Helping to solve on-the-job stress
Learn how counselors help with issues causing job stress...
Sometimes employees feel overwhelmed by the amount of work they must tackle, or develop irrational beliefs like, “Everything I do seems to be wrong. No matter how much I try, I just can't seem to do anything right.”
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For those struggling with on-the-job stress, many career counselors are trained to help (see Career Counselor Career). They assist those having trouble adjusting to new work, and help reduce stress or find solutions to interpersonal problems as well.
They coach clients as to how negative beliefs combined with a stressful work environment create a recipe for disaster.
According to “Career Counseling from a Cognitive Perspective,” published in The Personnel and Guidance Journal, negative feelings can lead to occupational-related depression, loss of motivation in a career, and learned career helplessness.
In other words, negative thoughts prevent problems from being solved and lead to more issues at work.
To defeat negative thoughts and get careers back on track, clients learn to identify their problems and solve them through problem-solving techniques learned while working with career counselors.
Problem solving generally involves five basic steps, according to “Career Counseling from a Cognitive Perspective.”
First the client must recognize the problem that must be solved. For example, consider a woman who has been behind on her work lately. She was recently promoted, and must often help the newer staff members with their work, on top of her regular workload. While the woman is seeing the career counselor for not meeting deadlines, the overall problem is with her work flow.
The career counselor starts by inquiring of the woman’s career goals. She might say, “To continue on my current career path, get promoted, and learn to manage my stress.” The counselor then would examine what steps she would have to take to reach those goals, focusing on solving the current problem.
The counselor begins brainstorming ideas with her. The woman comes up with a list of everything that comes to mind, from telling her boss she needs more time to work, to telling the other staff members they must do their own work, to quitting her job completely.
The counselor works with the woman analyzing each option, weighing the positives and negatives, and deciding on the best course of action to take.
In this case, the woman might decide to provide additional training for some of the younger staff members, empowering them to finish their work themselves. This gives the woman more time to complete her own work, while also taking more of a leadership role in the office.
During the final step, the woman would follow through with her decision, evaluate how it worked, then decide whether or not to try a different method.