They say that God/the Universe won’t give you more than you can handle, but last year I really questioned the wisdom of that belief. I officially found my limit: rather my body and my mind found it for me. After the most stressful year of my life, my body shut down on me and my brain wasn’t too far behind. A large measure of my stress came from work: exponential growth, system failures and an inadequate level of staff all came together to create the perfect storm. Not only was I stressed, but my staff was also stressed, which only further increased my stress level. Resilience was an absolute must in our department, and in the company overall. So how does a company train for resilience? You either have it or you don’t, right? Wrong.
According to a Harvard Business Review Article, resilience can be taught. It is important to distinguish between “good stress” (the kind that pushes you to perform better and creatively problem solve) and “distress” (that chronic strain that eventually leads to burnout and chronic health problems). To keep the good stress from turning into bad stress, the article suggests training for and practicing the following:
Mindfulness: a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. The article advocates using various training techniques for the best results.
Compartmentalizing Cognitive Load: Which is a fancy way of saying focusing on one thing at a time rather than trying to constantly multi-task.
Taking breaks: Part of practicing mindfulness is paying attention to your energy levels. Studies have shown that most people’s energy cycles last about 90-120 minutes. Taking a break after each spurt of work should help maintain mental focus and energy.
Developing Mental Agility: Practicing hitting the pause button in the middle of a stressful situation and literally switching your brain from reacting to analyzing the situation. Almost like having an out-of-body experience, it’s like turning the switch off in one part of your brain and turning on another.
Cultivating Compassion: Both for self as well as for others. A compassionate workplace increases cooperation and positive work relationships.
The article notes that stress is on the rise, brought about mainly through our “always on” and constantly in contact world. That’s why studies also show that organizations investing in resilience training have resulted in positive ROI’s. Building a work culture that encourages and bolsters resilience is a necessity in today’s world.
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