The New Age of Workplace Stress

The global workforce has changed employment patterns in all developed countries forever. Gone are the days of the industrial and technological revolution – where productivity and efficiency was almost totally dependent on process efficiencies of getting the job done. In today’s connected society, organizations are more and more made up primarily of what some call ‘knowledge workers’ (people whose jobs require formal and/or advanced education and are considered people who “think for a living.”). Today’s employees are often highly educated professionals and technicians who must bring their specialisms together for a common purpose. That being said, processing efficiencies (i.e. production capacity) takes place within the mind of each and every one of our people — right down on our front lines. This is especially true in the health industry, where front line service providers are highly trained nurses, technicians and doctors.

Now couple that with increased demands to perform at a continuously high level of excellence amid the pressures of increased complexity and ambiguity at a lightning fast pace, often compounded by thickening layers of bureaucracy, and it is nothing short of inevitable that our workplaces have become overwhelmingly taxing and stress-filled.

The answer does not lie in getting rid of the circumstances that are causing the stress. In order to compete in the global economy, the demands for performance, the complexity, the ambiguity, and yes, even the bureaucracy (particularly in the public sector), cannot and will not abate.

The answer lies in fact, within the realms of leadership – especially front line and mid-level leaders – who must look within themselves to acquire a new mind set and new skillsets … and the field of neuroscience and cognitive science is showing us the way.

Stress is a relational transaction between our self and our environment during which we perceive and appraise events as threatening — in that they are over-taxing to us in some way. As leaders we must learn how to change the way we see our self in relationship to these stress-triggering events, and then help those we lead do the same. And because we don’t know what we don’t know, it becomes an organizational responsibility to provide leaders with the tools and knowledge necessary to ‘reframe’ how they see themselves in today’s workplace.

One such tool is the skill of Positive Presence™. Positive Presence is a deliberate way of thinking and behaving that makes the connection between human energy and behaviour and is easily practiced and developed right on the job. The skill is unique in that it is both a personal aptitude and it is a ‘group’ aptitude, and as such there needs to be a common vocabulary and understanding.

At the heart of Positive Presence lies the following competencies:

Self-Awareness – Know thyself. We must first learn to effectively manage our own thought and behaviour habits, before we can lead others to do the same.

Clarity of Mission – We must ensure our own personal values and purpose is aligned with the values and mission of our organization, and then we must teach others to do the same.

Mental Model – Consistently successful people have the ability to maintain a positive and proactive attitude. As leaders we must hold our selves accountable for developing the necessary thought habits that drive a positive and energized mind.

Behaviour habits – we must understand our own behaviour habits and how they affect others around us, and then we must learn to adjust our own behaviour in such a way as to effectively influence and lead others.

Our new workforce is no longer ‘salary expense’. Our new workforce is actually ‘human assets’ – assets that must be developed and grown. To grow human assets we must create a work culture that is energized, positive, caring, healthy and safe.