5. Provide appropriate training that allows people to express their concerns as well as learn new skills.
6. Employ outside consultants who bring in key information, experience and different perspectives.
7. Create and use symbols of change that help celebrate and reflect the organizational changes.
8. Acknowledge and reward the accomplishments and the sacrifices people have made.

Additionally I all of the sources consulted argue that a successful change management process necessitates an effective communication plan. Stuart Klein highlights several communication principles that should be incorporated into the change management communication strategy:

• Use more than one media for communicating key messages
• Repeat messages to aid message retention
• Use face-to-face communication as much as possible to ensure maximum message retention
• Make the messages personally relevant to the receivers and avoid abstract or general information
• Use opinion leaders to help change attitudes and opinions

Managing stress

Like the managing change topic, there is no shortage of information on stress management. With a myriad of self-help publications, medical articles, Internet sites (over 330,000 through one search engine) and agency publications (including the International Stress Management Association) to choose from, narrowing the search was the challenge.

Relying on the direction of the reference committee, we focused on practical resources that could be adapted or incorporated into a resource for TCLN members. The most relevant resource for our purposes was a booklet produced by Brant, Haldimand-Noforlk Heart Health, entitled, Steps to Healthy Stress. The simple-to-read, 10-page resource is based on the following six-step process for managing stress:

1. Recognizing what stress is through a brief introduction to internal and external sources of stress
2. Identifying individual stress levels using a life stress questionnaire and a symptoms of stress chart
3. Identifying which stressors are controllable/uncontrollable and important/unimportant using a 2X2 matrix
4. Understanding how to cope with stress
5. Developing an individual action plan to help cope with stress
6. Identifying other sources of information and support for managing stress

Additionally, the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Heart and Stroke Foundation produced a booklet called Coping with Stress. Included in the resource is a simple Stress Index² that helps individuals identify their current levels of stress using 25 yes or no questions and a simple scoring system.

² The Stress Index is also available on the Internet on various web sites, including: http://www.cmha.ca/english/info_centre/stresstest.htm