Less Stress Business, With Jamie Sussel Turner

Less Stress Business, With Jamie Sussel Turner – Episode Overview

How to have less stress in our lives, especially in business, is the topic of this episode where Positivity Strategist host, Robyn Stratton-Berkessel talks with Jamie Sussel Turner. Jamie has authored a book on the subject: Less Stress Business, A guide for Hiring, Coaching and Leading Great Employees. Jamie talks about her book and her motivation for writing it; and we chat about the being the leader we want to be, taking positive actions and dealing with resistance.

High Points of Leading

Jamie shares a high point story of her own leadership as school principal. She recounts a time when she invited all staff to offer their own perspectives on a policy decision to help shape the direction of the school. When the change was implemented everyone was on on board with it, as they had been part of the decision-making from the beginning. The insights that came up for Jamie in her story reflected her values such as:

there’s always room for learning and growth
accepting what she herself needed to learn as leader
helping others grow whatever their role
being open to and inviting honest feedback
appreciating deep listening
understanding we all have different perspectives
recognizing different perspectives produces better results than singular points of view

A Vision Of The Leader We Want To Be

As we develop ourselves as leaders, an awareness and realization that comes to us is that we can move toward the vision of the leader we want to be. How we do that is unique to us as individuals. Our shift as leaders results in lessening the stress to ourselves and employees. Ultimately, we experience greater calm and more presence.

Less Stress Business

When work takes over our life to the extent that relationships, health, and performance start to be impacted, it’s sign for us to begin to create less stress business.

Business owners have more to do with creating the culture of their organizations than they may first realize. A stressful environment or workplace implies that things aren’t going so well for both leaders and employees. Any business owner with more than one employee has a responsibility to guide employees and coach them.

In this episode, we talk about how self-awareness is key. Leaders have the employees they deserve. Relationships and performance at work starts with the hiring process and continues through day-to-day the conversations, as well as how values are lived out to shape the culture of the organization.

POSITIVITY LENS for this Episode

Download Jamie's suggested “positive activities” for this episode: Hint- it’s about some simple steps and exercises that will help you reduce stress in running your business.

POSITIVITY LENS REVEAL

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Positive Actions

Jamie presents that stress is a choice. We can let stress take over, or we can look at stress in a more positive way. Reframing a negative situation so that we look at it from a totally different angle to see what else this “negative” situation may be opening up for us is a powerful way to move toward more positive actions. We can also achieve more positive actions by talking to ourselves differently. Noticing how we talk to ourselves and the language we use can begin to create the shifts away from harboring bad experiences or upsets. Negative self-talk is not healthy in any way. It can damage ourselves and others.

Shifting to experience more positivity in the way of thoughts, feelings and actions can also be achieved with the space of time, and/or by having a thinking buddy such as a coach to help process what’s going on. The benefit of time and thought partners helps us identify what is within our power to change.

Dealing with Resistance

When I asked Jamie if she encounters resistance, she commented that resistance falls away when someone takes that first step to want to work on issue. That first step is a commitment to want to change. The second step is to become clearer about what more can be done to improve a relationship or situation. That becomes the beginning of being able to think and act differently.

We don’t have to accept the stress, or think that it comes with the territory. It doesn't have to be that way. We have a lot more influence over the amount of stress we have in our business or work than we think.

In her book, Less Stress Business, Jamie outlines seven less stress business practices. They make such great sense, and are simple to learn and put into practice. Moreover, there is a self-assessment tool in the book, which makes you aware of where the stress is in your life. I suggest that this tool can also serve as a potential self-tracking way to monitor your progress once you start on this path to self and professional development.