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Something happened the other day that was a bit of a weird coincidence, or was it serendipity? You see I was on a call with a colleague in Michigan as we prepared to host a call with someone in the global motor industry. Our topic for the call was building a resilient work force and wondering what this company is already doing in that space.<\/p>\n
Over the last 10 years I\u2019ve focused my coaching life on helping people manage stress, everything from presentation anxiety to dealing with a hateful boss, overwhelm and overload. Since the beginning of 2020 the world has also focused on mental well-being, and that has to be a very good thing. Well mostly\u2026<\/p>\n
As my colleague and I prepared for our call and the intention we wanted to bring, she disclosed that her son works at the same company and he gets regular safety briefings so that he is physically safe at work. You know the sort of thing, why you should wear a hard hat, steel toe capped shoes, safety glasses or goggles and so on. At that very moment a former colleague of mine, and a highly respected engineer, posted an article on LinkedIn and my watch buzzed to alert me to it. The topic of her post was all about the reasons to wear a hard hat, steel capped shoes etc.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coincidence or serendipity?<\/p>\n
Well, frankly the answer to that question really doesn\u2019t matter. What those 2 similar messages coming in at the same time did do though was to change the focus of our conversation with the our caller. Both messages highlighted to me the importance we put on protecting our physical self. We prepare a safe working environment that protects the head, the feet, the eyes and so on, our physical well-being. If you take it even further there are specialists that go round to office working environments to make sure your chair is the right height for your desk, that your computer is at eye level and your chair has good support for your back, but what preparation do we do to protect our mental well-being?<\/p>\n
On the call we explored what this motor company is currently doing for employee well-being. It turns out that they do a huge amount to support people who find the current situation difficult to handle. What ever the reason there is someone to help pick you up, dust you off and help you \u201cbounce back\u201d into work.<\/p>\n
BUT\u2026what do they do beforehand, what do they do that could stop that slow downward spiral into a depression or burnout from happening at all?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Turns out that was a pivotal question and one that I\u2019m asking again here. Thinking of your company and their wellness program, hoping you do have one, is it aimed at helping people after the burnout to recover from their experience, maybe with a few months of paid sick leave, or does it prepare employees for the stress and excess pressure surely yet to come, as lots of small high pressure moments do add up. Both are important. Resilience is, after all the capacity to prepare for<\/em>, recover from and adapt in the face of stress, challenge or adversity.<\/p>\n You can learn to build your resilience capacity and sustain your energy, now, and reduce the impact of excess stress on yourself, your family and your workplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n