3.1 Caring management of stress
The audio clips in the next activity feature Lakshmi’s and Angelique’s accounts of how Angelique approached the situation to support Lakshmi.
Activity 5 Finding a way forward
Part A
Listen to the following audio clip, where Angelique talks about how she thought of a possible way to help Lakshmi.
Transcript: Audio 4 How Angelique tries to help Lakshmi
What do you think of Angelique’s approach to Lakshmi’s behaviour?
Discussion
The build-up of stress in Lakshmi’s life meant she was managing her time badly, resulting in more anxiety for her and potentially putting recipients of care at risk as well. Angelique was drawing on her own experience and personal awareness of the benefits of good time management to help improve the situation. Although she could not control the wider circumstances of Lakshmi’s stress, she felt she could help Lakshmi develop her personal sense of control, or her ‘power-from-within’ (Wong, 2003). In choosing to identify a practical tool that might support Lakshmi, Angelique was leading by example. You may well disagree with Angelique’s approach and feel that she should have focused much more on providing Lakshmi with emotional support. In the next part of the activity, you will hear how Lakshmi reacted to Angelique’s suggestion.
Part B
Listen to the following audio clip from Lakshmi and then reflect on the questions below.
Transcript: Audio 5 Lakshmi’s feelings about the meeting
- What do you think about Lakshmi’s responses and what she said?
- How effective do you think Angelique’s solution of personal time management was in practice?
- What else might Angelique have done?
Discussion
Clearly, there was more going on in Lakshmi’s life than Angelique had realised.
Lakshmi’s transition after the death of her mother was being frustrated by other stressful factors in her life. There is a danger that, in their concern to support particular individuals, managers and leaders may either overlook or even try to downplay any associated stress factors in the wider context that may be relevant. In terms of caring management, this can be seen as lack of contextual awareness. Talking to Lakshmi about her time-management skills and giving her a practical tool certainly looks like the actions of a caring and proactive manager, but Lakshmi’s outburst focused on her personal emotions, feelings and problems.
As you have seen, people who feel engaged at work generally experience a greater sense of wellbeing and are therefore more able to cope with stress. While Lakshmi had personal problems outside work that were making her feel less able to cope in work, she also revealed to Angelique that something had changed in the workplace recently, which undermined the comfort she used to feel there. So, if Lakshmi felt happier at work, it could have helped her to cope better with what was going on in the rest of her life.
There are many different ways of dealing with stress and you may have come up with a different solution to help Lakshmi. It is also important for the manager, however, to consider their own stress. The next section deals with this issue.