To get started, ask yourself: how do I manage stress at work? A bit intriguing-usual question for a support manager. Dozens of various studies during the last decades have proved that there is a growing amount of people who suffer from work-related stress. Support people are also counted in that “amount of people.”
It might be useful to give a little background here. Day by day, you are tossed by demands, emails, and complaints of various complexities. On top of this, everything is done in a fast-paced, multi-tasked environment. Naturally, you spend a lot of time refining the quality of customer service you provide, but this makes you prone to either acute or chronic stress.
How Stress Affects Health and Performance
Once you start your working day feeling some symptoms of stress, it might be quite challenging to finish the day. Let me toss some statistics at you (there are no exact numbers, but still, it is pretty descriptive). Support agents who can’t manage stress and, conversely, suffer from high stress levels show an increased amount of sick leave, disengagement, lowered productivity, and high absenteeism.
Besides, support service teams usually have a higher (in comparison to other departments within a company) employee turnover. This is directly connected to the stress support managers experience. Every company spends massive amounts of time and money on recruiting and training decent customer service managers. To prove that the company’s money is well-spent, businesses also consider the dangers of stress.
Unfortunately, the inability to manage stress and its harmful consequences (disordered eating, anxiety, insomnia, depression, and chronic pain) are becoming common knowledge. However, if the driving force of your life - your work - causes this stress, what should you do then? Nobody was born into the role they currently have, so it is urgently important to mitigate the triggers and manage the already-acquired effects of the stress.
Carry the Palm and Manage Stress Properly
Sometimes, it seems that you are riding the crazy train doing your job. Among numerous essential skills of a successful customer support manager, managing stress is treated as professional. Usually, support people share burnouts of two types: (a) repetitive routine requests and (b) frustrated customers. Other examples of complicated yet short-lived situations are a frustrating talk with a teammate and an upcoming deadline.
Get ready: there is no elegant solution to the perpetual problem of acute stress of support manager’s work that can transform a daily routine and release you from stress. But don’t be down in the dumps. These situations are temporary, and the feeling of stress dissipates when they pass. In some cases, the stress can take on the role of a motivator that encourages (sometimes, egg you on) to respond to a challenge. Everything in life and business should have a golden middle to be satisfying and comfortable. The same thing applies to stress. Once it becomes prolonged or frequent, you become prone to chronic health issues and show the worst side of you as a support manager.
The most common symptoms of stress are shallow breathing, upset stomach, fatigue, sweating, chest pain, and rapid heartbeat. Once you are aware that a feeling is imminent, you can manage stress before it overwhelms you. Here are two shortlists of approaches that will help you handle pressure and save your working day.
Live a Less Stressful Life
#1 Learn to breathe
When the stress symptoms are looming on the horizon, you need to confront them at the very beginning. Whether you are on the phone with a customer or in the middle of a meeting, try an “equal breathing” yoga technique. It is easy enough for everyone. Inhale through the nose (and count in mind to four) and exhale through the nose (and count in mind to four). Repeat this exercise a couple of times. As a result, it helps you to lower blood pressure, clear your head, and block a fight-or-flight body response. So, you are in control of your body and mind.
#2 Care of yourself
Manage stress. It is easier to say than to do. No wonder this ability requires discipline and willpower. Well, it is hard to display when you are experiencing elevated stress. Support managers (as well as any other employees) keep eating comfort food, sleeping less, and are eager to be alone, among other things. However, these “shelters” won’t help you to combat stress.
Remember, stress has a physical component, so you must have enough energy. And it is high time to jump on the bandwagon of a healthy lifestyle. Start with getting enough sleep and eating nourishing food, and try to lower the amount of sugar and caffeine. Instead of sugar, try a high-protein snack, and you prevent possible emotional reactions and vulnerability on the lack of sugar. Drink plenty of water during the day - dehydration can make you feel foggy or frustrated. Plus, create a new rule to do some physical exercise - this will boost your cheerfulness. Yet, bring changes into your lifestyle gradually to avoid shock or pressure on yourself.
#3 Maintain work/life balance
The time you spend away from work allows you to decrease the impact of various stressors. Take a walk with your loved ones; this will switch your attention and heal you a little bit. Another vital thing is to leave the work behind the office doors. Turn off your laptop and stop checking email or Slack. There are two spheres of your life, so don’t mix them up.
One more tip about work/life balance. You can put a photo of your loved ones on your desk and look at it in stressful situations. That will remind you that dealing with customers is your job and your loved ones in your life.
Run a Flexible Working Day
#1 Plan ahead
The daily routine of a support manager demands high flexibility and adaptability. Pop-up issues and interactions will always appear, taking much more time than you were expecting. You shouldn’t sit on the edge of your seat whenever anything comes up. Instead, consider adding structure to your working day and reducing the number of triggers to manage stress better.
Draw a broad plan of your activities for a day, week, and month. Don’t forget about leaving space for the so-called “adjustments.” You never know what unforeseen events may come. In that way, you will budget your time and avoid trapping your own schedule.
#2 Don’t take job stuff personally
The controversy over offering outstanding and profitable customer service is about providing personalized help, but don’t take it personally. In the run of gaining a client’s loyalty, let the negative aspects of the interaction in the messaging be minimized, and keep the distance to turn the conflictual exchange around, if possible. Try to understand: customer frustration has nothing to do with you. More often than not, they don’t even know about their impact on you. So, you need to ignore any personal attacks or exaggerations. Sometimes, it is normal to say “no” to a customer and go to another client who needs your help.
#3 Be ready to ask for help
Every journey of problem-solving starts with framing. If you are dealing with the issue and the only result is stress, don’t we reach out for help? To avoid increasing stress levels and feeling powerless, ask your teammate for insight, delegate a small amount of work, or even negotiate about the deadline extension.
Besides, the help can be in the form of emotional support. Your teammates share the same environment, duties, and stress triggers, so they may lend you an ear or give you some tips on managing stress.
#4 Good or bad: take into account both
As a support manager, you should be determined to deal with (usually) frequent stress attacks. Every day can’t be easy, and the pressure can’t be permanent. The point is to distinguish your wins and losses. After analyzing the terms that led you to triumphs or bad moments, you can see the future perspective in each interaction and route them to success.
No mountain is ever insurmountable, and so every stressful situation can be dealt with by a professional support manager. Remember about a healthy lifestyle and physical activities, and don’t take customers' frustration personally.
