if you want something to change, make sure that before you walk away from this webinar, that you've thought about what is that one thing that you want to change, and what is the one thing that is going to have the biggest impact towards changing it.

Thank you for joining me in this webinar. And if anyone has any questions at all, or anything you feel that we can help you with, please do feel free to drop me an email at Kurman@ BDs-training.co.uk.

Thank you very much. Bye-bye.