5 Ways To Foster Stress Management Skills In Corporate eLearning

5 Ways To Foster Stress Management Skills In Corporate eLearning
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Summary: Aside from regular office stress, trying to establish work-life balance places a strain on many corporates. Can you help them deal with this by teaching positive stress relief at the office so that they can handle work-related pressures?

How To Foster Stress Management Skills In Corporate eLearning

Stress at work overlaps into other areas of your employees’ lives. It can literally make them sick, and if they get fed up, you could lose valuable talent. It seems like a strange idea to combat work-based tension through in-house training. In some ways, though, this is the best place to teach employees how to destress. It goes right to the source, attacking Medusa at the neck so to speak. Plus, since you (as the company) may be contributing to this pressure, you have a role in fixing it. It shows your team that you care and lowers your rate of turnover. It also equips your employees with all the tools they need to stay productive on the job and handle everyday challenges, without losing their cool, calm, and collected professional demeanor. Let’s explore 5 tips to foster stress management skills in corporate eLearning.

1. Simulated Stress

Pilots and astronauts are trained in centrifugal machines that mimic speed, heights, and anti-gravity. It tests how well they can handle the real thing. In a corporate setting, you can use online training simulations to imitate high-stress situations. Ambient music and carefully crafted visuals can help set the mood. You can also use far more basic stress-inducers, like a quick-fire quiz with a loud buzzer.

Another option is to pair corporate learners. They can collaborate via video call or web conferencing, and simulate stressful branching scenarios. This can be more realistic than "fighting" a computer. This is because employees have experienced these situations, so they’ll know which stressors are involved. Through a series of exploratory online training activities, questionnaires, and surveys, find out what situations frustrate your team the most. Then you can narrow down your online training and address trouble spots.

2. Peer Training

Keep these online training sessions brief and be sure to moderate. It can be tricky because colleagues might get carried away and make it personal. If you’re concerned, use a branching scenario where employees engage the online training simulation. Program it with multiple options, so one answer leads to one direction and a different answer leads to less favorable outcomes. This way they can repeat the online training activity, picking new responses each time. This makes it easy for corporate learners to review and see exactly where things deteriorated. In addition to letting corporate learners play the irate customer or infuriating boss, get them to share positives.

Using informal online discussion platforms like chat rooms or group messaging, invite them to talk about their coping tactics. They can tell fellow corporate learners how they deal with office strain. Build up a database of the most helpful options and optimize it for easy reference. You can also include online training modules with short relaxation exercises, like breathing techniques or timed distractions. You can use alerts to nudge employees with quick, stress-busting exercises.

3. Steamy Online Training Activities (Not That Kind)

How do you let off steam after work? Maybe you have a beer or go to the gym. Other people play with their pets or spend time with family. It’s equally relaxing to Netflix, or chilling and reading a book if that’s more your speed. You can’t really do any of these at work, though. Come up with creative stress-release techniques your team can apply in the office. They could engage in competitive online trivia or battle games. These online training activities may not be quite as cathartic as their more aerobic cousins. However, pitting their skills and knowledge against that of their peers can help them vent and build camaraderie.

Another way to enhance stress management skills in corporate eLearning is to program your Learning Management System to send notifications or screen popups with simple suggestions like "Take a break!" or "Play a round of your favorite online training game." These seem silly and inconsequential, but they’ll make your staff smile. It gives them a mental break, reminding them to be present and lowering their stress levels.

4. Identify The Triggers

Everyone has their own stress triggers, even though we have many in common. So before you can start cultivating stress management skills in corporate eLearning, it is important for employees to identify the primary causes of their stress and learn how to avoid them. For instance, putting tasks off until just before the deadline and procrastinating put them through unnecessary stress. As such, they can work on their time management and organization skills to prevent this. You can use online training simulations, serious games, and other real-world activities to test their triggers in a safe and supportive setting instead of making them diagnose the source in the workplace.

5. Know Your Limits

Some employees are stressed because they simply take on too much and are unaware of their limits. One of the most effective ways to foster stress management skills in corporate eLearning is encouraging boundaries. Corporate learners must know their limits and how to work within them to avoid stress burnout. For example, set manageable goals so that your employees don’t become overwhelmed by long-term objectives. Invite them to evaluate their current workload and tasks to see if there’s a way to streamline processes, thereby, improving productivity and eliminating common sources of stress. Provide real-world examples and personal anecdotes to show them how to acknowledge and respect their own limitations.

Teaching your employees to lower their office tension will make them more productive. It’s good for their health and for your profit margins. Use these 5 online training techniques to ease the buildup of corporate pressure. Online training simulations can help them practice de-escalating workplace drama. Invite colleagues to induce stress in a controlled setting and share their personal methods of diffusing it. Build little games, online training activities, and prompts into the corporate eLearning course. It encourages mindfulness and physical movement, which is great for dissipating psychological tension. Don’t employ online training activities in isolation. Maintain your online training course cohesive at all times.

What better way to promote stress management than creating a stress-free online training course that puts your employees at ease? Read the article 9 Tips To Create A Stress-Free Online Training Experience For Your Employees to discover 9 tips that can help you create perfect online training conditions for your stressed staff members.

Originally published on July 3, 2020