Duncan So

Burnout responsiveness is really crucial, when finding a wellness program, especially for chronic stress and burnout, it’s about addressing the underlying patterns in the nervous system where stress responses are governed. With little to no mental and emotional bandwidth, seek professional support. If stress is manageable, invest in recovery skill development to empower people to effectively re-regulate. After recovery, prevention wellness programs are a great way to maintain resilience, happiness, creativity and productivity.

Present your strategies clearly and how they are being implemented to reduce chronic stress. Consider open dialogue as an opportunity for group coaching and feedback, as many times presenting them with a path forward doesn’t mean they take action. These are typically found in the nuances and might not even be work related. Being able to both measure change and hear improvements from others is a great way to build morale.

Maintaining flow states are important. This can be done with breath work, meditation and even taking breaks by going on walks. Overtime it’s easy to build up too much cognitive load as we work and just take a moment to properly release it. It might show up as anxiety, frustration and irritation. Learn what your limits are and how environments affect your mood. Once your exceed your limit, then actively reset.

When your authority is challenged, it’s often a trust issue. Re-establish rapport, and flush out concerns as often a stakeholder is often feeling insecure and attacking your authority as a defense mechanism. Adjust accordingly to ensure goals are still aligned and progress is still moving forward. Show, don’t tell. Take responsibility for your actions and mistakes and provide a clear plan of action and communicate mini-achievements along the way. Lead forward with a clear adjusted plan that is agreed upon and circle back at a designated time with clear outcomes.

Being clear and asking clarity questions to define the scope is really important for a healthy baseline. Even with changes and navigating uncertainty, work will expand, rarely shrink. Prolonged stress with intense spikes happens when we scope too much work within a short period of time. Extend the time. Reduce the work. Reinforce expectations with healthy boundaries. Manage your mental and emotional states to be your most creative self, resting being a self-care maintenance activity to maintain high performance.

Like the saying in the movie Jerry Macguire, “how can I help you to help me?” While the power dynamics might feel like your boss is there to “boss you”, they can’t boss you to your highest potential if they are unclear. A two-way coaching strategy is a useful process which creates an open dialogue to give them feedback so that they are clear. As an exercise you also become clear as well, and helps you to maintain focus on your tasks and specialty. A simple phrase of: “do I have permission to give you high quality feedback?” is a good frame to initiate the conversation. Make sure they give you permission. Start with a positive note, then relay the issue and recommendation, then an overall positive note to bring everything together.