Newsletter 36

June 2007

Welcome to the 36th edition of our newsletter "In Equilibrium". We hope you enjoy reading it and, as ever, would welcome your comments.

Please remember: we encourage you to forward this newsletter to colleagues. Hundreds of organisations are now distributing the "In Equilibrium" newsletter to their staff and we currently have over 30,000 subscribers!

Please feel free to post this newsletter on your company's intranet.

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Contents: Edition 36

• In Equilibrium News
• Quotations
• In Equilibrium Tip of the Month: The Power of Simplicity
• Web-sites/resources
• Book review:The Hungry Years - Confessions of a Food Addict by William Leith
• Stress in the News
• On a lighter note ...
• Stress Case Study - Coaching Stressed Executives
• In Equilibrium Consultant Profile - Michaela Loughney
• Have you heard of the Ki Treatment?
• Your feedback - Relaxation cd to be won - send us your thoughts!

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1. In Equilibrium News

Details finalised - Managing Stress at Work Conference
The programme is now finalised for our "Managing Stress at Work Conference" which will take place at the BLCC in Dunfermline on Wednesday 28 November.

The conference's objective is to enable delegates to learn from the experience of those who have tackled stress on an organisational level whilst also having the opportunity to learn more about managing their own and their colleagues' stress while at work.

As well as a rich quality of speakers, delegates will have the opportunity to take part in two of the four workshops offered which will be run by In Equilibrium consultants. Two case studies from national organisations together with an insight into the findings of current research into the link between manager behaviour and stress round off what we hope will be a full and informative day.

New Download available
We have a new download available to our subscribers entitled "Tips for Managing your own Stress". This resource has two sections, the first provides some background information about stress and the second section has lots of hints and tips for managing stress and improving resilience. Areas covered include: Stress Pressure and Performance, Working Long Hours, Individual Differences, Relaxation, Work-Life Balance, Sleeping, Thinking and Nutrition.

Direct to Your Inbox
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Missed a Newsletter?
If you would like to read any of our past editions, you can View back issues here.

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2. Quotations

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."

Nelson Mandela, 'A Long Walk to Freedom', (1918 - )

"The man who has confidence in himself gains the confidence of others."

Hasidic saying

"In the book of life's questions, the answers are not in the back."

Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts (1922 - 2000)

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3. In Equilibrium tip of the month

The trouble with so many of us is that we underestimate the power of simplicity. We have a tendency it seems to over complicate our lives and forget what's important and what's not. We tend to mistake movement for achievement. We tend to focus on activities instead of results. And as the pace of life continues to race along in the outside world, we forget that we have the power to control our lives regardless of what's going on outside.

Robert Stuberg

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4. Web-sites/resources

Websites we thought you might be interested in:

Do you prefer to buy food locally?
This is a website which brings together local producers from all over the UK. You can do a postcode search and it will tell you who and where your local suppliers are. Registering on their site enables Big Barn to inform the suppliers how many local people may be interested in their product, hopefully also encouraging more suppliers to sign up.

www.bigbarn.co.uk

Think Fit! Be Active!
The British Heart Foundation have produced a site which provides everything you need to start living healthily. It has information about workplace health and how you can get active at work including their own workplace health programme. The changing facts on their homepage (e.g. that 37% of coronary heart disease deaths are related to inactivity, compared with 19% related to smoking) gave us an incentive to get active!

www.bhf.org.uk/thinkfit

5. Book Review

The Hungry Years (Confessions of a Food Addict) - by William Leith

This book leaves you in the same eye-opened state about our current binge-culture as "Fast Food Nation" and "Shopped" did about the fast food industry and the power of our supermarkets respectively.

William Leith's writing is admirably honest and "The Hungry Years" leads you through his journey to discover why he lives his life in excess. Although it is a personal journey, it is also an examination of the way we live our lives now and why the binge culture is so prevalent.

Having always been a person whose weight had yo-yoed, the book begins with Leith packing in preparation for a trip to New York to interview the diet guru Dr Atkins. There are explanations about the science behind this and other diets as well as an expose of why it was neither in Government, Industry nor certain scientists interests to do anything about the negative press which came to surround the Atkins Diet.

However, having become an avid convert of the diet and seeing the pounds slip off, he realised that becoming slimmer had not provided the happiness he sought. He looked to the other excesses in his life ... and he believes that he has been addicted to almost everything.

"The Hungry Years" although making some very valid and thought-provoking points, had me laughing and cringing in equal measure and is a very readable book. It left me questioning our current way of thinking that losing excess weight will be the answer to all evils and a lifetime of happiness; and wondering if that old adage "a little of what you fancy does you good" is perhaps a better way forward.

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing plc ISBN 1592401554 or 978-1592401550

6. Stress in the News

In this section we give you links to recent articles in the press that we have found interesting:

Pace of Life now 10% faster than in early 1990's
Professor Richard Wiseman in collaboration with the British Council has revealed the result of an international study to measure the speed of life in various cities worldwide. This site also includes a link to a quiz which tells you if you're living your life in the fast lane and the possible shortcomings of so doing.

Mind calls for new green agenda for mental health
Mind, the mental health charity, has commissioned two studies from the University of Essex. The results published in this report confirm that participating in green exercise activities provide substantial benefits for health and wellbeing.

Mental ill health is the 2nd largest cause of sickness absence
A new report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and Active Health Partners reveals that mental health is the 2nd largest cause of time lost due to sickness absence in UK organisations with stress, depression, and anxiety accounting for over 50% of these mental health problems.

 

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7. On a lighter note ...

Isn't it wonderful when a routine event has unexpected, positive side effects? I had one such experience the other weekend. Having carried out the normal Saturday morning duties of a parent with children of a certain age (housekeeper, social secretary and taxi driver rolled into one, have I missed anything?), I decided to create some valuable space in the garage by taking the various rapidly mounting piles to the local recycling centre.

I managed to dispose of the tins (simple), cardboard (almost as simple although a few more do's and don'ts to read) and the plastic (nightmare - when is a plastic not a plastic?)

Then, almost finished, I trudged over to the glass recycling. I don't know what your glass recycling is like but at my centre you shoot the bottles down a tunnel about twenty metres below where you're standing. If you're tall you can see the bottom, I have to make do with the satisfactory delayed smash. Needless to say, I was a bit miffed to discover a retired gentleman already at the glass section with two huge cardboard boxes full of bottles at his feet. Muttering to myself that queues ought to obey weekday hours, I politely waited behind him.

However, he turned to me with a smile sixty years his junior and said "The secret is to feed the next tunnel with a bottle before the last bottle's had time to smash at the bottom! Here, do you want to share mine? You do the green ones." His enthusiasm was contagious and it would have been churlish to decline. So we spent the next couple of minutes firing bottles down the tunnels, making a right old racket. I even entered into the spirit of the occasion and invited him to smash my brown and clear bottles.

As I left the glass recycling, I swear my shoulders had dropped to a more relaxed position and I smiled to myself on reading the notice at the entrance/exit - "Children under 12 years must remain in vehicles". Too right, I prefer to think that far from this being a health and safety issue, the council had the well-being of their older residents at heart!

Written by Amanda Furness.

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8. Stress Case Study - Coaching Stressed Executives

The HSE stress management standards identify Support as one of the 6 key conditions influencing health, well being and organisational performance.

The standard requires that :

• Employees should receive adequate information and support from their colleagues and superiors; and that 
• Systems are in place locally to respond to any individual concerns.

For stressed senior executives, this support can be hard to find. As the leaders of the organisation, they can feel that they should be providing rather than receiving support. And since they tend to have fewer immediate colleagues and superiors to turn to, life at the top can be lonely and isolated.

Executive Coaching is a way of responding to this problem. The following case studies illustrate how a non-judgemental outsider can help the executive to find his or her own solution.

A Career Decision

Finance Director John's career was at a critical stage. A capable individual, the Company wanted John to move up to group level and allow a promising team member to fill the gap. However, John was avoiding making a decision because he was very worried about the impact of a move on his family; in particular his wife who was prone to anxiety and bouts of severe depression.

Coaching enabled him to talk confidentially about the situation at home, his values and aspirations. It enabled him to develop criteria for accepting a new role, and to identify alternative ways in which he could meet his own need for a challenging role, whilst continuing to support his wife and family.

A Stressed Team

Operations director Suzanna's 360 degree appraisal had resulted in a very disappointing set of scores. Working in a complex, fast changing environment, she had been working long hours, close to burn out, and was inclined to blame her co-directors when things went wrong.

Coaching helped Suzanna to see herself as others were seeing her, and to understand how she was adding to the stress levels of her team. The 360 feedback was used to complete a SWOT analysis from which Suzanna was able to use her strengths and make the most of opportunities to create some quick wins with her team, while in the longer term she undertook an in depth management development programme.

A ‘win-win'

In each of these cases, it had been possible for the executive to work through a stressful situation with the coach acting as facilitator, with personal growth outcomes that brought significant benefits to the organisation as well as the executives.

For further information about Executive Coaching, please contact us.

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9. In Equilibrium Consultant Profile

We now have 12 consultants working throughout the UK and thought you might be interested to know a little more about them.

Michaela Loughney

Michaela Loughney is an experienced Stress Management Trainer, and Consultant specialising in Business Psychology and management systems. For the last five years she has worked with the SME business community in Merseyside for Liverpool John Moores University on a business growth project; and as a freelance Consultant and Trainer currently working with a local Chamber of Commerce assisting businesses achieve accreditation for their people development systems. She is a member of the Association of Business Psychologists, and stress management has been one of her main interests since studying for her Masters Degree in Applied Psychology, and then lecturing, at Cardiff University.

We asked Michaela what kind of things she had been up to during the past week. Her list included the following: great feedback from a client about a training course she delivered; attending a wonderful concert at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Hall; an unexpected personal email from her favourite author; a superb afternoon sat in front of her laptop doing creative writing; meeting a new client and planning their work together; and the news that one of her clients had just received a business award. What was noticeable about her list was that half were the results of her work life and half were to do with how she spends her leisure time. She feels this balance is healthy and rewarding and knows from experience that such a balance is so important to her well-being. She comments "Speaking of well-being, I love delivering the 'Managers Managing Well Being' course for In-Equilibrium. It is excellent, particularly the well-being formula; a wonderful practical approach which delegates find very useful and interesting."

A colleague asked her recently if she could design and deliver a brand new course what would it be? She didn't hesitate: "Pen your way to Inner Peace".

"That's sounds interesting" her colleague said, "but what does it mean?"

Michaela then told her all about another passion in her life, very relevant to managing stress, called "expressive writing" and the exciting research that has shown that expressive writing techniques can enhance the immune system; reduce symptoms of stress; immediately improve your mood; enhance performance at work; improve social life; reduce pain; and reduce blood pressure, amongst other benefits. We don't yet know how her colleague got on when she tried the techniques but it's certainly made us think differently about writing as a hobby!

Finally, if any of you are wondering, Michaela's favourite author is Paulo Coelho. Also, for those of you interested in expressive writing she recommends Professor James W Pennebaker, PhD in Austin, Texas who has pioneered the research and techniques and has a really interesting and fun website ("almost as good as www.in-equilibrium.co.uk" she promises!).

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10. Have you heard of the Ki Treatment?

Ki Health International got in touch with us recently to tell us more about the Ki Treatment and we thought you may be interested to hear about it.

A practitioner explains "Ki Treatment is based on acupressure, which is similar to acupuncture but uses pressure, or touch, instead of needles. It boosts energy levels, lowers stress, and treats a variety of health conditions. The full body Ki Treatment takes around 15 minutes. No oils or creams are used, people remain fully clothed and are able to return to work immediately."

If you would like more information about workplace visits throughout the UK from Ki Health International, please phone 020 7636 3500 or view their website at www.kihealth.org and click on "Ki @ work".

11. Your Feedback - Win a PRIZE

Please let us know what you think about this edition of "In Equilibrium". To entice you, we are offering a prize of a copy of our Relaxation Techniques cd for the most apt and original comment received (in our opinion, of course!).