Wellbeing & Resilience – initially published 21 April 2020, updated December 2021.

The adrenaline and initial action to understand how to deliver work in a hybrid way is settling and leaders are now shifting priorities to think about communication to maintain social cohesion and strategies to make the new virtual ways of working even more effective.

However, the global ambiguity continues…  And for many, this can lead to feelings of anxiety and stress; things may feel out of our control and many employees are finding the lines between personal and work life increasingly blurred.  Our innate need for clear, definite outcomes is not being met with the long-term impact of Covid-19 as yet undetermined.  See related blog “Why People Need Information During Uncertainty“.

With such uncertainty still ahead, it is important for leaders to not only maintain their own wellbeing but to think about building the resilience of their teams.  There is research to show an association between self-reported resilience and self-perceptions of physical and mental wellbeing (1 – Agteren et al, 2018).  Not only are there benefits to wellbeing, but developing resilient mindsets inherently promotes skills in adapting and flexing which create more agile teams.  It also encourages a culture of ‘learning-from-mistakes’ so that teams are more likely to pursue more innovative and riskier options.

A Holistic Approach to Wellbeing & Resilience During Covid-19

OE Cam takes a holistic approach to wellbeing and resilience and is founded upon the principles of Positive Psychology (2 – adapted from Sheldon et al. 2000).  Our approach focuses on the following four core areas:

  1. The Mind (our psychological wellbeing)

Recognition of the need for positive mental health in the workplace has seen a steady increase over the last few years, and now more than ever we see organisations acknowledging the importance of psychological wellbeing in the current working environment.

To encourage a more resilient mindset in their employees, organisations should consider the following:

  • How is your organisation consciously building implementable positive habits? Acknowledging that positive things are happening in times of challenge and uncertainty can boost team morale and help motivate colleagues. Tip: Incorporate listing 3 positive things that have happened in the day and/or in a new project to start embedding positive thinking.
  • How is your organisation helping develop mastery? Acknowledging that colleagues are working hard to develop new skills and ways of working in a short space of time will remind them that they are successfully adapting and mastering their new environment.  This reassurance will improve their confidence in approaching new tasks as we move into the second wave.
  • How does your organisation define resilience and how is it measured? When we try and measure how resilient we are, we often ask ourselves the following binary questions “Am I resilient or not?” ”Is this person resilient or not?”.  Thinking of resilience as one thing you have or don’t have can seem quite overwhelming.  Resilience is made up of a combination of skills and tendencies and OE Cam’s approach is to work with clients to break it down into digestible key skills and develop them individually.  Through this we can also focus on recognising that resilience is also about knowing when to rest, conserving cognitive resources and balancing energy.

 

  1. The Organisation (building a fit environment)

During these times of uncertainty, an organisation has a duty of care to their employees.  As the demands of these new ways of working change, organisations need to ensure that they continue to provide the right resources to support staff at the right time (3 – Bakker & Demerouti, 2007).

Organisations may want to ask themselves:

  1. Does our organisation provide clear and focused goals to our employees and are these being communicated effectively?
  2. Are we clear around systems and processes and how they are changing and how they can be best used?
  3. Are we equipping our employees with the right resources?
  4. Are we supporting employees as a result of the immediate need for new skills to be developed in a short space of time?

 

  1. The Body (physical wellbeing)

From employee wellbeing surveys and conversations with our clients, insights support the view that, in regard to work, the negative impact of social and psychological factors was the main concern in the first wave of the Covid-19 changes.

The negative impact on the physical body is often the aspect of wellbeing at work that leaders are considering the least.  In adhering to government guidelines and working from home, many of us have naturally become more sedentary.  Your pedometer may or may not confirm this!  In working from home, colleagues might, by default, feel that have always be available.  They might feel like they need to respond to all emails quickly, answer all telephone and video calls.  In this case, they might find themselves never leaving their workspace.

Getting regular exercise and taking breaks play an important role in releasing endorphins to reduce tension and feelings of stress and provide a different activity to break up your day.

Things to consider:

  1. How is your organisation ensuring that employees are taking regular breaks? (for example, encouraging 10 minute breaks between virtual meetings)
  2. How is your organisation encouraging regular exercise?
  3. How is your organisation building a culture where people who are unwell take time out – and don’t feel pressured to keep working or guilty if they aren’t working (continuous presenteeism?)

In relation to this, office workspaces are often designed to help employees work more efficiently – a desk chair with lumbar support, a computer at eye level with a mouse and cushion pad for example.  It is therefore important to ensure that employees’ remote working environment is as comfortable for them as possible.

How is your organisation ensuring that employees ergonomic needs are being suitably met?

 

  1. Forming and Maintaining Social Connections

A key aspect of resilience and wellbeing is connecting with others.  We have an innate drive to be social (encouraged by our neurochemistry) and with technology, this is feasible during these challenging times.

We know that our clients have worked hard to stay connected, updated and keep the social fun going – there have been fancy dress Fridays and after work virtual drinks!  However, in this next phase we are perhaps already beginning to see a decrease in the conscious effort to remain informally socially connected.

Relative to the ‘Demand-Control-Support’ model (4 – Karasek, 1979) we should not ignore the fact that we are still experiencing high demands at work.  With little control and without the right support, this can lead to increased levels of stress and anxiety.  As a result, it is more important than ever to stay informally connected.

Things to consider:

  1. Is the balance of informal and formal connections reducing as we become used to our new ways of working? How is your organisation encouraging formal social connectivity?
  2. How is your organisation encouraging informal social connectivity?
  3. How is your organisation encouraging greater transparency within and across your teams?

Knowing your team members and what their strengths are creates a common language which in turn improves team dynamics and helps the team link together more effectively.

It is important for organisations to encourage teams to explore their individual preferences and styles of working, to understand individual and team strengths and how they can be used to support, develop the team and drive productivity.  OE Cam use team profiling tools (TMP) to identify the answers to these questions and work with clients to create more resilient teams.

During these times of heightened uncertainty, resilience and wellbeing need to be developed holistically; taking into consideration the techniques and processes to develop the right mindset, the right organisational support, physical wellbeing and means for social connectivity.  Not only is this key for right now, but it will also set strong foundations for a future that is yet to be determined.

To learn more about how positive psychology can support wellbeing and resilience watch our webinar or contact myself or Julie Brophy to discuss our bespoke virtual workshops.

 

mariam.mirza@oecam.com

 

References:

  1. Joseph van Agteren, Matthew Iasiello & Laura Lo (2018) “Improving the wellbeing and resilience of health services staff via psychological skills training” in BMC Research Notes 11, Article number 924 (https://bmcresnotes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13104-018-4034-x)
  2. Sheldon et al. (2000)
  3. Arnold B. Bakker & Evangelia Demerouti (2007). “The Job Demands-Resources model: state of the art” in the Journal of Managerial Psychology Volume 22 No.3, pp 309–328 https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940710733115
  4. Karasek (1979) referenced in Margot Van der Doef & Stan Maes (1999) “The Job Demand-Control (-Support) Model and Psychological well-being: A review of 20 years of empirical research”, in Work & Stress, An International Journal of Work, Health & Organisations, Volume 13 Issue No. 2, pp 87-114 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/026783799296084
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