Responding to Stress

Citation

Hannabuss, S. (2001), "Responding to Stress", Library Review, Vol. 50 No. 3, pp. 146-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/lr.2001.50.3.146.3

“Essentials” is a well‐known practical series of “how to” books that really does tell you how. A lot do not but these do. There are about a dozen so far, several on making presentations, writing reports, speaking in public, and getting started on the Internet. The five reviewed here are likely to be the ones most relevant to busy managers and information professionals. Topics like problem solving and stress are popular, so it is often difficult, from a glance or a publisher’s list, to identify something that will bring you up to speed quickly and give you a sensible framework of ideas and approaches to put into action straightaway. These do – they live up to their name, providing well‐structured information and advice, using examples readers can easily identify, and avoiding platitudes and a patronising tone. For these reasons, they are good for trainers and trainees alike, and a good substitute for that expensive course which you have neither the time nor the money to attend.

Solving Problems takes realistic examples from the workplace and focuses on thinking straight. It recommends a six‐step process which you can use each time problem solving comes up and you want to reflect on it. Get the right information and ask the right people, get to the root of the problem and check the symptoms and causes (for fix‐it problems) and the outcomes and constraints (for do‐it problems). Review the quick and the optimal solutions, the options, the risks, decide how to decide, translate into action, include and make people accountable. Clear, convincing stuff when applied and it is easy to apply it.

Hiring People keeps up this practical tone and focus. It is a field of clichés but Kneeland avoids them. Pin down what your company wants and look for the winning candidate’s profile – goal orientation, initiative, getting on with people, drive, resilience, self‐development. Look at things in their background – career progress, initiative, stability, stayability – then screen. In interviews use a lead‐in, probe, and follow‐up approach – excellent probing questions are suggested. Interviews often do not put people on the spot and they really should. Explore their strengths and weaknesses in assertive but unthreatening ways that get candidates to reveal reflective qualities. Probe for specifics – the technical, professional, personality issues. A very useful set of guidelines for managers to run through as part of their preparation, above all if they have not interviewed much before.

Succeeding at Interviews looks at it from the candidate’s viewpoint. Again, realism and few platitudes. The interview is the sales pitch and you are the product. So get that CV right, succinct and readable, with the right keywords, tailored to the job, highlighting your own selling points. Anticipate various forms of interview, from traditional one‐to‐one to psychometric testing, and consider the biographical, technical, and behavioural demands of the interview. Be alert to the rapport, body‐language, tone of voice, eye contact, and pacing. You’ll need to think on your feet, actively selling your skills, saying you are right for the job. Use listening skills positively. It is a live performance, however banal you believe interview questions are going to be. Questions about initiative, leadership, adaptability, personality, career moves, yourself , can be traps for the unwary. Good, probing, open‐ended questions are provided for a variety of work opportunities.

Making the Most of Your Time indicates the wider approach taken by the series. Quick to read, full of memorable and usable ideas, it encourages us to set limits and set goals, keep control of our own time. Be effective (doing the right things, like being selective about meetings and e‐mail), and be efficient (doing things the right way, the best way, faster, using skills and training to their best advantage). Plan so that the unexpected does not dominate and you do not get over‐committed. Watch out for power games and side‐step them. Delegate properly. Keep things organised and deal with clutter (desks, computer files, interruptions), use a day file (for key things that are coming up and having to be done), and read actively (skim, scan). Everything we have all heard about but – all put together in a neat, unpretentious, workable and sensible way – read it and work smarter.

Responding to Stress continues that broader approach – not just the workplace but life in general, and covers work, being a student, family, being ill, and much else. Take a twin‐track in looking at changes brought about by situations and events, and looking at changes in your response to them. Managing stress works in doing and being, the doing as the active part (get control, be assertive, protect your space) and the being as the reflective and relaxation part (check your body for effects of stressors, use visualisation to frame situations which cause you stress, draw on supportive relationships), get both sides working together. It steers clear of jargon, faddish diets, mystical solutions, counselling buzzwords. It assumes that responding to stress is not a form of escapism but a series of growth steps towards positive living.

Books and series like this seem to grow on trees and that is what makes it difficult to make a choice. But for busy people these take a lot of beating: they can be used in formal and informal situations, with groups and individually, and they tap into a lot of personal vaguenesses and frustrations we feel at work. People are, after all, the other traffic on the road. One of those series which belies the hype.