Archive for the ‘Employee burnout’ Category

Leadership, Health and Safe Stress

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

We have just entered a new era of health care and it gives all of us an opportunity to participate in the discussion of what constitutes health and, let me add, well being.

stressI believe leadership development  must include ways for all employees to “practice safe stress”. What does that really mean? First, here is what we know: an overdose of stress, especially when it is continuous, plays havoc with our immune systems. We then become susceptible to all kinds of chronic illnesses, both physical and emotional.

Before CEO, Inc. morphed into a leadership enhancement, team building, and conflict resolution company, it was, for ten plus years a personal development center. Much of the focus was, and continues to be, on helping individuals, teams, and business executives find the way OUT of old, outdated ways of relating and communicating.

What we discovered in our journey to health and well being was that when we repeat old patterns learned from our original organization, the family, in present time relationships, stress is activated and can truly make us sick.

peacefulSo, this is an exciting time to go beyond the debate about insurance companies, best or worst hospitals, good or bad physician bedside manner, and focus on how to keep health premiums down by staying healthy.

There are tons of books about what to eat, the benefits of exercise, how meditation does make a difference, why it is important to spend time in nature. Our part of the puzzle is the way OUT of what no longer can serve you in relationships.

Practicing safe stress means being aware of what pushes your buttons and what to do about it. The OUT technique points the way to help you OBSERVE your behavior. Right away that will begin the process of diminishing stress. Then we help you UNDERSTAND where the patterns began for deeper and more long lasting change. Finally, you have the opportunity to TRANSFORM the behaviors that no longer serve you to their healthy and positive opposite.

I do believe if we all practiced safe stress our health care system would be used properly and effectively for emergency medicine and for those mysterious diseases that are still looking for a cure.

You can find out more about safe stress by taking the pattern aware quiz at www.sylvialafair.com. And as an added benefit you can contact us for help in going over the quiz with you.

Here is to a new era of health care for all of our citizens, and for all of us feeling the fire of being in optimum shape.

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Posted in Conflict, Consulting, Employee burnout, Health, Leadership, Leadership Strategies, Management, Patterns, Stress, leadership development | No Comments »

Elegant Leadership and Chocolate

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

If you are an executive leader, human resource professional, management consultant, or emerging high potential manager, it is vital for you to understand what goes on inside the heads and hearts of employees to help them become the best they can be. That is your golden globe or Oscar – to help people into excellence.

The more you know how your words and actions impact others, the better you can be at directing a situation to a positive end point. Take for example, the almost universal craving for chocolate. Godiva has made a fortune from knowing how to package this desire into beautifully crafted candy. You can take the newest knowledge from neuroscience and do the same.

Did you ever wonder if we have a “chocolate gene” hidden somewhere in our biology? Actually the answer is in the limbic system of the brain. One study by Matthew Lieberman and Golnaz Tabibnia indicated that people were more positive when a dollar was split fairly giving each individual 50 cents than when they received $8 and another person received $17 out of a $25 bounty. Interesting, more money was not the issue, it was one of fairness. Other studies have indicated that the same feeling of satisfaction that we get from chocolate occurs when we are treated fairly.

How does that affect you at work? If you are the CEO of a company and you treat your senior team fairly, there will be a satisfaction factor beyond bonuses and appreciation awards. If you are a project manager and you are really careful not to “play favorites”, you will find there is more cooperation and also more creative problem solving.
Many of the HR issues that cause feverish sweats in companies are due to the fairness factor. People are often willing to fight ‘to the death’ when they feel they have been treated unfairly. Most class-action suits are fairness based. They cost huge amounts of goodwill, along with the money.

Think about how your actions impact the social brain and the limbic system where threat and hostility are activated. Then stop and decide how you can handle a situation in a more even handed way. It’s like giving chocolate to a baby!

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Posted in Accountability, Boss, Business, Coaching, Collaboration, Communication, Conflict, Consulting, Diversity, Employee burnout, Employers, Ethics, Executive Teams, Fear, Health, History, Human Resources, Integrity, Leaders, Leadership, Money, Neuroscience, PatternAware, Patterns, Power, Psychology, Reflections, Transformation, Women in the workplace, Workplace Relationships, leadership development | No Comments »

Leadership Strategies: Revelations or Resolutions?

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

This is the time of year when we all become sheep and make that list of best practices for the next year. Like psychic predictions, most of them are trashed before the year comes to an end. Why do so many of us waste so much time saying “yes” to things we know will fall by the wayside before too long?

 
We are so conditioned to starting the New Year fresh and ready for breakthroughs we make our one to ten or one to twenty list and then put an action plan on paper. And then, the burdens and toils of the day take over and somehow, we get into the same old, same old rut.

 
The reason? Often we take on the whole world. We will become the beautiful, energetic people who will make our fortune this year, just like the ones in all the magazines. Yet, our patterns, those old nagging behaviors from the past creep in and voila! we look back on the year and find we are not so different than we were 365 days ago.

 
Perhaps we are doing it all wrong. Before we look to the future, maybe we need to look to the past and learn from it. So many philosophers have used a variation of “if we do not look to the past and learn from it, we are bound to repeat it”.

 

 
So, instead of resolutions, take a look back to see where you have repeated behavior patterns over and over and look for some revelations about yourself. Then take one aspect of how you respond to others and make that a priority for at least the first six months of the year. One is really enough. Once you start to change just one habit pattern, other behaviors will magically change without effort.

 
If each of us took the time to change just one thing, it would make a huge difference both in the family and in the workplace. You can learn about your patterns by taking the pattern aware quiz on my website www.sylvialafair.com. Once you have taken the test, call our office for a half-hour free consult by one of our facilitators to help you decide what you want to tackle first.

 
Sure, there are only a few days left in this year. So what? Everyday is a new day, and you can start to make miraculous changes in the blink of an eye. We are available to help. Let’s make this crazy world a more user-friendly place and learn about ourselves in depth, rather than making mindless resolutions that are usually broken before the month of January is history.

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Posted in Accountability, Beating holiday stress, Employee burnout, Health, Holiday, Leaders, Leadership, Management, PatternAware, Patterns, Women in the workplace, Workplace Relationships, leadership development | No Comments »

Holiday Stress and Leadership Involvement

Monday, December 7th, 2009

This week is the beginning of the fast track to the holidays. Everyone, no matter what their religious persuasion, is impacted by the bustle, the songs, the red and green decorations, the deep desire for holiday cheer and the disappointment if the dreams and hopes don’t measure up to the realities.

What to do? First, it is important to breathe! Yes, this is simple, inexpensive, and possible at any moment of the day. Deep breathing is better than cookies, wine, and even a new shiny car.  Here is what to do: find a quiet place; even if you go into the bathroom and lock the door for five minutes. Keep your feet on the floor and hands on your lap. Then close your eyes. Take a long deep breath through your mouth and then exhale quickly and forcefully through your mouth. Do this at least 7 times and then sit for a moment to let the oxygen stream through your body.

If at work you see your employees and co-workers getting jittery and moody, take a few minutes and stop by their desk and without going into detail, let them know you are there to support them. Offer the breathing process by telling them it helps you when you feel like the kettle beginning to boil. Just stopping by, acknowledging that this is the toughest time of year, even in a good year, tensions increase, and giving them something simple to help them calm down will definitely make a difference.

No amount of “stuff” will help as much as a hand extended to say “you are not alone” and the corollary “we are all in it together”. Let’s see this difficult economic year end with leaders helping to defuse the stress and tension by being there for staff in a way that transcends even bonus money. Caring on an emotional level will bring dividends into the New Year as we all imagine a healthier economy and a kinder world.

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Posted in Beating holiday stress, Economy, Employee burnout, Health, Holiday, Money, Reflections, Workplace Relationships | No Comments »

Leading and Telling

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

What happens when you feel the world is closing in and you just have nothing left to give? What do you do when the tensions and stress of daily life seem to escalate rather than subside? What happens when you feel like you are driving on empty?

Most of us retreat. We find a way to avoid difficult situations and zone out by watching T.V. or starting a big fat book filled with Sudoku challenges. If this sounds like you, listen up! There is a new study by Leadership IQ that says 66% of employees say they have little interaction with their boss, and that is a turn off.

Just like kids at home, employees crave attention and feedback. Especially during tough times – we all want and need to know what is going on. If we are kept in the dark, that is when our imaginations take hold and we are sure there is a goblin under the bed.

Most leadership development programs leave out some of the important emotional tugs and pulls that are at the basis of employee-employer relationships. They are similar to the relationship dynamics that started when we were wee ones in our families.

Leadership training, putting a spotlight on how emotional reactions we learned as children affects our work, helps managers and leaders understand how to deal with the chronic stresses that are part of every work setting right now.

If you avoid giving feedback in a consistent manner, you are missing out on one of the key ways to create an atmosphere of trust and collaboration. If you refrain from helping employees adapt and adjust to today’s highly competitive and stress filled market- place by ignoring what they are doing, you are falling down on your job.

While you are not your employee’s parent, at work you fill that authority role, and it is your responsibility to guide your employees, even if you feel like your days are spent dragging heavy rocks up extremely steep hills. Your employees will thank you for the attention and information and will be more loyal and willing to help. And when the sunny, easier days return, they and you will be stronger and more connected.

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Posted in Boss, Coaching, Communication, Conflict, Education, Employee burnout, Employers, Fear, Human Resources, Leaders, Leadership, Management, PatternAware, Team Building, leadership development | No Comments »