Resilience in the Workplace. Can You Improve Your Ability to Let it Go?
A handful of skills are required to successfully keep up with your organization’s culture and politics. Policy changes, departmental gossip, leadership drama and mission and vision adjustments can all contribute to an unsteady, and sometimes, unhappy work life balance. So, naturally we tend to bring it all home with us.
Resiliency, and knowing when to tap into it, is key to locking up the organizational drama in your catch-all drawer and going home happy every day.
If you are struggling with bringing home workplace stress or your staff could use a few pointers on how to leave the negativity within the four walls of your workplace, keep reading. We have several key takeaways that will help break this unnecessary cycle and create a happier work life balance for you or your team.
One factor in finding peace between your work and home life is determining how much GRIT you possess. Whether you are trying to figure out how to walk in your house happy at the end of each day or you have a team who seems to be carrying too much emotional baggage, it’s time to check the existing level of grit. Grit is your degree of resolve. How well can you take the pile of bad news, lack of accountability or plain ol’ drama and settle it nice and neat in your very own it-just-doesn’t-matter box at the end of each day? If your answer is similar to “not well”, find a way to improve. Your home life does not deserve the negativity that most often resides within a situation or perhaps someone else. So, open that box and shove whatever needs to be off your mind inside and walk away.
Ramp up your EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE. If you’re reading this to self-improve or you’re a manager and desperate to reclaim your team’s resiliency, focus your resources on emotional intelligence. As of today, there are literally 35,500,000 results found in .74 seconds on Google for improving emotional intelligence. Resources are easy to find. It’s simply up to you. There are many definitions of emotional intelligence but in short, it is the ability and awareness of how you observe, control and react to others and situations. I once let a situation consume far too many days, and not just while at work, but also my evenings and family time. It was exhausting and debilitating just because I lost sight that I was in control of what affected me and what didn’t. It is easier said than done but with practice, you get really great at finding such happiness in your own ability to control your newly found emotional intelligence. And the best part is, those people, situations and frustrations have no place in your home life so you must learn to control when and how these affect you.
Find your RETREAT. When push comes to shove and you feel a negative situation taking over, tap into your retreat. A retreat can be a warm cup of tea, a walk around the building, a quiet place to meditate or maybe even a punching bag over lunch time. Decide what will work for YOU and do it. Whatever you choose, don’t put it off because emotions run high and without time to regroup, the pot boils over quickly. (I’m proof of this- just ask my husband). Again, make this something you can do that reduces the attention you're giving to whatever you are facing.
I want to make one point very clear. I am not stating that any employee or manager bypass their organization’s protocol for conflict resolution. Nor am I stating that all situations can be handled 100% on your own. It is imperative that everyone show professionalism in a time of need. However, not all organizations are equipped with a robust and well-trained human resource team that can recognize, and sometimes admit to, disfunction outside their own department. And to their defense, they don’t have a crystal ball showing them the existing employee turmoil within the organization. Becoming resilient to workplace peculiarities, frustrating co-workers and unnecessary organizational immaturity that occurs for most everyone should be at the top of YOUR list. Here it is…. This is personal accountability for the things you can control.
If you’ve not already, force yourself to take action by starting with determining your grit, improving your emotional intelligence and finding your retreat. These three action items are not just necessary to fill your it-just-doesn’t-matter box but also imperative for improving your work life balance. If you apply the action items and want to share your results, I would love to hear from you so please email me at ashleigh@eight17consulting.com.
Conquer the day, and night, by removing the little things that cause big stress. YOU can do this!
Ashleigh Lay is owner of Eight17 Consulting LLC and a business consultant and strategist focusing on change management, business process improvements and organizational alignment. Please contact Ashleigh at ashleigh@eight17consulting.com for more information about Eight17 Consulting LLC services.