Instead of waiting for those stress-related minions to overtake your balanced and blended life, harness proactive measures to beat the effects of last year’s stressors.

Even if this year brought different strains to your inbox, use my guide to apply how to observe and note any stressor that needs to be blocked. Your present difficulties up to this point must be transformed so you can move into a workplace full of new life and vitality.

How will you shift your thoughts and transform your mind?

How will you send your team to their next project with successful recharge in their job or position?

I learned two valuable lessons from a recently completed large-scale project that stretched my management capabilities [in a GREAT way!] I have a greater understanding of what’s expected of me.

#1. I am learning to master the twists and turns of stress-induced exhaustion, which is an important journey. Knowing when to shift gear (thoughts) is the important key to a successful journey.

#2. I am becoming a wise and masterful learner of what’s in and out of my control. I will transform what you can and manage what I can’t.

In Gallup’s “State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report”, it stated…

“Forty-four percent of employees said they experienced a lot of stress the previous day, repeating the record high in 2021 and continuing a trend of elevated stress that began almost a decade earlier.”

Work and team/organizational engagement topped the list of causes for high levels of stress.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

Describe what you have been chronically distracted with. Jot down the positive or negative impact of the distraction.

How do you set personal, work, and time boundaries, and stick to them?

What consumes your day that doesn’t bring you joy?

Which of your relationships are draining you?

What aspects of your stressful situation are truly fixed, and what can you change?

What high-value activities and relationships are still triggering stress?

What changes at the job, and within your team will you make in the next 30 days to combat exhaustion and mental burnout?

A very interesting research article in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, A multilevel review of stressor research in teams (Razinskas and Hoegl, 2019) discusses how individual-related stressors can have a big impact on team dynamics. Many of the questions I asked you to reflect on can reveal causes that directly address external factors impacting team performance, engagement, and commitment.

Use this time to breathe and get clarity on your work, life, and spiritual goals. Remember to always be kind to yourself. Recognize the Blended Self is here to stay!

Expert’s Guide: Helping Teams Successfully Manage Mental Burnout

Here’s a quick rundown of the dos and don’ts when managing exhaustion and burnout.

Don’ts

YOUR WORKLOAD.

You can literally work yourself to death. Don’t set yourself up for this catastrophic scenario.

Before you begin a project (individually or collectively), have a realistic conversation with the group or yourself about the workload and the amount of time it will take to perform a high-quality job. Ask yourself or the group what high-quality work looks like. Describe what it looks like. Seriously, begin to visualize your workday and the relationship interactions you will have to accomplish quality work. Even solopreneurs have to work with a contractor to produce a well-thought-out product eventually. Too often, we experience delusions of grandeur and are not adequately trained to face up to issues affecting the entire team’s performance. Worst, poor management skills put undue pressure on others, causing anxiety and depression. When working in a group, divide the work evenly. Continually review your workload versus your capacity. Routine check-ins and frequent stand-ups foster strong communication and keep morale high. Last bit of advice ~ Regularly reassess your work priorities because, let’s be real… life happens! Needs can move from critical to urgent in the blink of an eye. Keep that Eisenhower matrix handy!

TIME PRESSURE.

Studies have shown that multitasking is NOT the most effective way to alleviate time pressure when work conflicts with productivity demands. Innovate and chunk large tasks into smaller ones to reduce overwhelm and increase clarity on the details that can get lost when working under heavy time constraints. It’s also called work segmentation. This allows you to focus on the one step you can control, and the technique teaches you how to reduce the perceived threat of uncertainty that can loom and diffuse the joyous atmosphere of spontaneous creativity.

INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT.

Nope, conflict avoidance and ghosting are not ways to express your leadership qualities. It will only give you a temporary sense of calm and psychological safety. First, determine if the conflict needs mediation or if you can attempt to resolve it solo. I’m not a fan of immediate mediation unless there’s a history of conflict between you and the coworker. When there’s hesitation, it’s more an issue of how to engage professionally. The Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation suggests you start with a plan. It examined how “social anxiety is rising with young people.” Think about your actions first. Consider how you could’ve escalated the disagreement and damaged the relationship. Is there an opportunity to build trust with small talk? When you’re ready to discuss the conflict, openly acknowledge how difficult it is to have the conversation. Ask the person for their view of how they see the battle. If you’ve written out your plan, there should be a bullet on your sticky note for how you see the end of the conversation. Is there a win/win waiting to be uncovered? What is the genuine and calm approach to agreeing that you both disagree on this topic but could very well agree on another? Will you state that you respect the other’s right to have an authentic voice? And courageous apologies will advance you miles on the leadership path! Cultivate powerful communication skills by learning how to discuss what matters most when dealing with difficult conversations.

ROLE CONFLICT.

Stay clear on what’s expected of you. If you’re in management and have to switch roles for various reasons, this will cause stress. It will also confuse the team if your lines are blurred. You can’t be everything to everyone. My company calls it “staying in your lane.” Accepting a few tasks that don’t usually fall under your job description in the spirit of cooperation is OK. Still, when it becomes a regular occurrence, it’s time to step back and re-evaluate if those tasks on your plate are helping the team flow efficiently. If those tasks are causing gaps in other areas of your work, you need a job description update to add or remove those tasks officially. Role conflict can also arise when your values don’t match the organization. Reflect on your personal and core values annually to ensure they align with your work and view of a fulfilled and peaceful life. A joyful, purposeful life may not be easy, but avoid roles that don’t express your harmonious and balanced Blended-Self.

Do’s

WORK-HOME INTERFACE.

How your personal life intersects with work is uber-important. Hear me loud and clear, high-performers… there will always be a balance tightwire for those that work in teams highly focused on their shared sense of purpose. The intersection process can be positive in a working environment that acknowledges and celebrates your roles away from the office. For example, our company has lots of new moms and dads, after-work and weekend sports team hobbyists, experienced parents mentoring the in-the-office newbies, gigging musicians and active, creative artists, world travelers, and music festival summer road warriors. Some staffers are caring for or have experienced caring for aging parents. Organizations should encourage their teams to be physically, emotionally, and spiritually present at home and outside the workplace. Find a trusted source that helps you release work stressors by talking them out so you don’t transmit them to your family or friends. Understand that work-home conflict is bi-directional. Equally, reach out to a trusted source to mentor or coach you through family stressors. Stay in tune with your job attitudes and satisfaction levels. Communicate appropriately with a supervisor or HR, not at the water dispenser. Be respectful in managing and communicating about the realistic demands you’re experiencing. Overload is real. Do ask for help to cultivate and strengthen your resilience and coping skills.

FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES.

A 2019 study from Morgan Stanley polling 1,000 full-time employees concluded that 78% have financial stress that impacts and distracts them at work. Low and high-income individuals can encounter stress. I always say difficult stressors can be more relative than we consider if only we step back to perceive others with a compassionate heart and mind. It’s never too late to upskill your budget and debt management knowledge. It will increase your critical thinking skills. A healthy, active process of synthesizing your behavior or beliefs concerning financial wellness is essential. Learning to observe, experience, reflect, and reason should be practiced in your life-work activities. Prioritize learning one financial lesson a day and reflect on how your actions align with the core values you’re expressing. I take time to become more aware of people in my daily life who are mastering a holistic financial approach to life. I actively try to understand budgeting principles and have become comfortable asking questions without fear of appearing incompetent. I learned to internally call out my shortcomings with love and keep a financial journal. I spend more time with my family, kids, and coworkers in conversations about debt, emergency savings accounts, retirement, investing, and tackling what insurance options are appropriate where in their present life journey. Do forgive yourself for past financial mistakes. Put your energy into establishing a disciplined, realistic financial wellness plan with training courses, daily exercises, and sound financial mentors.

ROLE CLARITY.

The number one way I’ve been able to maintain role clarity is to eliminate as much ambiguity at work and in my personal life as possible. For example, as a leader, I do whatever I can to keep my teams informed and up-to-date with what’s happening on projects that impact them. I observe and take note of how I can be in agreement with God’s heart before holding high-level meetings. In monthly directors briefing meetings, as an executive leader, I want to be fully aware how a task or assignment could affect a department and its team. As a leader, communicate regularly to your team what is expected of them. Actively listen to their concerns. Be ready to bring reconciliation to a weary group. Your ability to help everyone see challenges in a new hopeful way keeps everyone focused and engaged and makes it easier for members to quickly let you know whether they need additional resources or conversations to enable them to complete their tasks effectively and efficiently. Be direct and let fellow collaborators know the criteria for executing a high-quality work product. Stay up-to-date with your problem-solving skills by sharpening your skills at defining problems with strong critical thinking ability. Always be willing to learn; this will keep you humble, engaged and communicating a refreshing vision with your team.

Become Stress-Free — Transform + Renew.

Are you imagining how to build your team for the future?

Are you imagining how to build your team for the future? Start recognizing how to renew your insight in order to make the shift.

There’s a different game plan for every stressor type. Use this time to identify the stress and the role you’re playing in the future value of performance, engagement, and commitment.

Review your actions that contributed to the exhaustion and burnout up to this point and take the next step to be set free. How will you shift your thoughts and transform your mind?

How has your cognitive bandwidth been stretched over the past six months? Have you or your team been overtaken with fear of the future, the new, or being seen as less competent?

I recommend individual and team listening tours across the company, with your team and encouraging self-reflective assessments.

Understanding that VARIETY is the spice of meaningful engagement. Be refreshed and fully prepared to carry a new wisdom to effectively manage the stressors that can easily exhaust and burn out a high-performing organization.

There you have it, you’re ready to lead your team out of burnout. Go meditate so you can create a workable plan! Dig into the dual nature of team stressors and use the strategies to redefine the structure that disabled workflow.

Building a stronger support system and healthier team culture that will make a difference in workers’ lives.

If you want to discuss your elephant in the room, Email me to jump on a quick 20-minute assessment call. I’ll walk you through a step-by-step breakthrough plan for your primary stressor that we can pull the thread on. Are you ready to invest the time and energy it takes and get accountable to uncover successful transformation, fulfillment, and peace?