A few weeks ago, my supervisor said that he had never attended a training where he learned anything that helped his instuctional ability and he doubted the efficacy of training. Having watched him not pay attention to the majority of meetings we are required to attend, I would have to agree. He probably learned very little from the trainings he attended. Perhaps they should have given an assessment that he had to pass before being given a certificate of completion.

After 17yrs with the same company , would it be wise to wait in this economy before making a career change.

Often times managers are so high strung themselves for meeting the demands of the work place until they are too busy to recognize a need to discuss stress levels with staff. What is the best practice to get managers on board with being mindful of need to monitor employees stressors?

Sometimes behavior from managers or staff can fall into a category of "bad form" verses "unethical". I think by reinforcing this grey area a higher level of conduct is established.

I think problems arrive when mutual respect is not given between the boss and employee. Agree to disagree but respectfully.A good boss creates an environment where ideas are welcome;not belittled.A good boss avoids "political" decisions and judges everyone on their merits. A god boss can accept when he/she is wrong.

What would you say are the best exercises to beat stress?

LOOKING AT GOING BACK TO SCHOOL, WITH NO PARTICULAR GOAL IN MIND, OTHER THAN A CHANGE. THERE ARE NO OTHER OPPORTUNITIES AT MY PRESENT JOB THAT CURRENTLY INTEREST ME, SO I'M LOOKING TO IMPROVE MY SKILLS TO BETTER PLACE MYSELF IN THE JOB MARKET. CAN A CAREER COUNSELOR HELP WITH THAT?

Having open discussions between students and faculty increases awareness of subject matter. It also sheds new light on other areas that students need additional training or interest. How have open discussions impaced your environment?

whether or not, mental, emotional, physical,or environmental, Stress is the motivator of life. stress invoke natural selection and evolution of all living organism in the world. life is a constant strugle induced by stress..toxic or not the simple act of living is stressful.. so were is the peace... is living in a world without stress an utopia..

I agree that humor in the workplace can be a very positive reaction to a strssful situation. Mnay times an event can take place that is blown out of porportion and one negative team player can begin to fuel the fire until several have followed the same path of stressfull negative attitude. By carefully finding a humorous approch to a situation you can ususally difuse a situation and a follow up response with positve solutions can be a very affective anidote to a negative stiuation.

One of the best time managment strategies for me is to ask for assistance with lengthy or long term projects. An example is marking lab floor space. This was assigned to me as a project to complete, but it was not required that I personnaly performed the tasks involved. There were other personnel available and sometimes all you have to do is ask them for help or advice. Some folks are willing and able and just plain enjoy a task that someone else may not like to do. So the measuring, marling and taping duties were shared by several who enjoyed the change of pace and were able to use some of there skills to complete the project.

With regards to working and getting support from your supervisor or boss, I would like to ask how one would go about letting your boss know if he/she is actually helping or defeating time management direction? I have found that supervisors do not like to be told they are wrong even if its done in a nice easy approach! CEE has offered several steps to communicate with your supervisor, but where is the research that shows if it works?

Ever had one of these moments? We all have, but we all do not listen or learn from them. This topic of how to get along with one's boss, was a gentle wake up reminder. Of course, I knew these things, but it was very beneficial to have this as a reminder. We all get into the "race" that work becomes, and sometimes life is speeding along at speeds so intense that we fail to see what is happening. Thanks for this lesson on paying attention to our interactions with our bosses. It was very helpful.

Just as young children watch and process mentally and emotionally all that their parents say and do, so do our employees. Remember when your child was very young and repeated something you had said, which wasn't very positive? Remeber the realization at that moment of how impressionable our children are? Our employees notice everything about their leader. They notice how we dress, our tone when speaking, our dedication (or lack thereof), our work ethic. So, the next time you just want to leave a few minutes early, or just want to relax into a more casual manner; remember you are the role model. More is expected of you as the leader. Therefore, you must give more, and must be more. Suzanne Thomas

This statement is a stress inciting statement for me, as nothing results from it. As I see the business disolving in front of me, getting yelled at from various people not being able to give true to fact answers to reduce the level of stress on both sides. Leaving you with the only answer that they gave you "We are Working on it". Maybe this statement should be listed as the start of the stress cycle in the workplace.

I have found that viewing my job as a means by which I enable myself to enjoy life outside of work helps to put things in perspective.

Difficult students, train delays, traffic, juggling two jobs, family conflicts, bills - these are just some of the stress factors that I deal with daily living in New York city. I've been dealing with these for over 10 years but I am able to cope. I find that getting on the treadmill (3-5 times a week for 30 minutes)helps me get a handle on all of these contributors. I also find that separating the weekly grind by taking time out during Saturdays and Sundays helps me. I make sure that these two days are devoted to things that I love to do most like working in the garage, dinner with my wife and son, movies or just plainly relaxing at home watching tv or reading a book. Also I discovered that proscrastinating doesn't help and daily planning is very useful.

For me, this seems to be the most stressful aspect of my job here. The pressure to work more hours, do more, being forced to commit to things that take away from my family life causes me great stress. Anyone have any tips for maintaining that balance?

The environment I currently work in requires at least a bi-weekly working conference where all faculty members provide an update of their current and forecasted projects. As the facilitator for these meetings, I schedule the meeting room, create and provide an agenda for all participants, prepare/update applicable power-point slides, and keep the meeting on track. I open the meeting with a brief update from the last meeting and then provide my updates. I don't allow a lot of time for divergence from the agenda or for extended inputs from participants that don't relate to the group as a whole. In these cases I suggest that they speak to the relevant individuals after the meeting concludes.

Do you feel that you reach all your goals?