Helping professionals cite the major source of workplace stress as being organizational in nature rather than operational stress. This suggests that organizations, the leadership, and even the frontline workers can make changes or accommodations to make the job a little more palatable and a little less stressful. This first installment of a two-part webinar series focuses on the frontline perspective on managing organizational stress.
Leading the webinar is Justice Clearinghouse regular, Brenda Dietzman. Brenda has 28 years of law enforcement and corrections experience and is currently serving the profession as a passionate speaker and trainer for organizational and individual improvement. She’s presented for state, national, and international audiences on various topics including resiliency and leadership.
Specifics of the presentation are on:
- The internal stressors in the justice profession – which have been identified three decades ago yet still exist to this day.
- How lack of communication, the “fixer” mentality, and the workload of the job created these stressors.
- The shift in how young professionals are deciding to navigate careers opting for career security and longevity retirement opportunities, and healthy culture instead of just focusing on the paycheck.
- The value of reflecting on whether the stress we’re experiencing is caused by the demands of the work, ourselves, or a bit of both.
- Dealing with stress in the helping profession by understanding its root cause, how to mitigate it, building resources to address it, and focusing on one’s purpose.
- A rundown of the basic strategies frontline workers can employ to prevent and lessen organizational stress by…
- Looking at the environment we’re working in.
- Learning about, working with, and communicating with supervisors toward the best outcomes.
- Asking for the why to have a better understanding of how decisions are made.
- Listening to feedback to adapt and improve our performance accordingly.
- Identifying the gaps within the organization, as well as bringing up problems and coming up with solutions to improve how things are done.
- Not being too overinvested in our identity based on our job or role and allowing flexibility to prevent frustration.
- The steering wheel practice which allows us to regularly think about our goals and reflect on our accomplishments.
- Next-level strategies to implement to make a difference in the organization within your purview.
- Working towards a promotion to have a greater influence on the organization.
- Putting ourselves in our supervisor’s/leader’s shoes and learning what they do to really understand the work they’re doing.
- Factors to take into account if we’re considering leaving the organization.
- Looking at leaders’ actions and decisions to understand what drove them into those options.
- Managing unreasonable demands by having honest and open conversations to better prioritize workload.
- Checking if leaders are open to hearing suggestions from the frontline and ways to make them open to it.
- Having conversations with the organization to create stability by not making frequent changes in supervision.
- Living a great story that looks into your goals and allows you to become an agent of change within the organization.
- Resources to look into for frontline workers.
- How discernment between what we can control and cannot control is the silver bullet that frontline workers can employ for a better work and career experience.
Topics raised during the Q&A are about:
- References mentioned in the presentation.
- The pros and cons of the buddy system and networking.
- Addressing the understaffing and overtime issue through recruitment and retention strategies.
- Raising frontline concerns when the organization is toxic and closed off to feedback and suggestions.
Other Webinars with this Presenter
- Jan 18: Leadership Reset: Setting Goals for the New Year
- March 30: Organizational Stress: From the Front Line Perspective (this webinar)
- April 28: Organizational Stress: From the Administrative Perspective
- July 25: Confident Female Leadership
- Nov 9: Growing the Leaders You Need for the Future
Resources and Handouts
- Book Referenced: Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brene Brown
- Book Referenced: Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
Audience Comments
- “This was a wonderful webinar! Thank you so much!” — Bobbi-Lynn
- “I like that all levels of employees are addressed (from line employees to management).” — Christine
- “The most valuable thing I learned was to only focus on what I can control. I have been trying to do this for the last few weeks and it is very tough! This webinar has given me hope that just because my environment is toxic, I don’t have to be and I can find ways to make my co-workers feel valued and recognized for the work they/we do even if our supervisory staff doesn’t.” — Jessica
- “I loved her combination of research as well as practice experience. And her knowledge of the victim services/criminal justice experience. Great action-able ideas and is a compelling speaker. Can’t wait for Part 2.” — Karen
- “Excellent and timely presentation. One of my main takeaways today is not to get over-invested and learn to step away from a situation I have no control over.” — Nicole
- “Everything was so on point and it really put things into perspective for me both personally and professionally. Awesome webinar!” — Shaquana
- “The Presenter was thorough in providing important background information to share with the attendees and showed great enthusiasm for the topic.” — Vivian
- “This presenter does an excellent job! I always obtain some information as a “takeaway!” — Deanna
- “This webinar was perfect timing for issues we are currently dealing with. Thank you and I look forward to Part 2 on April 27th.” — Kimberlee
- “Learning more about the supervisor who you report to will better help with the professional relationship. — Eric
- “Wow, Brenda Dietzman is – so far – been the most relevant and helpful presenter with all the fantastic learning opportunities you have offered. I am SO looking forward to Part 2 on April 27th, 2023!” — Kelly
