Talking to Your Employees About Stress at Work

Chances are, you show up for your colleagues as a coach, advisor, decision maker, delegator, accountability partner, cheerleader, and more.

But it's not your role to be a therapist, social worker, counselor, psychologist, or psychiatrist.

In this lecture, you'll learn what helping as a colleague or manager looks like — and what you should avoid doing because it's not your job.

Deciding whether or not to reveal a personal mental health issue at work is not an easy one.

This lecture will help you recognize what you're currently doing to make it easier for others to share with you — or what you may be doing that makes it harder for your colleagues to approach you.

In this lecture, you'll check your knowledge about common myths and facts about mental health.

To be trustworthy enough for someone to share their mental health concerns with you, you need to demonstrate that you know how to have this conversation helpfully and compassionately. This lecture will help you do exactly that.

Chances are, you’re working with colleagues who are part of marginalized populations, which are groups that may experience discrimination because of unequal power relationships across economic, political, social and cultural dimensions. Here are just a few:

• LGBTQIA+

• Senior citizens

• Racial/Cultural minorities

• Military Combat Veterans

• People with physical disabilities

• People with mental illness, including substance abuse and other addiction disorders

• People on the Autism Spectrum

• People with facial differences

In this lecture, we will look at some biases we should all be aware of, especially when creating a climate of openness and trust for our colleagues who are experiencing stress.

A mindset is a set of beliefs, perspectives, or attitudes we hold that drive the way we think about what’s going on and what we should do. And how we think and what we believe has a huge impact on the effectiveness of our conversations with our colleagues.

In this lecture, we will dig into four mindsets that support our willingness and ability to talk with our colleagues about stress at work.

Before we can help our colleagues reflect on their own mindsets, we need to reflect on our own. So, in this activity, you’re going to practice the four mindsets we discussed earlier.

The R.A.I.N. approach is a way for you to bring a mindful approach to the stress you may feel when a colleague is having a hard time, and also a way to frame a conversation with that colleague.

Every single one of us can cultivate empathy to help our colleagues feel supported during stressful times. This lecture will help you develop and deliver three kinds of empathy: cognitive; emotional; and behavioral.

When it comes to listening, most of us do it all the time. But we don’t necessarily do it well, particularly when our colleague is sharing something hard. In this lecture, you'll learn to recognize and mitigate both internal and external distractions to listening well.

What should I ask? What shouldn't I ask? What if I ask the wrong thing?

This lecture will help you develop questioning skills that are thoughtful and supportive, without overstepping — or stepping away.

Most of us only have a few helping tools in our toolkit. Like what? Like giving advice or trying to solve the problem for the other person.

In this lecture, you'll expand your helping toolkit so that you have multiple options for supporting your colleague during stressful times.

Before you try your new helping strategies with your colleagues, try them on yourself! In this activity, you'll pick a specific challenge, dilemma, or problem you’re facing in your mind right now, and decide what kind of help YOU need.

A certain amount of stress is actually a good motivator. But too much stress is unhealthy. When your colleagues or employees are stressed, it can impact you personally and professionally.

In this lecture, you'll learn how to accommodate your colleague's needs while still meeting your own work objectives.

In this lecture, we will dig into three tips for helping your team members manage their stress without putting your own productivity at risk.

A turkey is a metaphor for a problem, dilemma, or challenge that feels hot, heavy, and huge. In this lecture, you'll see examples of how employees carve up their turkey and learn some tips for how to carve up yours.

A turkey is a metaphor for a problem, dilemma, or challenge that feels hot, heavy, and huge. In this activity, you'll practice carving it into parts so that it becomes more manageable.

We tend to have one way of looking at a problem. In this activity, you'll practice four new lenses to help us reframe stress.

Have you ever experienced a stressful situation — and made it through? Of course you have. But when we're feeling overwhelmed, it can be hard to remember that we've done this before. In this activity, you'll learn to help your colleague reflect on when they’ve experienced stressful situations in their past – and made it through – so that they can apply yesterday’s learnings to today’s challenge.

In this lecture, we will review the key concepts, strategies, and activities from this course. We will also address what you can do if you're feeling stressed yourself.

The more prepared we all are to support each other through difficult times, the easier work (and life) can be for all of us.

Do you remember at the beginning of the course when we asked you to check in with yourself on how confident you’re feeling on the skills and strategies to have these conversations? Well, it’s time to check in again!