Creating a healthier, more sustainable work environment was among the key takeaways University of Houston executives gained during September's Human Resources Executive Series.
The seminar featured Marina Sebastijanovic, associate professor at the Bauer College of Business, who presented a session titled "Stress Management for Leaders." During the discussion, she shared practical strategies for managing stress, preventing burnout, and maintaining personal well-being while leading others.
Gaston Reinoso, associate vice president of Human Resources, said he knew Sebastijanovic's expertise in stress management would make her an ideal speaker for the series.
"It's a great opportunity for us to bring her in as a speaker for employees and leaders at the university to hear her insights on job crafting and stress management," Reinoso said.
One of the concepts Sebastijanovic highlighted was job crafting, which involves making proactive adjustments to tasks, relationships, and responsibilities to create a more meaningful and manageable work experience.
She also discussed the differences between eustress and distress, explored common sources of workplace stress, examined how burnout develops, and led attendees through an exercise focused on identifying their personal values.
"As leaders, we're trained to look outward and think about our teams and organizations," Sebastijanovic said. "We don't spend enough time thinking about ourselves, but that's really the foundation. That's where you get your capacity to lead others, by not being depleted and worn out from your job."
For Sebastijanovic, accepting the invitation to speak was an easy decision.
"Stress management is my passion, and anytime I have a platform to talk about it, I'm excited to do so," Sebastijanovic said.
Lessons Learned
For Sheree Pimpton, dispatch supervisor with the University of Houston Police Department and a first-time attendee, the seminar message resonated with the demands of her role.
"This was very important to me because this is something I deal with as a police dispatch supervisor," Pimpton said. "We take calls from across the university, and I have to make smart decisions to help ensure the safety of our campus."
The exercise on personal values left the strongest impression.
"The main thing was value," Pimpton said. "How does my value align with my work? If I can take those ideas back and help my team at UHPD, it will help us a lot.
Pimpton said she plans to share the values exercise with her team to encourage reflection and discussion.
Among the seminar's 87 attendees was Kelly Boysen, assistant vice chancellor and assistant vice president for Environmental Health and Emergency Preparedness. The event marked her third HR Executive Seminar.
"Every opportunity we've had through this series, we've learned something new that's applicable to our everyday work," Boysen said. "Today's session was no different. The content was incredibly meaningful. I took away a lot of ideas and exercises that I'm going to discuss with my own team."
Like Pimpton, Boysen said the values exercise stood out because of its connection to finding purpose and meaning in one's work.
With another Executive Seminar completed, Reinoso and the Human Resources team are already preparing for the next session in November. He noted that the series also provides an opportunity to showcase the expertise of UH faculty members and strengthen connections across campus.
"It's important to connect staff with academia and academia with staff, because we don't always have opportunities to do that," Reinoso said. "This series is a great way to showcase the talents of our faculty to our staff and the talents of our staff to our faculty."