The Most Valuable Employees： Tame Tensions
4 Workplace Peacekeepers Who Get Attention
引起上司注意的4中職場調解員
Furloughs, layoffs, burdened bosses, and stressed coworkers: Tension can stifleyour office and kill productivity. But if you can defusethat tension, you may also be making yourself a valuable employee, even if you're not the manager.
休假、裁員、承受超負荷的老闆、處於高壓中的同事：緊張會使你的辦公室生活窒息，扼殺你的產能。但是如果你能夠消除這份緊張，即使你不是經理，你也可以成爲一名有價值的員工。
"Being the office tension manager can be a wonderful reputation to have," says corporate trainer Marlene Caroselli. "Every time you resolve a conflict you really enhance your own skills."
企業培訓家Marlene Caroselli說：“成爲辦公室的解壓經理會爲你應得不錯的名聲，每當你解決了一次衝突，你就確確實實的提高了自己的能力。”
Consider these four types of tension tamers:
參考以下四種緊緩解緊張的高手：
The Charmer
有魅力的人
"They know the exact moment to insert humor that breaks the tension at work," says Kathi Elster, coauthorof "Working With You Is Killing Me."
"Working With You Is Killing Me."一書的作者Kathi Elster說：“他們能夠把握最佳時機插入幽默來打破工作上的緊張。”
The charmer doesn't crack one-liners or riff on the boss's toupee, though. Instead, she:
雖然有魅力的人不會說一些俏皮話或是拿老闆的假髮開刷，但是她會：
1) Focuses on policies, not people. "It could be a lot of fun to make fun of a mean boss, but it doesn't cut tension because it has a dark edge and it could get you into trouble," said Elster's coauthor Katherine Crowley.
將調侃重點放在政策上，而不是針對人。Elster的合著者Katherine Crowley說：“雖然拿吝嗇的上司開玩笑會有很多樂趣，但並不會消除大家的緊張感，因爲這是一個黑色地帶，還有可能會給你帶來麻煩。”
2) Tests the office humor quotient. "We work with a high-tech company where all the staff have piercings and tattoos," said Crowley. "Their tension-cutting jokes are going to be very different than the jokes at a bank."
測試辦公室幽默情商。Crowley說：“我們在一家高科技公司工作，裏面所有的員工都有刺青。他們緩解緊張時說的笑話肯定和銀行的大大不同。”
3) Renames it. Reframe furloughs as "funloughs" and say it lightly, with confidence that everything will work out.
重新命名。將 “furloughs”重新命名爲“funloughs”，並用輕鬆地，相信一切都將搞定的語氣說出來。
The Big Thinker
深謀遠慮者
"Very few things are life-or-death, unless you're working in an emergency room," says Crowley.
Crowley說：“除非你是在急診室工作，否則沒多少事情是生命攸關的.。”
The big thinker puts workplace tension in perspective, cutting it by reminding people that what's happening now is temporary -- even if it is the recession.
深謀遠慮者會正確透視職場上的緊張，透過提醒同事現在發生的事情只是臨時的(即使是經濟不景氣也是一樣的)來消除大家的緊張。
"We all know people's moods change, and tension isn't always accurate," says Elster. "The boss might be in a bad mood -- that's it."
Elster說：“我們都知道人們的情緒是經常改變的，緊張不會一直存在。老闆都有可能心情很差，事情就是這樣的。”
The Coffee Buddy
咖啡密友
Like all tension tamers, the coffee buddy has good timing. When office stress hits its peak, he knows the hothead to take out of the office.
就像其他緩解緊張的高手一樣，咖啡密友也能夠掌握絕佳的時機。當辦公室壓力高漲到頂峯的時候，他就知道該讓辦公室裏性急的人出去透透氣了。
"This is someone who knows when to open a window and let fresh air in," said Crowley. "Calming tension can be very basic. It's about unfreezing the moment and changing the energy."
Crowley說：“他們是知道何時該開啟窗戶，讓新鮮空氣進來的人。平息緊張的局勢可能很簡單。就是要化解當前，改變能量。
The Optimist
樂觀主義者
"People are not nearly as positive as they think they are, and they don't show nearly as much appreciation as they think they do," says clinicalpsychologist Aubrey Daniels, a workplace behavior expert and author of "Bringing Out the Best in People." "If you are not told overtly and clearly that you are appreciated, you assume the opposite."
臨牀心理學家Aubrey Daniels 也是一位職場行爲專家，著有"Bringing Out the Best in People." 一書。他說：“人們並沒有自己想的那麼積極，他們給出的感謝也沒有想象中的多。如果你沒有收到公開而明確的感謝，那你可能就不屬於積極的人。”
So if you're working in an office boiling with dread about layoffs, furloughs, or company's health, start by altering your own mood.
所以，如果你在爲職場上的裁員，度假或公司的健康而怒火中燒的話，你首先要做的就是改變自己的情緒。
The optimist defuses tension by:
樂觀者消除緊張的方法有：
1) Applying the four-to-one rule. Say four positive things for every one negative comment.
運用四對一的原則。在每個消極的時刻說四件樂觀的事情。
2) Expressing gratitude. If a coworker helped you and didn't have to, tell her clearly that you know she didn't have to go out of her way for you and you appreciate it.
說出你的感激之情。如果一位同事並非因爲必要而幫了你，明明白白地告訴她你知道她並不需要特意幫你，而你很感激她的幫助。
3) Asking about success. If someone does something particularly well, ask them how they did it. Your coworker will relive his accomplishment and feel great about his work.
詢問別人的成功。如果有人非常出色地完成了一項任務，詢問他們是如何做到的。你的同事將會再次非常滿意地體驗自己的成功。
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