Encouraging positive responses to members' stresses throughout a service term
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Abstract
During a service term, members typically show characteristic behaviors that reflect the stresses associated with national and community service. The role of the director is to support them, optimally changing the negative into positive responses; meanwhile encouraging constructive attributes. This effective practice outlines support strategies for the different stages of service, and is excerpted from materials developed by the National Crime Prevention Council and the Corporation for National and Community Service, for the second Southwest Cluster AmeriCorps Program Directors Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 30-February 1, 2002.
Issue
Developing techniques for effectively dealing with the unique stresses encountered by national service supervisors when dealing with their members' service term.
Action
The following is based on materials from the National Crime Prevention Council's (NCPC) national service workshop "Stress Management Session."During the first quarter of service, members typically display one (or more) of the following behaviors:- Gravitate together and embrace the idea of teamwork
Support strategies:- Have staff meetings
- Encourage team building activities
- Promote outside non-work activities
- Form social committees
- Open-minded / High expectations
Support strategies:- Give them materials asking ideas, opinions, or have brainstorming sessions
- Conduct exercises to teach "okay-ness"
- Include exercises to show that people perceive things differently
- Work in small groups
- High energy / Enthusiastic
Support strategies:- Small victories — be very specific
- Send out personal notes
- Team building
- Discouraged when reporting / Realizing unrealistic expectations
Support strategies:- Break down expectations into each quarter
- Put everything down on paper (such as who to meet by when)
- Provide orientation sheets/dates
- Unsure / Hesitant (Out of comfort zone)
Support strategies:- Train site supervisors
- Checklist; give direction
- Provide process questions as a team and step back
- One-on-one processing/reassurance
- Questioning (Not knowing first steps)
Support strategies:- Walking through first planning exercise
- Time-lining and brainstorming
- Independent
Support strategies:- Offer new challenges and have them start doing their own planning
- Begin delegating more
- Complimenting/pats on the back
- Understand task / Produce results
Support strategies:- Raise the bar as far as expectations
- Offer training in new skills
- Become a team
Support strategies:- Offer rewards for group activities
- Sponsor fun, social activities
- Assign leadership roles for each member
- Newness is lost / Reality sets in
Support strategies:- Give constant updates on status
- Reward little milestones
- Offer training
- New teambuilding activities
- Constructive feedback
- Potential for "failure" (Weeding out period)
Support strategies:- Personal coaching for people with shortcomings
- Encourage with new roles and assignments
- Frank discussion about options and offer a graceful exit
- Becoming less tolerant of other members' flaws
Support strategies:- Offer separate assignments
- Restructure assignments
- Modify the assignment
- Train on dealing with a difficult behavior and communication styles
- Identify the problem and talk about it
- Performance is at its peak
Support strategies:- Have members leave a challenge to next group to meet or beat
- Press coverage
- Share pictures at team meetings
- Make scrapbooks — group picture and pictures of successful service events
- Team is solid and connected
Support strategy:
Encourage positive behaviors with social functions that allow family participation. - Successes and accomplishments
Support strategies:- Celebrate!
- Recognize achievements by giving little gifts that have significance to the project.
- Some members starting to disengage
Support strategies:- Give them extra duties and responsibilities
- Help to develop resume and find a job
- Reality sets in / Some expectations will not be met
Support strategy:
Have a funeral and grieving process for dead projects. - Budget limitations for member projects
Support strategies:- Pre-planning
- Give members all the information they need to plot by quarters.
- Operates efficiently
Support strategies:- Praise
- Acknowledgement
- Rush to finish objectives
Support strategies:- Make sure the rush doesn't negatively impact programming
- Do evaluation milestones
- Disengaged
Support strategy:
Plan activities for next year - Winding down
Support strategy:
Maintain variety of service activities - More self-direction
Support strategies:- Give opportunities for leadership and planning
- Last in-service planned and implemented by the members
- Sadness / Melancholy
Support strategies:- Highlight achievements
- Show the impact they've had
- Help them plan for the next year
Context
For supervisors, handling stress effectively means using general principals of stress management, examining how individuals, teams and organizations typically respond to stress, and developing a plan for action. Relaxing, communicating well, dealing with change, and understanding conflict resolution are all ways to help supervisors manage stress.
Outcome
Obviously no term of service is entirely stress free, but understanding how members' react to stress, and dealing effectively with these different scenarios, will create a more positive experience for supervisors, members, and those receiving benefits and services.
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