Province d - The Service Mag

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YOUR WELLBEING MATTERS
Handling
STRESS
By Sam Kebongo
Picture yourself working in a typical
Kigali banking hall; long queues,
insufficient tellers, long hours,
to mention just a few. Imagine dealing
with the queues from 7 am to 8 pm five
to six days a week. The mere thought
of it is stressful. Stress - a situation
whereby internal or external forces affect
the individual, and become part of the
banker’s (and other customer service
professionals’) life.
From a biological viewpoint, stress
can be a neutral, negative, or positive
experience. The overabundance of
stress in the modern world has made
us perceive stress as negative. It is how
the individual responds to stress that
affects the individual as well as their
environment. Stress has both external and
internal factors.
External factors include the
physical environment, one’s job, one’s
relationships, one’s home and all the
challenges and expectations one is
confronted with on a daily basis.
Internal factors determine your
body’s ability to respond to, and deal
with external stress-inducing factors.
Internal factors influencing your ability
to handle stress include your nutritional
status, overall health and fitness levels,
emotional well-being, and the amount of
sleep and rest you get.
In the evolutionary process, the
species that adapted best to causes
of stress (stressors) have survived
and evolved into the plant and animal
kingdoms that exist today. Likewise, while
the risks associated with stress are real,
recent research shows that work-related
stress, when managed correctly, can
actually impact positively on productivity
and performance.
38 | The SERVICEMAG October - December 2011
in Customer Service
This said, how can a customer service
professional transform the stress initially
thought to be harmful into something
constructive?
Experts say that stress is unavoidable.
“We live in a world of incessant worry,
change and uncertainty. You have to
get used to it,” says Justin Menkes, the
author of “Better Under Pressure: How
Great Leaders Bring Out the Best in
Themselves and Others.” There are two
sides that you must look at; one, yourself
and two, the customer.
First, See worry for what it is: a feeling.
Your sensitive reaction—apprehension,
a racing heart— indicates that you really
care about your current duty or that which
you will soon fulfil. In fact, according
to Menkes, your stress level is directly
proportional to the importance of the
activity. If the latter hardly mattered, you
wouldn’t worry. Once you perceive worry
as an indicator rather than as a symptom
of dysfunction or cause for panic, you can
react to it more rationally. Remember
that stress is not endless. “Feelings by
definition are fleeting. They feel like
they will be eternal but just give it five
minutes,” says Menkes.
Once you’ve reframed the stress, you
need to adjust your mindset. How you
view stress determines its effect on you.
Our brains are activated by positivity into
a ‘broaden and build’ mode as opposed to
the paralysis of ‘fight-or-flight’ mode that
comes with negative thinking.
All the time, you should be focusing on
control.
You should acknowledge what you can
and cannot control. Remember the prayer
‘God help me change things that I can and
accept the things that I cannot change
and the wisdom to know the difference’?
Keep the wisdom part in mind. This really
helps you to focus on your goal and do all
you can where it makes a difference.