Workday Stress: You Decide
Workplace pressure is part of everyday work, but when demands build, priorities compete, or expectations are unclear, stress can begin to affect how we think, communicate, and perform. Managing our immediate response can help, but it doesn’t always address what’s creating the pressure.
This course introduces a practical three-decision framework for managing workplace stress. Participants learn to recognize when stress is affecting their judgment, regain enough perspective to respond deliberately, identify workplace stressors that could reasonably be reduced or changed, and recognize when additional authority, resources, or support are needed.
Participants leave better equipped to manage workplace stress, address pressures that can reasonably be reduced, and protect their performance and well-being. Leaders and organizations benefit from earlier, clearer conversations about workload, priorities, and support.
By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Identify common workplace stressors and recognize early signs that stress is affecting how they think, communicate, or work.
- Use the Three Decisions to determine what a workplace stress situation requires and reassess as circumstances change.
- Apply practical strategies to manage the immediate stress response and make a more deliberate next move under pressure.
- Identify reasonable ways to change, clarify, or reduce workplace stressors within their influence.
- Recognize when a situation exceeds their reasonable influence or capacity, and identify and communicate the support needed.
Understanding Workplace Stress
- Common sources of workplace pressure and stressors, including workload, competing demands, limited control, unclear expectations, relationships, change, and processes
- How stress can affect thinking, judgment, communication, behaviour, energy, and recovery
- The Three Decisions framework for responding to workplace stress
Managing Workplace Stress: The Three Decisions
- Manage My Response: Recognizing stress-driven reactions, creating a buffer, resetting enough to think, and responding deliberately
- Address the Stressor: Naming the source of pressure, identifying leverage points, and taking reasonable action to reduce or change the stressor
- Get the Right Support: Recognizing when influence or capacity is insufficient, identifying appropriate support, and making the need actionable
Applying the Three Decisions at Work
- Applying the framework to realistic workplace stress situations where information, influence, and support needs evolve
- Reassessing what the situation requires as circumstances change
- Optional use of AI to challenge thinking while retaining human judgment and confidentiality
- Personal action planning to reduce workplace stress in day-to-day work
This course is designed for professionals at all levels who want practical ways to manage and reduce workplace stress.
It is particularly useful for those dealing with competing priorities, heavy workloads, unclear expectations, limited control, difficult workplace interactions, frequent change, or recurring pressures that are not improving despite reasonable efforts.
There are no prerequisites for this course.
FAQ
The course gives you practical ways to reduce the immediate impact of stress, address workplace conditions that may be creating unnecessary pressure, and recognize when additional support is needed. The focus is on making better choices about what you can reasonably do next.
You do not need complete control to make a meaningful difference. The course helps you identify what you can influence, when a workplace condition may need additional attention, and when authority, resources, expertise, or other support may be needed.
No. The course is useful for anyone who works under pressure and wants to recognize stress earlier, respond more deliberately, and reduce the likelihood that recurring workplace pressures become harder to manage.
Open to all members of the public.
$ 595 plus tax
Choose my session