In this day and age, the ideal candidate is innovative as well as forward-thinking. It’s someone who is capable of doing more but in less time. That being said, it doesn’t matter if all of your team are able to work this way because if they are burnt out, then none of it matters. They will ultimately go on to experience productivity issues, which may lead to you hiring new people. The cycle then repeats, and before you know it, you may find that you have a real situation on your hands.
Make sure that your Work Environment Decreases Stress
If you put your employees in a situation that is high-stress, whether it is because they have unclear expectations or even unreasonable deadlines, you should know that they are at risk of going into a fight-or-flight mode. This is something that happens when you feel physically threatened. The more emotional and primal part of your brain will take over and you may eventually get burnt out. If you want to try and counter this effect, then you have to make sure that you build a secure working environment. You also need to try and incorporate some kind of stress reduction into your team’s workflow. If you can do this, then you will soon find that everything comes together for you. If you can, it’s a good idea for you to try and explore the idea of a remote workplace as well. The Learning Bank have a lot of posts if you need some help with that.
Increase Safety on a Psychological Level
If you want to increase the psychological safety of your team then there are a few things that you can do. This will stop your team from getting burnt out as quickly and it will also decrease stress for them too. One way for you to help them would be for you to make your expectations obvious. You need to give your team clear goals and you also need to make sure that everyone has their voices heard. You can do this with ease, by simply inviting people to speak up when they are in your meetings and also by conducting various brainstorming sessions. If you do this instead of imposing more top-down decisions, then this will really work in your favour. You also need to try and put in the work to develop a working environment that is challenging, yet unthreatening. You need to let people know that it is in fact okay for them to fail and that as long as they get back up and try better, there’s no reason why you can’t come out on top.
Build Regular Break Times
It’s so important that you build regular breaks into your working day. It’s important to know that the human brain can only focus for around 90 minutes at a time before a rest is required. That is why you need to encourage your team to step away from their desk from time to time so that they can disengage. Lead by example, and make sure that they are getting the mental space they need to perform well and at a consistent level.
Encourage the Use of Private Workplaces
It’s so important that you encourage the use of a private workplace so that your team can focus when they need to. Open offices tend to be prone to distractions and this decreases productivity while increasing stress. Sometimes you may find that there is always an expectation, that employees must be available for impromptu messages or even distractions. This shouldn’t be the case, in fact, sometimes it is helpful for you to have a private workplace where your team can go to focus or even decompress. Your business will surely benefit.
Set Boundaries
It is so important that you set boundaries for your team. They may need to work outside traditional hours from time to time, but if you make the line between work and personal time too blurred, then this can pose as an additional source of stress for them. Studies have found that feeling obliged to answer emails when away from work can cause stress. If you want to help your team with this then you need to ask them to only send emails and make calls after their working hours, if it is urgent. You also need to set the bar very high. If possible, it is a good idea for you to explore the idea of flexible working. If you want an adaptive team then you need to have an adaptable working environment. Take into account your team’s varying needs and also hold meetings one-to-one. This will give your team a lot of support when they need it.