"Stress Management Techniques"/ "Here’s How to Deal with Stress When You Work at a Restaurant"

Jul. 13, 2019 "

Stress Management Techniques": Today I found this article:

Working in the restaurant industry can be a hard, stressful job. The hours can be long and the work strenuous. During busy meal periods, you may feel a lot of pressure to prepare meals quickly without sacrificing quality. At times, your breaks may be postponed because of a rush of customers.

Stress is a normal part of life. It is defined as anything that puts pressure on a person. Everyone needs some stress in their lives. It is the force that encourages a person to develop and grow. Without any stress, you may become bored and dissatisfied with your life and your job.

Unhealthy Levels of Stress

Too much stress can damage your health and well-being. It affects a person emotionally, mentally, and physically. Too much stress can cause problems on the job.

Some signs of unhealthy levels of stress include the following:

• Emotional changes such as feeling sad, guilty, depressed, afraid, or tense or frequent swings in mood
• Behavioural changes such as crying often, withdrawing from others, becoming angry and aggressive, losing one’s temper easily
• Fatigue or restlessness
• Changes in sleep patterns
• Misusing alcohol, drugs, or food
• Inability to concentrate or make decisions
• Digestive problems, such as ulcers, stomach cramps, heartburn, diarrhea
• Headaches
• Nervous habits such as nail biting or teeth grinding
• Loss of hair
• Skin rashes
• Increased perspiration, dizziness, cold hands and feet

People vary in the amount of stress they can tolerate. Some people thrive on living on the edge, taking large amounts of risk in both their work and personal lives. Others do best when their lives are more stable and less stressful. Identify your capacity for stress and try to adjust your life to the optimal amount of stress you can manage.

Whatever your optimal stress level is, you can learn some techniques for managing stress. Some of these techniques can be used at work. Others relate to the way you manage your personal life. When you are experiencing high amounts of stress at work, it is helpful to reduce your stress levels in other parts of your life.

Life events, such as a death in the family, a divorce, or an illness, are stressful. What few people realize is that happy events such as marriage, a new job, or the birth of a child are also stressful. When you experience a number of closely spaced changes in your life or family situation, you can anticipate that your stress levels will rise. At these times in particular, it makes sense to pay particular attention to living a low-stress life.

Low-Stress Living

Everyone needs balance in their lives. Although work takes up a major part of each day, finding time to relax, enjoy leisure activities, and take care of your body is important in managing stress.

Here are some tips for leading a low stress life:

• Learn techniques for relaxing such as meditation or deep breathing
• Build physical exercise into each day, including at least three periods of 30 minutes each week
• Keep your body weight normal for your height and build
• Adopt healthy, sensible eating habits and avoid junk food
• Do not abuse alcohol or drugs
• Minimize or eliminate the use of drugs such as tranquilizers, sleeping pills, painkillers, antacids, laxatives, and cold remedies
• Have a yearly physical checkup to keep track of your health
• Get regular and adequate amounts of sleep
• Find a way to keep on doing those things that you find really enjoyable
• Find some time each and every day to be alone and away from work and the demands of others
• Make decisions promptly and then stop yourself from worrying about whether the decision was correct
• Bring humour into your life by watching comedies, reading cartoons, sharing jokes, and funny stories, etc.
• Share your feelings about work and the problems you face with a friend or your spouse
• Find time to be involved in the community

Managing Stress at Work

When you work at a job you enjoy, you seldom find it stressful. Different people find different environments enjoyable. One person may like working in a very formal, haute cuisine restaurant (Figure 15). Another may prefer the informal, friendly atmosphere of a busy bistro. Yet another cook may prefer an institutional setting where busy periods are more predictable. Think about what setting you prefer when you look for work.

Take Responsibility for Making the Job Enjoyable

Think about what makes your job enjoyable or not enjoyable. Take some responsibility for making it a good place to work. Suggest changes to your supervisor or co-workers in a positive, constructive manner. Be friendly and take an interest in your co-workers. In turn, they are more likely to act in a friendly manner toward you. 

If company policy permits, organize some off-duty or after-duty social activities to build friendship and morale. Share a funny story with the other staff. When your duties permit, help others who are rushed.

If you are currently in a job you don’t enjoy and you have tried to make it more enjoyable without success, consider looking for another job. If circumstances preclude an immediate change of job, give yourself a time limit to look for other work. If you know that you will only spend another six months in the job, you may find it easier to cope.

https://opentextbc.ca/workinginfoodserviceindustry/chapter/stress-management-techniques/

"Here’s How to Deal with Stress When You Work at a Restaurant": Today I found this article by Melissa Bensky: 

Working in a restaurant is no piece of cake. The stress in a busy kitchen or dining room during a rush can be overwhelming. Shifts in the food service industry can be long and at odd hours, while staff and customers can be totally unpredictable. If you work in a restaurant and feel stressed sometimes, you're not alone!

How to deal with stress at work

Stress is also a very common workplace experience–so common that The American Psychological Association found that 61% of people experience stress while on the job and 77% regularly experience physical symptoms of stress.

The food and service industry demands you to work well under pressure as new orders come in or get modified, and diners come and go. Working as a manager in the food and service industry, you need to learn to anticipate the needs of your customers and employees. The good news is that stress is manageable, especially when you use the right tactics and practices set in place to support you.

This post will cover six different strategies for managing stress at work in a restaurant. They might not all apply to you in your situation, so take the ones that make sense and use them.

1. Learn to listen to your body

The first step in learning to manage stress is by listening to your body. Pay attention to body aches, soreness, and headaches. Muscle tension is a common symptom of stress. 30% of Americans report having muscle tension due to stress and 60% suffer from headaches.

The day to day of managing a restaurant can create a lot of stress. You are in charge of all the employees, marketing, finances, ensuring efficient operations, all while maintaining revenue quality goals and profitability. Studies have shown that standing for long periods of time reduced mental function and increases body-discomfort.

When you feel a backache or any type of pain, that is your body sending you a warning signal, so listen to it! One way to relax your muscles is by taking a slow, deep inhale, counting from one to three, then holding it in for three seconds, then exhaling for three seconds.

Another quick tip is to notice and adjust your posture when sitting for long periods of time and remember to take few sips of water to stay hydrated. The motions are simple and take only a few seconds to do, but it works! Once you focus on your breathing and your posture, you can instantly feel more relaxed and start to feel the aches and pains going away.

Here are some more breathing techniques recommended by Harvard specialists.

2. Feed your face fantastic fuel

I know everyone says that diet and nutrition are important in improving your mood and energy… and as much as I sound like a ‘mom’, its true! You work in a restaurant, surrounded by delicious food shift after shift…I get it. It's hard to not give in to continual delicious temptations, but it's important to stay strong and not give in all the time.

Healthy eating is so important! It helps preserve your energy and makes decision making easier. Managing a restaurant means moving around in a fast-paced environment, juggling multiple tasks, and being alert to make changes on a moments notice. To do all this, your body needs to be fed food with substance; vitamins, healthy fats, and energy.

Sliced fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots are not only satisfying and quick to eat, but full of nutrients and vitamins. Nuts are your best friend–a great source of healthy fats, iron, and energy booster. Making a delicious nut mixture with raisins, dried cherries or maybe some semi-sweet chocolate chips can take seconds and helps keep you energized and alert while you work.

Here are 15 more delicious and healthy snack recipe ideas you can make to take to work.

3. Use micro-breaks in mindful moments

Working at a restaurant is hard work, especially with lots of people running around in the kitchen shouting orders during a rush. If you need to give yourself some space away from all the noise once in a while, to calm down, re-center, and rest–do it! Your crew and customers will thank you.

During shift breaks take a step outside, get yourself physically out of the kitchen or dining room, even if only for a few minutes. Grab a snack, check your messages, but most importantly take 8-10 mindful breaths and maybe take a short walk if you have the time and if you don’t, even a quick step outside and breath of fresh air helps. No one knows themselves better than you do.

It is important to listen to your body when its asking you for a break. Lack of concentration and productivity doesn’t help your staff or your restaurant’s bottom line. Don’t rely on energy drinks as the sugar rush only lasts so long...the last thing you need is a sugar crash during an unexpected late-night rush! If you’re feeling tired, make yourself a coffee or have a caffeinated natural beverage like green tea and let yourself enjoy. You deserve it.

Here are 40 more ideas on different ways to relax in under 5 mins.

4. Get organized and de-clutter your mind

It's time to bring out your inner nerd and get organized! Make a to-do list to manage everything that you need to get done for the day. Don’t underestimate the power of a focused, timely list.

Once you get in the habit of making to-do lists and calendars, you won’t want to stop. Every smartphone and computer has a calendar application that is accessible and easy to use, so use it! Maybe you find it too boring and are looking for something more fun? Invest in an agenda with a fun design and maybe even some colorful pens and stickers and embrace your creative side. How can creating your own personal schedule be boring now!?

Forbes offers six more organizational tactics you can use today, here.

5. Work effectively under pressure

Scheduling may seem like a difficult task, especially when you are managing a lot of employees, responsible for getting them their hours on time every week, accommodating different availabilities and handling unexpected no-shows and call-ins. That doesn't mean you can’t work effectively under pressure.

If you’re tired of scheduling in excel spreadsheets and on pen and paper, software can help. Investing in a leave management software will save you plenty of time, energy and most importantly, help decrease the stress of juggling multiple, conflicting, and last-minute time-off requests.

Upgrading to a scheduling app not only makes your life as a manager easier, but it also empowers your staff to manage their own schedules. This in return frees up your time to focus on your guests and running the floor. Staff communication is also simple and centralized with a scheduling app, eliminating the hassle of digging through emails, saving hand-written notes, and responding to text messages.

See how employee scheduling software can help you run an effective, organized, profitable business.

6. Cultivate a positive attitude

Restaurant life isn’t always easy. Stress, struggle, unpredictability–whatever you want to call it–is an inescapable fact of running an amazing restaurant. But the inevitability of stress doesn't mean there’s nothing you can do about it.

Cultivating an ‘attitude of gratitude’ is a simple, effective method for building your capacity to navigate stressful situations.

If you train yourself to instinctively spot the silver lining when things in life are easy and going smooth, that instinct will kick in when the ? hits the fan.

Taking the time to identify some specific things in your life that you’re grateful for is one way to nurture this innate instinct and make the next walk-out, allergic reaction, or no-show far easier to manage.

Researchers found that people who work daily to cultivate an attitude of gratitude experience improved mood, energy and substantially less anxiety due to a 23% reduction of the stress hormone in their bodies. 

Stress results from things outside your control happening and not being able to think straight. Regular gratitude practice will make you better prepared to handle stressful events by building your tolerance for unpredictability.

Noticing a negative thought is another great opportunity to practice gratitude. After noticing, balance your perspective by also noting something you appreciate. It doesn't have to be a deep or profound observation, just sincere. 

Try to do this every day at the start of your shift for a minimum of 21 days in a row to establish the habit. Then, after day 22, reflect on your shift and review your experience at work. Has anything changed? Only one way to find out!

Learn more strategies to transform a negative outlook here.

https://www.7shifts.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-stress-at-work/

How to deal with stress/ "6 Stress-busting Tactics to Reduce the Strain of Restaurant Life"

Jul. 13, 2019 How to deal with stress: Today I found this article:

1. Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol, and Nicotine.

2. Indulge in Physical Activity
3. Get More Sleep
4. Try Relaxation Techniques
5. Talk to Someone
6. Keep a Stress Diary
7. Take Control
8. Manage Your Time
9. Learn to Say ‘No’
10. Rest If You Are Ill

https://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/stress-tips.html

"6 Stress-busting Tactics to Reduce the Strain of Restaurant Life": By Megan Dawson for Food Fanatics Magazine:

“I’m never stressed out,” said no restaurant worker ­– ever. Job related stress in restaurant kitchen culture is a fact of life in the foodservice industry, and it’s unrealistic to expect it to vanish with a little vinyasa. If not properly addressed, stress can manifest and lead to professional and personal self-destruction. 

Often it’s a domino effect – being snippy can erode morale and impact culture and innovation, which can produce sales dips and even more stress, which can then seep into personal relationships. Or most troubling, it can lead to depression and substance abuse. 

The foodservice industry has been ranked highest among professions for substance abuse disorders, according a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report. The HHS estimates that nearly one in five restaurant workers abuses illicit drugs or alcohol. “Chefs are constantly in the public eye, heavily scrutinized by online reviewers and food writers, often at the expense of a business that they most likely took a huge financial risk to open,” says Sarah Ory, co-founder and executive director of The Heirloom Foundation, a nonprofit organization that strives to improve quality of life for hospitality workers. 

What can be done to reduce stress besides taking deep breaths and trying to be more Zen? Some owners, chefs and experts offer stress relief techniques that may seem obvious but are solid.

1. ORGANIZATION REDUCES RESTAURANT STAFF STRESS

Well-managed schedules, smart ordering, neat mise en place and organized storage all amount to a manageable rush instead of a living hell. Scheduling that accounts for historically busy times, a system that synchronizes with inventory and organized work stations make a huge difference. This allows staff to focus on execution and the most important element of service: hospitality.

2. TREAT YOURSELF LIKE YOUR DINERS

Instead of relying on unhealthy post-shift meals, eat better. Keep almonds, apples, string cheese, hard-boiled eggs and carrots available and keep replenishing. Also try recalibrating family meals so they provide sustainable energy instead of lethargy by leaning on grain- or greens-based bowls, brothy bean soups and veggie-centric mains.

3. FIND A HOBBY

Ride a bike. Play paintball or anything that reduces stress with something rewarding for the mind and body. “To alleviate stress, I had to find healthy hobbies and a community outside of the restaurant,” says Chris Deitz, care director at Big Table, a nonprofit for restaurant professionals based in Washington state.

4. SAY NO TO AFTER HOURS INDUSTRY NIGHT

Post-shift drinks might momentarily reduce stress, but they add it back in spades when you’re fuzzy and cranky hours later. “I know a hard night out after a hard shift will not fix my current stresses and will wreck me when I try to hop on the bike,” Deitz says.

 Instead managers can plan informal, low-pressure activities, such as a monthly book club for staff, film screenings, group fitness classes or trivia nights. “We introduce icebreakers and fun, open questions that allow teammates to get to know each other better,” says 

Thomas Nguyen, CEO of Peli Peli Restaurant Group. Elective bonding opportunities lead to stronger bonds, reduced turnover and smoother operations.

5. CUT OUT THE CAFFEINE

Coffee and other drinks, such as soda and energy drinks, can create additional anxiety and therefore, extra stress,” says Janine Booth, chef-partner of Root & Bone in New York City and Stiltsville Fish Bar in Miami. For those predisposed to anxiety disorders, caffeine can trigger symptoms – sweaty palms, pounding heart, ringing ears – that can lead to panic attacks. Caffeine can also pose dehydration risks, so consider offering staff homemade Gatorade, which is an inexpensive way to show you care.

6. SET THE TONE

A dose of encouragement can help offset the stress of long hours. “I was working on the line at a bistro as a young gun with a chef who spoke positively to everyone,” Deitz says. “We would get heavy in the weeds, and you thought that printer would never stop, but chef always spoke with positivity, and it gave the team the encouragement to get through. In other cases, simply showing concern is enough. 

“It could be as simple as taking five minutes to talk to your staff before a shift,” says Nguyen. “Ask how they are doing or what’s going on in their lives. The goal, says Nguyen, is to “be the positivity that your team needs to feel inspired and feel comfortable that someone will lead them through all of the stresses.”

RESTURANT INDUSTRY STRESS MANAGEMENT RESOURCES

Big Table

Big Table hosts free shared meals for food workers around a “big table.” Top chefs and donors often sit in. Workers exchange ideas. And guests are encouraged to share the names of peers who might need help. Visit big-table.com for more information.

The Heirloom Foundation

The Heirloom Foundation fosters holistic lifestyle options for hospitality workers in need or those living with mental health issues. Help comes in the form of public outreach, wellness partnerships (such as free yoga), speaking engagements, events and professional development. Visit Theheirloomfoundation.org for more information.

Restaurant Recovery

Restaurant recovery helps restaurant workers who are current or recovering addicts find and pay for drug and alcohol treatment, while assisting loved ones with counseling or family programs. Visit Restaurantrecovery.org for more information.

Chefs with Issues

Chefs with Issues provides food workers an online community forum to voice their experiences with work and work-related health issues, such as depression, anxiety, addiction and eating disorders, in addition to resources to address them. Visit Chefswithissues.com for more information.

https://www.usfoods.com/great-food/food-trends/how-to-cope-with-stressful-restaurant-work-life.html

The Ladder: Kevin Davis/ Willie Mitchell

Jul. 23, 2018 The Ladder: Kevin Davis: Today I found this article by Shelley White in the Globe and Mail:

Kevin Davis is an orthodontist and owner of Davis Orthodontics, which has nine offices in Southern Ontario.

I grew up in Thornhill, Ont., and played a lot of sports in high school – football, hockey and baseball. I think team sports are very important for learning how to function in a group: when to lead and when to follow, when to speak up, how to win and rebound after a loss.

My dad is an orthodontist, but there was never an emphasis by him or my mom to push me into doing that at all. Then in my late teens, I thought, ‘I like kids, I want to be my own boss and make my own kind of lifestyle. And that’s exactly what my dad does.’ 

My dad was home for dinner. We had time to spend as a family. That’s still a very important part of who I am, and he was a great role model for that.

I went to Harvard because they let me do my masters in health care management. At Harvard, I learned to think like a consumer, not like a doctor. Back when I was in school, most health care offices were set up for the benefit of the practitioners, not the patients: hospital gowns opening up in the back, sliding windows between the receptionists and the patients. 

So when I graduated, I set up our clinic to be very different than that – much more people-friendly. We had a coffee bar, video games and courtesy phones. Those things are common now, but they were rare at the time.

When I [joined my dad’s company], he had five employees. We have 100 now and nine offices. I have focused on taking over practices that are a good cultural match, rather than fast growth for the sake of the fast growth. 

The selling doctor is able to maintain their legacy, something important to me and obviously important to them. It hasn’t been like a quick, ‘Boot them out the door;’ it’s them sticking around for a couple of years to introduce me and our systems to the community. Each office has a home doctor and a dedicated staff, and I rotate between all the offices. 

Patients benefit by getting at least two doctors’ opinions on critical treatment decisions, so it’s like a built-in second opinion.

To build a motivated, happy work force, it takes trust and it takes genuine gratitude. If there is one thing that I can tag my success onto, it’s that we’ve attracted and maintained a real group of experts.

 I think it’s known in the industry that we take good care of our staff. If you take care of your staff, they’ll take care of your customers. And you’ll also attract the best players for the team.

My advice to other business owners is, ‘Don’t be greedy.’ Attract smart people around you and listen to them. Learn from your mistakes. And don’t rush. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you go at a pace that is doable, then you’ll make good decisions and fewer poor decisions.

Also, leave time for yourself outside of work, so that you have a good balance. I try to do that and I want that for my staff as well. I coach baseball and hockey. I like adventure travel, and with my family we’ve done some very unique kinds of trips, like an underwater hotel in Florida where you had to scuba dive to your room.

We like to have fun at work. We have spirit days for holidays – for Canada Day, we dress up in red and white, for Halloween, we dress up in costumes.

My parents taught me the importance of giving back to the community. So we made it mandatory that the staff donates two days a year to doing some kind of charitable work. As an organization, we do charitable activities. 

We’ve donated to local homeless shelters. We adopted a road, so we’ve done road cleanup. We’ve sponsored all the nine-year-old teams in Richmond Hill, Newmarket and Hamilton soccer leagues.

One of the nicest things we’ve done is called Million Dollar Smiles, where we build playgrounds for children with terminal illnesses. It’s unbelievably fulfilling. 

And many years ago, I was asked to join a group of dentists and hygienists who travel to Central and South America to pull teeth in communities that otherwise have no access to dentists. So we’ve done that six times.

 Usually in a week’s time, we help between 1,000-2,000 people, between pulling teeth and doing fillings.

We’re a very close-knit group at Davis Orthodontics. We work together during the day, but we do the charitable things together also. [My staff] sees that I’m the same as them, so it definitely levels the playing field, and brings us closer together.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-orthodontist-business-owner-kevin-davis-offers-tips-on-building-a/

Aug. 13, 2018 The Ladder: Willie Mitchell: Today I found this article by Brenda Bouw in the Globe and Mail:

Willie Mitchell is a retired, two-time Stanley Cup-winning National Hockey League player who is now the co-owner and managing partner of the Tofino Resort + Marina in Tofino, B.C. 

He retired from the NHL in 2016 after suffering one too many concussions, and bought the resort with two partners, former fellow Vancouver Canuck player Dan Hamhuis and developer and businessman Andrew Purdey, founder of Ruskin Construction Ltd. 

I was born in Nanaimo, B.C., and raised in the small town of Port McNeill, B.C., on Vancouver Island. My father was a heavy-duty mechanic and my mother was a ticket attendant with B.C. Ferries. Hockey was always a passion: My grandfather played amateur senior hockey and once, during the Original-Six era, earned a tryout with the New York Rangers.

At age 15, I was at that 'Y' in the road where you could get into some trouble in a small town. My parents weren’t wealthy but managed to send me to the Athol Murray College of Notre Dame, a private school with a hockey program. I later went to Clarkson University in New York state, where I played junior college hockey.

In professional sports, you’re only a prospect for a certain period of time. I played for about 16 years including in Minnesota, where I met my wife Megan, then briefly in Dallas, then my home province of Vancouver and then Los Angeles, where I got do to the ultimate with a team – which was win the Stanley Cup, twice. I finished in Florida as the captain of that team.

In hockey, the captain of a team is a leader. You’re looked to for some guidance, especially from younger players. The quicker you can get those younger guys on board and understanding what it takes to win, the more success you have as a team.

To me, a good leader is someone with a lot of passion who chooses a direction and doesn’t waver from it. Indecision is the quickest route to failure. They also make sure their team has buy-in. That’s what I try to do – to get buy-in from my team to find success.

In Florida, I had to make one of the toughest decisions of my life, which was to walk away from the game of hockey for my health. [Doctors said] the next hit could’ve put me in permanent post-concussion syndrome. Leaving the team going into the playoffs, which is everything in professional sports, was really hard.

There was some leadership in walking away. I want people to understand that it’s okay to walk away, to take care of yourself first. If you don’t, how can you make other people happy?

It has been the hardest two years of my life, managing the resort. I am a perfectionist. Brand is everything to me. If you come onto my site and it’s not a good representative of my standards for my brand – that upsets me. I have a level of where I want the property to be. We’re not there yet, but we’re working on it.

I’ve made some mistakes in the business. One was not trusting my instincts and using my voice earlier on. In hockey, I had good situational awareness. I could see everything going on on the ice. 

With the business, I tiptoed in. I saw things going wrong and didn’t voice it right away. There were no policies or procedures in place. I’m learning to trust myself more, and my instincts.

Managing people is a big part of leadership. People need to feel important and valued. You also need to define a clear path forward. If you don’t have that, everyone is just going around without direction.

To be a good leader, it’s important to ask a ton of questions. It’s the only way to learn, to improve. You have to put yourself out there in life.

What keeps me up at night? Not running my business efficiently and taking care of my people. They’ve bet on me. I feel an obligation to them. I try to make sure I don’t kill my team’s passion. If they’re passionate about working for me, I know it’s going to work.

This interview has been edited and condensed

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/management/article-former-nhler-willie-mitchell-describes-one-of-the-most-difficult/