kühnes gesundheitsmanagement

You are caught in the middle. You feel the pressure and stress weighing on you from both sides. Pressure and stress are taking it out of you. You carry a lot of responsibility -  for your own health and that of your staff. And you are supposed to set an example, be a model of healthy behavior. Isn’t that asking a bit too much? No worries, I am happy to support you.

Together we will develop your health skills so that in future you will be equipped to manage in a healthy way – yourself and as a result also your staff.

As a rule health coaching begins with yourself. In the next step – or at the same time – we look at the effect of your own management style on the health of your staff.

Case 1. Matthias W., 44 „The Troublemaker“

Contract formation: sent by his superior

No. of coaching hours: 10

Enterprise/Position: Energy supply, semi-public sector, leader of a team of 10 employees

Reason for the consultation: Matthias W. is excellently qualified for and skilled in his job, but repeatedly expresses his discontent about the fact that the organization is in a state of constant change. His frequent dissatisfaction leads to conflicts, e.g. conflictual conversations in the corridors, in the canteen and at meetings. The atmosphere in his team is tense. There is recurrent discontent and a steady fall in performance.

Goals of the coaching:

• Examination of Matthias W’s attitude towards his employer, flexibilization of his attitude so that the constant change in the organization becomes acceptable for him.
• Behavior modification: self-regulation for anger, leading to a fall in the conflicts in his environments.
• Improvement in the atmosphere and results of his team.

Methods:

• Examination of the client’s attitude and flexibilization of it by means of constructive critical questioning.
• Supporting the client’s self-reflection and enable him to better understand how he is perceived by others.
• Self-regulation and impulse control through self-awareness, self-calming and relaxation techniques.
• Teaching communication techniques that help the client to express his dissatisfaction in constructive ways.

Results:

In the course of the coaching sessions Matthias W. managed to take a self-critical look at his negative attitude towards change and step by step to drop it. Little by little he regained his original motivation. The relaxation and communication techniques he learned in the coaching sessions helped him to regulate his negative thoughts and feelings, with the result that he became considerably more satisfied and even-tempered and triggered fewer conflicts. The atmosphere in his team improved perceptibly and its results improved once more.

Case 2. Sabine K., 38 „Work-Life Balance out of True“

Contract formation: self-referred

No. of coaching hours: 10

Enterprise/Position: Business development bank, controller, middle management, leader of a team of  5 employees

Reason for the consultation: Sabine K. is unable to cope with the pressure of work as in her private life she has the additional burden of her husband’s being severely ill. She is reluctant to tell her boss as she is afraid of losing her position if he finds out about her personal problems. Her team is unsettled and the work process are not running as smoothly as in the past. She feels increasingly pressured and more and more stressed.

Goals of the coaching:

• Analysis of the client‘s current work-life balance.
• Clarification of the client’s own goals and check on her inner drivers.
• Development of the steps she needs to adjust to the change in her life situation, recalibration of her work-life balance.
• Find coping strategies to deal with the client’s problems in her private life, development of her resource management and strengthen her resilience.
• Development of the client’s communication skills, strengthening of her self-assurance vis à vis her boss.
• Reorganization of the tasks within the team: smooth processes due to  a redistribution of responsibilities.

Methods:

• Clarification of values and goals, in regard to both work and home life.
• (Re-)Orientation of the client’s current work-life balance towards her values and goals, development of the steps needed to achieve this.
• Assertiveness training
• Development of coping strategies for „a life in uncertainty“
• Strengthening of the client’s resilience 
• Relaxation techniques, creation of experiences of satisfaction, enhancement of well-being despite/in the crisis.

Results:

After a talk with her boss in which she informed him of her situation, Sabine K. and her boss developed a work model with time limits and reduced working hours. She simultaneously altered the delegation of responsibilities in the team, thus reducing the pressure on herself. This improved the reliability of the planning and the team’s performance and she gained their understanding and promoted solidarity between them by being frank with them. Reducing her working hours allowed Sabine K. to divide her time equally between work and her sick husband. She found new energy and became less vulnerable to stress. She now feels considerably better and has adjusted herself and her life to the new situation.

Examples of some tools that I employ:

Measures of stress level / burnout risk

• Maslach Burnout Inventory
• Hamburger Burnout Inventory (HBI)
• Various stress check-lists

Measures of management style

• HoL – Health-oriented Leadership
• GEFA – Health and Development-Promoting Leadership

Measures of mechanisms of coping with stress

• PMR
• MBSR
• Cognitive Emotion Regulation