Tech Tip: Managing Workplace Emotions

Remove Yourself from Stressful Situations

You’ll know your stress levels are rising when you start to feel the symptoms, so make sure you move yourself away from it if you can — particularly if the source is an external one, as you’ll have more control over the situation. Take a short break to walk away and maybe do some deep breathing. If you can remove yourself from the stressful situation, you’ll give yourself time to recover.

As for your emotions, you can look at the situation from an external perspective. If you remove yourself from the equation, is it really as bad as you think it might be? Thinking like this can relieve some of the pressure and stress you might feel as well, and it can give you the perspective you need to view things in a different way and maybe find a solution in the process.

Identify Your Stress Triggers

Emotional breakdowns at work are no fun at all, and you need to do your best to handle them in a healthy way. For example, if you know you have a hard time taking criticism, or if you have a difficult time with presentations, you can start to develop your responses to these stressors. For example, you might try to psych yourself up for these types of interactions by talking to trusted coworkers ahead of time, or you might develop a coping mechanism like preemptively listening to a song you enjoy.

Don’t Ignore Your Emotions; Work Through Them Instead

You should appropriately manage your negative emotions in a way that allows you to process them rather than avoid them entirely. Trying to lock away these feelings will only tire you out and make things worse, so do your best to address them when the time is right — preferably well ahead of a breakdown.

Develop a Recovery Strategy

On the off chance your emotions overcome you during the workday, it helps to have a strategy in place to recover. If you associate these kinds of negative emotions with your commitment to your job, others won’t see them as a negative thing, which helps with processing them — at least according to the Harvard Business School. If you explain that the stress comes from your goals and successes, you’ll have an easier time with managing your emotions in the future.

Properly Implemented Technology Can Make a Real Difference

Let’s be real here; not all stressors can be eliminated through the use of technology, but many of them can. If you make some changes to the workplace and its technology, you might find that some of the big problems can be resolved through strategic implementation of new or existing solutions. To learn more, contact us at (703) 821-8200 today or reach out to Computerware at Cwit.com.

Alan Edwards, CISM, is chief information officer at Computerware, Inc., in Vienna, Virginia.