Spring 2010

CONTENTS
1.1
STRESS ISSUE
Stress is about coping - or not.

2.1
VIEWING THE WORLD THROUGH STRESS-TINTED
GLASSES
Stress is bound up with the perception of our ability to cope.

3.1
MANAGE YOUR TIME
Time management is not just about knowing what to do, but getting yourself
to do it.

4.1
MAKING A FRIEND OF EMAIL
Before the advent of email the sender bore the burden of letter writing. But
now the reader bears the burden.

Stress is about coping - or not

Our focus on a very topical subject

We probably didn’t need to be told but Grant Thornton have
confirmed it for us anyway. Their IBR 2010 survey of 7,400 business
owners across 36 economies found that 62% of Irish business owners
said that their stress levels had increased from a year ago - placing
Ireland 9th in the world rankings.
To add insult to injury, the report commented that the stress
seemed related to economic growth - business owners in China
(Ranked 1), Mexico (2), Turkey (3), and Vietnam (4) “ face expectations
of high growth and rank equally highly for stress”. But in a throw-
away comment the Grant Thornton source mentioned that low-
growth nations such as Ireland and Greece also saw high stress.
He elaborated : “ In mainland China the pressure is to keep up
with the pace of expansion, while in Ireland, for example, the
economy is retracting and business owners are worried about how
they will keep their business alive.”
Running a business is stressful, and in a recession the potential
for increasing levels of stress among management and employees is
significant.
That’s why we have devoted our Potentia Spring Newsletter to
the issue of stress. We’ve included material that is intended to inform
and assist you in practical ways.
Uniquely Potentia offers a twin-track approach to dealing with
stress - by offering practical ideas that may help prevent it happening
in the first place; and if it does, offering a range of services and
solutions that can help you dig your way out of it.
So, Potentia’s Luke Brehony offers practical advice, based on
years of senior management experience in a high-pressure
environment, on how to manage your valuable time in an effective
and efficient manner.
Luke also takes a look at how, with a little bit of thought,
organisation and planning, you can learn to manage, as opposed to
be controlled by the mails in your in-box.
John Lahart looks at stress management techniques from the
beginning of time to the present day and suggests that our response
to stress is often bound up with our perception of our ability to cope
as opposed to our actual ability to cope. “Viewing the world through
stress-tinted glasses” can be a little overwhelming, he suggests, and
offers practical help for companies, organisations and individuals.
So if stress management and prevention are real issues for you or
your organisation, contact us to assist you with practical solutions
designed to help you build towards a less stressful workplace
environment. Contact us at info@potentia.ie
 Viewing the world through stress-tinted glasses
Stress is bound up with the perception of our ability to cope
Flogging and Dancing
In terms of our understanding of how to
deal with stress we’ve travelled a long way
from the time when incantations,
bloodletting, dances and even floggings
were used to expel demons and evil spirits.
These were the primitive precursors of anti-
depressants, reiki, aromatherapy, yoga and
counselling in dealing with the stresses and
strains of life.
Withstanding heavy loads
In more primitive times stress was seen
as an imposter that was in need of repelling.
Even towards the end of the 17th century
the engineer Hooke heavily influenced the
contemporary understanding of stress with
his preoccupation with how man-made
structures could withstand heavy loads
without collapsing. (Stress a Brief History;
Cooper & Dewe). Human stress was viewed
in much the same general way, identified
principally with coping with the strain of
life’s wear-and-tear, until breaking point was
reached.
20th century
It is only in the twentieth century and
particularly in the last forty years or so that a
more developed understanding of stress has
emerged. We now have a more holistic idea
of stress, its causes and treatments.
And yet one person’s “stress” can be a
mere “challenge” for another. In the modern
world we regularly find ourselves “under
pressure’ , but when does that pressure
become stress ?
“Stress occurs when pressure exceeds
your perceived ability to cope.” (How to deal
with Stress; Palmer & Cooper)
The importance of perception
We cannot discuss stress without
talking about coping. It is our awareness of
failing to cope adequately that rings alarm
bells in us that perhaps we are suffering
from stress, when things that we might
normally cope with are beginning to
overwhelm us.
Perception is important when dealing
with stress because ver y often our
perception of our own ability to cope may
not match our actual ability to cope - once
we’ve been shown that we possess the
necessary tools.
Left unattended, stress can lead to
burnout, depression and exhaustion.
Stress
Stress cannot be diagnosed
symptomatically like, say, the measles or the
‘flu. Its symptoms can vary from person to
person. For one person stress may manifest
itself in terms of fatigue and irritation, for
another it may be comfort-eating or
catastrophising previously perceived minor
incidents into end-of-the-world scenarios.
Potentia and stress
John Lahart, professional
psychotherapist and founder of Potentia
believes in the general maxim that many
business problems are personal problems.
“Many clients I see are experiencing
stress in the workplace that is often
unrelated to the workplace. It may have its
roots closer to home and the personal
situation and life of the client. Stress arising
from personal problems can very often
manifest itself in pretty well any facet of our
life, including work. I have clients whose
leisure and spor ting pursuits were
detrimentally affected until they took steps
to identify and manage their stress. I believe
fundamentally that if the individual can
change their perception of the stressful
situation and their perception of how they
can cope with it then they can influence the
ways they think and behave in stressful
situations” he says.
“There is no good or bad thing
except thinking makes it so”
William Shakespeare
John Lahart continues “How we think
and behave in the face of stress is well
formed by the time we are adults, and many
of us have developed unconscious
behaviours and thinking processes that
simply don’t help us when the going gets
tough. This can be addressed through
cognitive behavioural techniques in group
or individual settings. A lot of work I do with
clients involves helping them to re-view
their problem or crisis. Often there isn’t as
much evidence as the client thinks for their
perception of the stressful situation.
Reviewing often allows the client begin to
perceive the stress as manageable and to
develop a clear path ahead.”

Time management is not just about knowing what to do, but getting yourself to do it !
“Life is a never-ending stream of possible
activities, constantly being replenished by your
family, your boss, your subordinates as well as
your own dreams, hopes and desires, and by the
need to stay alive and functioning.”
When Alan Lakein opened his
ground-breaking book “How to get control of
your Time and your Life” with this line in
1973 he would have had no idea of the
technological developments to come which
would significantly add to this stream. We
now live in an instant and demanding world
of smart-phones which tether us to our
customers and employers 24 hours a day.
Phone-calls, E-Mails, SMS, Twitter, Blogs -
they all call for our attention as we struggle to
organise our day.
Control your time to create
maximum personal effectiveness
and efficiency
Yet the underlying priorities remain
the same. As Managers we are paid to create
value for our employers through our activities.
Effective Time Management practices allow us
to utilise our time to create maximum
personal effectiveness and efficiency. It allows
us to achieve control over our activities and to
manage in a proactive rather than reactive
style. By addressing problems as they arise
we can complete important tasks on time and
avoid wasting time on unimportant ones.
Recognising that some tasks are better left
undone., the key is to identify the Right
Things to do and getting yourself to do it.
Knowing the right things to do
presumes a defined strategic vision and the
identification and communication of shared
goals and objectives. (See Potentia’s January
Newsletter on Leadership.) This should allow
you to clarify priorities and produce a list of
quality objectives - objectives which work to
bring you closer to your strategic vision. The
80 : 20 rule applies - 20% of your activity will
generate 80% of your results. Be discerning !
Remember too that perfection is a waste of
Time management
valuable time when dealing with low priority
tasks.
Focus most of your energy on the
high priority tasks. Doing everything equally
well is not a good practice to cultivate.
Control starts with planning. The
Annual Budget will provide a roadmap for the
12 months ahead. This document will scope
out in broad brush-stroke the key outcomes
you must deliver on.
Reflecting global objectives
in your day-to-day activities
Daily planning is based around
integrating these global objectives into your
day-to-day activities. Activities that are
fundamental to delivering on your global
objectives become A-list activities on your
daily To-Do list. Activities that are not so
important become B-list activities and low
value activities become C-list activities.
Depending on the size of the A-list an internal
ranking may be useful. Don’t bother doing
that with the B-list and C-list - if the tasks
deserve such attention they should be on the
A-list.
Remember this is your prioritisation
of your activities reflecting your vision of how
you and your department can add the most
value to the enterprise. Learn to say “no!”.
Open yourself to the
moment and live in the now
Everyone works better at certain
times of the day. This Prime Time should be
used to deal with difficult tasks - the one you
want to put off and re-enter on your To Do list
tomorrow. Procrastination is the thief of time.
Develop a habit of starting off with something
you don’t want to do then reward yourself
with a walk to the canteen for a coffee or a
quick read of the paper. You have to learn to
do your best with today. Open yourself to the
moment and live in the now. Like all habits it
takes time and repetition to ingrain.
It is a good practice to break
complex activities into manageable chunks. It
is also better to focus on one task to
completion rather than jumping from one
thing to another.
Your “To Do” list is the roadmap for
your day. Have it in clear view on your desk as
a constant reminder that you are on a mission.
Mark off your progress with a big red flourish.
Use the list to remind yourself to fend off
uninvited interruptions. Manage phone calls
from the outset. Get an overview of the issue
and make an immediate decision as to your
response - I’ll deal with it now or I’ll call you
back or pass it on to John. The same with
emails - open it, read it and deal with it. As a
strategy it doesn’t always work but if you can
develop this approach as an automatic habit
it will make a difference.
It is also useful to consider talking to
people rather than sending emails. Even the
simplest email requires some thought and re-
working. Decisions also tend to be made
more quickly in a face-to-face environment
where clarification can be sought and given
on the spot. ( See article Page 4 ).
At the end of each day review your
completion rate. Did you set yourself a
realistic number of objectives ? Did you give
yourself enough time to complete the
objectives ? Did you build in some free time
for the unexpected ? Tomorrow is another
day and another opportunity to move
forward.
 Making a friend of email
Before the advent of email the sender bore the burden of letter writing - finding paper and envelope,
writing, stamping, and posting the letter to the right address. Now the reader bears the burden.

While few businesses could
contemplate a future without it, most
employees resent email as a source of stress
and distraction.
As most email traffic is internally
generated a significant initiative of taming
email is to agree an internal policy which
can maximise productivity and efficiency.
A Harvard Business Review article by
Stever Robbins points out some less
obvious approaches :
• Use the Subject Line to summarise,
not describe.
People scan their In-box by Subject.
Make sure there is enough information in
the Subject Line so that readers can decide if
it is relevant. Ignoring some emails entirely
is the first step to maximising efficiency. If it’s
really important it will come round again. So
rather than just “Discussion Points” say
“Discussion Points for next week’s Board
Meeting” which clearly indicates the
purpose of the message.
• Give the reader the full context at the
start of your message.
Too many messages are forwarded on
with an answer like “Yes - I agree ! “ floating
on its own without offering any context. The
reader may have to scroll down 5 or 6
messages to get to the point. “ Yes - I agree
that we should remain closed for Christmas “
is much more helpful.
• When you copy lots of people (do
you really need to ?) mark out why each
person should care.
So rather than CC : John Mary, Harry
and Paul, be specific at the beginning of the
message.
To : Wendy
CC : John, Mary, Harry
Subject : Operation Have a Go
John : Work on Sales Plan
Mary : Watch Marketing forecast
Harry : Review OpEx
• Use separate messages for separate
issues
Filing, forwarding, responding and
actioning is complicated hugely if topics are
mixed into one message. Think about your
reader !
• Make action requests clear
If you want things done, say so - clearly.
There is nothing more frustrating than being
copied on an email to find two weeks later that
you were expected to lead the project.
• Make your email one page or less.
Very few people read past the first screen.
Make sure all the important points are there -
unless you are doing it on purpose !
• Think before you send
A face-to-face meeting can be quicker and
easier and tends to reach resolution quicker. Is
email the best way to deal with this issue ?
• Answer briefly
Encourage brief, concise emails by leading
by example.
• Read and answer emails at specific
times of the day
Minimise interruptions by dealing with
emails on your terms. Allocate certain times of
the day to visit your Inbox that suit you. You
may also think of delaying responses to
cultivate a level of patience among your
colleagues.

Potentia offers a Management Consultancy Service rooted in a wealth of

senior business management experience and professional counselling psychology. Potentia Potentia
Riversdale House 31 Lower Leeson St.
To Employees we offer a range of services from Counselling and Stress Rathfarnham Dublin 2
Management to Professional and Personal Development and Employee Assistance Dublin 16
Programmes (EAP) to help you to be the best you can be.
Web : www.potentia.ie
For Managers Potentia can help you manage and deliver change Email : info@potentia.ie
efficiently, effectively and on-schedule, while respecting and recognising the
integrity of your individual employees.