I’m hearing the word “overwhelmed” regularly these days. We want employees to pay attention to ‘the latest greatest thing’ that will strengthen the company and make their lives easier, and we can hardly get them to pay attention.
One of my favorite questions when scoping out the likelihood of change adoption is: “What is competing for the attention of employees?” There is always a list!
With so much going on, there is little capacity left to embrace just one more thing.
When I worked on client sites, I was constantly moving between meetings, floors, even buildings. All that movement was more than good exercise. Elevating the heart rate, getting fresh air, changing surroundings – these are all great ways to reduce stress.
Now my daily steps are down to about 11. Some of us have lost huge opportunities to reduce stress. We sit too long at our desks, literally stewing in our work. We don’t take the opportunities to get out and walk around. It’s hard to shift gears between constant meetings. Stress builds.
Instead of trying to increase capacity and resilience, we need to reduce stress. Stress makes it difficult to focus and learn. Stress kills capacity. By combatting stress we raise capacity.
Rather than list all of the basic stress management techniques you can get anywhere (which definitely should be promoted in your organization!), let me suggest a few avenues of thinking to help your project towards success. How can you:
- link your change to something already happening so it isn’t ‘just one more thing’ to process and pay attention to?
- paint a picture to show it’s attainable and we will leave no one behind? (Tell a story!)
- create an environment where failure during learning and change is OK?
- reward steps in the right direction?
- inject fun into the journey?
A 2019 survey of more than 600 firms by Willis Towers Watson reported that the percentage of employers measuring employee stress levels would increase from 16 to 53 percent by 2021. They are on the right track.
If we want our organizations to move faster we need more capacity to embrace change. It’s a limited resource. Don’t let stress steal from their reserves.
Thoughtfully yours,
Jeff
