Stress affects the wellbeing and performance of individuals and teams. Here are the biggest stressors and how Resilience training helps!
When the global pandemic took hold back in 2020, businesses and organisations strove hard to continue their business as usual. With the sudden and ongoing change to work conditions, abrupt shifts to working remotely, and lack of physical contact, you may be one of the individuals who have struggled with or experienced psychological distress.
In 2023 and beyond, work challenges and obstacles continue daily. You or your team’s mental health may be compromised, and this can take an emotional toll. You may have noticed changes in wellbeing and drops in performance, and one of the main factors that influence this is high stress. Here’s the 7 biggest stressors impacting Personal Resilience and how Resilience training helps!
One of the key reasons we experience stress is a tendency to focus on things that are beyond our control. This leaves us feeling powerless and drenched in worry, leading to a flood of concerns and in-turn, stress. More than ever, situations outside our control are dictating how we live and work. However, it is not the situation, person or event that affects your emotions, but your interpretation of the situation, person or event that affects your emotions. Read that again. Put another way, two people can be experiencing the exact same situation but their perspective of the situation, and in turn their stress response, can be completely different.
When feeling pressured by the demands at work or faced at home, you may even extend these demands to your teammates or loved ones. Everyday has it’s demands, some more than others. But there could be times that you impose unrealistic expectations on yourself, and on others, leading to an increase in stress levels. Unrealistic demands make work outcomes unachievable and the required effort unrelenting, which creates a virtuous cycle of increasing stress levels and eroding Individual Resilience.
According to Psychologist Jeremy Sutton, Ph.D., Burnout is recognized as “a break between what people are and what they have to do, and it is typically experienced as emotional exhaustion or depersonalization.” Although times are harder these days, especially for business professionals and leaders juggling work and home life, you and your team may be doing more harm than good by slaving away and working 24/7. Stress often results from not prioritising self-care, or not allowing space for energy and wellbeing to recover after extend periods of effort.
Mindset is the collection of thoughts and beliefs that shape how you experience the world. Your mindset is fluctuating moment to moment as you experience different situations and interpret what you are experiencing. Stress may develop if you are not consciously aware of how your mindset is affecting your emotions and responses. Less resilient people do not effectively regulate their thoughts and emotions, leading to a mindset that is susceptible to outside situations, people and information that erodes their psychological wellbeing and personal Resilience.
Being aware of current events happening locally and across the world, may be one of the ways you stay connected socially. But if you are regularly exposed to the bad news that dominates todays mainstream media, then your fear and anxiety levels escalate, and so does your risk of feeling stressed. Consumption of media can affect your sleep, appetite, and how you perform at work. Unchecked consumption of gloom-ridden news, now referred to as ‘Doom Scrolling’, can result in negative socio-psychological impacts on you and those around you.
Another reason for stress is a reduced sense of purpose or lack of hope in the future. In the midst of a global pandemic, wars across Europe, extreme weather events such as bush fires and floods, you may have reservations about what the future may bring or what role you play in this world. This may contribute to your growing personal apprehension, which can lead to hopelessness and stress, and in the long run anxiety and depression – limiting your ability to recognise and harness your personal strengths and tap into your individual Resilience.
With all the uncertainties faced today, you could easily feel worried about not being able to provide for yourself, for your loved ones or for your team. This insecurity stems from ongoing threats to basic needs like finances, health, and social connections which results in stress. Feeling insecure can also trigger self-doubt and anxiety when trying to accomplish or achieve something. You could say that the only security for ourselves in today’s world is getting used to insecurity.
Stress is one of the major concerns in the workplace today, affecting the wellbeing and performance of individuals and teams. There’s a common misconception that Personal Resilience is about enduring more and more stress. That the Individual or Leader who is always busy and always on the go must be the most Resilient. But this is fundamentally inaccurate. Resilient people have learned optimal ways to manage themselves and others, for giving stress the boot.
Cognitive flexibility is the mental ability to adjust to activities and content. By learning to adapt and thrive, it helps in navigating negative emotions which cause stress.
Being more involved at work allows individuals to stay inspired and motivated. This causes negative stress to become good stress, sometimes excitement, resulting in improved job performance and overall growth as a team.
Change – whether positive or negative – and acceptance of it, keeps the emotional balance in tune which reduces stress. Low-resilient individuals and teams fight changes and rally against them. While optimal Resilience helps individuals and teams embrace change and grasp the positive outcomes and opportunities it may bring.
Personal Resilience skills training teaches individuals to understand what Resilience is, where it comes from and how to cultivate more of it, including sharing Resilience skills and tools that can be learned to immediately increase Individual Resilience. Resilience training run across a team or workforce also helps whole teams in the workplace to handle adversity, change or growth together, with minimal to no negative impact on personnel and business processes and production.
With the global pandemic slowly giving way to the ‘new normal’, there are and will be many more challenges ahead. Resilience training equips people to thrive through personal hardships, workplace challenges, and social conflicts. You may have already started boosting your or your Teams Resilience in small ways, like trying on a new perspective, keeping a wellness journal, or ensuring regular breaks to reduce stress levels. It also helps to have some external help, especially from experts such as a practical and proven resilience training course or wellness and resilience program.
Ripen Resilience Training equips your workforce with the skills and tools to keep wellbeing and performance high during times of adversity, change or growth. At ripen, Resilience is not an abstract concept but a set of practical skills and tools that yield results. Our training includes proven habits people can develop to endure hardships and thrive even in trying times, to achieve optimal performance and wellbeing in all facets of life.
Book a call to learn how we can deliver Resilience training for you, your colleagues or teams, anywhere in the world.
