top of page
raleway Dr Susie phd ping block on DR_edited.png
Schedule a Call

Name It to Tame It: Effective Stress Communication

 

Problem: Team members struggle to communicate their challenges with workload management. This reduces the teams’ ability to respond effectively to competing work requests and causes stress to spread among the team and beyond.

 

Solution: Learn more effective strategies for identifying, managing, and communicating stressors to reduce both individual and downstream stress. This increases physiological safety and team building, which in turn increases efficiency and productivity at the individual, team, and project management levels.

 

Gains:

Individual:

  • Learn to use a stress scale for self-assessment

  • Learn and practice techniques to ongoingly reduce personal stress to a manageable level

  • Develop skills to identify personal stress triggers

  • Learn to articulate stressors constructively using the “naming” technique

 

Teams:

  • Develop a shared language for discussing stress levels

  • Create strategies for supporting each other in stress reduction

  • Establish a collective approach for expressing stressors positively and collaboratively

 

Enterprise:

  • Establish a culture that prioritizes stress awareness and management

  • Create an environment that transforms complaints into actionable insights

  • Foster better problem-solving and continuous stress reduction through improved communication

Testimonials

"I love how simply you broke down the science of stress into easily digestible content." — Financial Advisor

"This is all based on science. I believe some people think feelings are squishy somehow but…science. Thank you for inspiring me." — IT Senior Project Manager

"I use the techniques daily." — Human Resources Leader

"Outstanding, reassuring that I am not alone, and inspiring." — Financial Advisor

Your people will learn to:

  • Reset stress quickly using their body's natural systems so they can get back to doing what matters

  • Handle the stress of change and uncertainty with resilience

  • Communicate challenges in ways that build connection and that create sustainable success

Help Your People and Organization Achieve SUSTAINABLE growth and their biggest goals—TOGETHER.

When Everything Feels Important: Making Decisions Under Pressure

 

Problem: Team members often feel overwhelmed by multiple tasks, deadlines, and responsibilities, leading to stress, burnout, and impaired decision-making.

 

Solution: Learn the 6 D's process (Do, Defer, Delegate, Delete, Divide, Downgrade) as a method to calm the nervous system, gain perspective, and make clearer decisions when feeling overwhelmed.

 

 

Gains:

Individual:

  • Learn and practice the use of the 6 D's as a personal stress-reduction tool

  • Develop skills to more quickly reduce overwhelm in high-pressure situations

  • Make better, faster decisions that are responsive instead of reactive

 

Teams:

  • Create a shared language for discussing personal overwhelm without judgment

  • Develop strategies for supporting team members who are feeling overwhelmed

  • Foster an environment where it's safe to take a step back and reassess priorities

 

Enterprise:

  • Establish a culture that recognizes the importance of personal stress management in effective project deployment

  • Cultivate more resilient teams that can handle high-pressure situations

  • Enhance overall productivity by providing team members the skills to lead from a more calm, centered state

Achieve Your Goals Without Burning Out: The ABC's of Stress Resilience 

​

You're a smart, high-achieving tech professional who wants to thrive without burning out. But when it comes to handling the stress of constant change and uncertainty, the default advice isn't helpful: push through it, don't let anyone see you sweat, keep it together.

​

What if there's a better way—one that works with your biology instead of fighting it?

​

In this interactive workshop, you'll discover why your body reacts to stress like your life is on the line—and what you can do about it. You'll learn the 4-step stress cycle, where humans get stuck, and the ABC's of stress resilience: science-based tools you can use anywhere, anytime to complete the cycle and prevent burnout. Because stress isn't a problem we solve alone—it's a biological necessity we resolve TOGETHER.

​

What You'll Learn:

  • How to notice stress triggers early before they accumulate

  • How to reset stress FAST—even in the middle of a busy workday

  • The exact words to use to support stressed colleagues (and receive support yourself)

 

Immediate Impact:

  • Stop stress accumulation before it leads to burnout

  • Think clearly and make better decisions under pressure

  • Build resilience individually AND as part of your team

​

It’s Not You, It’s Your Biology: Science Secrets to Stress Resilience

 

Problem: Team members feel stress every day, but most don't know how stress builds up over time. This buildup leads to overwhelm, reactivity, and lower performance — even in people who look successful on the outside.

 

Solution: Teach how stress works in the body, why we get stuck in it, and how to interrupt it ongoingly during stressful moments. This session establishes the foundation of the entire program: that stress is not a sign of personal failure, but rather a 200-million-year-old biological necessity that can be handled effectively once teams understand their “operating system” (mammalian physiology). It sets the foundation for every other session in this series.

 

Gains:

Individual:

  • Learn why stress happens and why feeling stressed isn't a sign of weakness

  • Recognize personal early-warning signs of stress before it builds up

  • Walk away with fast, simple ways to reset stress in the moment

Teams:

  • Build a shared understanding that stress is biology, not a character flaw, which reduces judgment between team members

  • Create a common language for talking about stress openly and without judgment

  • Strengthen trust and connection, which research shows directly reduces stress in groups

 

 

Enterprise:

  • Lower the risk of burnout-driven turnover, absenteeism, and costly mistakes

  • Build a workforce that can perform under pressure without breaking down — a direct driver of long-term productivity and retention

Managing High-Stress Interactions: Turning Conflict into Win-Win Solutions

 

Problem: When stress is high, individuals tend to react instead of respond. This creates conflict that can lead to poor communication and less effective problem solving.

 

Solution: Team members will learn techniques for responding in high-stress interactions with emotional intelligence. This will reduce individual, team, and project stress and result in faster, more effective solutions to stressful work situations such as project delays or challenges during go-live events.

 

Gains:

Individual:

  • Learn and practice techniques to stay calmer and more centered in stressful moments

  • Develop awareness of personal emotional triggers and strategies to manage them

  • Learn tools for responding to others’ stress and create win-win solutions

 

Teams:

  • Learn strategies to collectively diffuse tense situations

  • Develop methods to support team members under stress

  • Create a shared language for addressing emotional challenges

 

Enterprise:

  • Cultivate a culture of emotional intelligence and mutual support

  • Enhance resilience in facing high-stress situations

  • Improve overall dynamics and reduce stress-related conflicts

Unifying the Pack: Solidifying Team Bonds and Planning for the Future

 

Problem: The group needs to solidify these skills across the teams and leaders while creating a supportive environment that fosters physiological safety and effective inter-team communication.

 

Solution: Facilitate a final session to reinforce learned concepts, share insights, and practice applying newly acquired stress management and communication techniques. This session will reinforce team cohesion, create mutual support systems, and establish a culture of open, low-stress communication within the APDS and with other DHTS stakeholders.

 

Gains:

Individual:

  • Synthesize learnings from all previous sessions into a personal toolkit

  • Develop strategies to apply stress management and communication skills across various work situations

  • Create a personal action plan for continued growth and skill application

 

Teams:

  • Share and learn from others’ experiences in applying skills to real-work situations

  • Develop cross-team strategies for stress management and effective low-stress communication

  • Create mutual support systems for maintaining and improving new skills

  • If desired, create accountability support groups to ensure long-term application of learned skills and continued team cohesion

 

Enterprise:

  • Establish a culture that recognizes the importance of physiological safety and emotional regulation in effective project management

Develop a shared vision for a more productive, less stressful work environment that extends to interactions with project teams

bottom of page