3 Tips to Boost Wellbeing in the Workplace

World Mental Health Day this year, focused on how organizations can support wellbeing. Positive News published an informative article for organizational leaders. Their article, World Mental Health Day: How workplaces can support wellbeing, offers insight into nine valuable actions companies can take to support mental health and wellbeing for employees.

Here are three simple tips that will support wellbeing anytime, anyplace, and in any conversation, including the ones you have with yourself!

Tip #1: Tune In

Overwhelm and burnout result when we feel out of control and unable to cope with all that is coming at us. Stress takes over and influences how we react to situations and people. The more stress we feel, the more we retreat, put up walls, and protect ourselves from what feels like an onslaught. Instead, in those moments of stress, tune in to yourself and what's happening. To do this:

1. Pause. Pausing interrupts the pattern giving you a brief moment to stop the influence of stress. In that moment...
2. Breathe. Take a deep breathe, relaxing on the exhale. Take another and another. Deep, slow breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports a relaxation response. This creates an opening for you to decide instead of react. In that moment, decide to ...
3. Get Curious. Curiosity is a positive emotion. If you can get curious, you have access to your executive functions and prefrontal lobe of the brain: your center for connection, creativity, critical thinking, and perspective-taking.
   • Get curious about what's going on for you. When was the last time you took a break and stretched or walked around, drank water or had food? What's the broader context of the current situation? What's urgent and what just needs to go on the to-do list? What would you like to have happen now?  
   • Then get curious about others. What's going on for them? What do they know that you don't? What do you know that they don't? What's the bigger picture of the situation? What's the outcome everyone wants? How might you move toward that? (Don't answer those questions on your own, engage others to answer them.)

Tuning in puts you back in the driver's seat. You get to be in control of your responses instead of reacting out of stress, overwhelm, or fear. Realizing you have control over you--your actions, your attitude, your response to any situation--can boost your sense of wellbeing. In addition, when you choose your actions with conscious intention to create positive outcomes for all, it boosts the energy and wellbeing for your team or partnership.

Tip #2: Ask Generative Questions

Intentionally ask generative questions, which are questions that widen everyone's view of one another and the situation. Expanding what we see, hear, and understand changes the way we think and the ideas that emerge for how to move forward. Ask questions that generate the following:

1. Make the invisible visible. For example, How do you see it? What data and information do you have about the situation? What's going on for you?
2. Create shared understanding. For example, How will this affect your work? What do you need to make this happen? What outcome are you hoping for?
3. Generate new knowledge. For example, How did you manage this at your last place of work? What departments have already implemented this and what might we learn from them? What data will contribute to our thinking and decision-making?
4. Inspire possibilities. For example, What if ...? How might we...? What crazy ideas do you have that just might work?

Curiosity boosts wellbeing because it is a positive emotion. In addition, generative questions activate interest, engagement, and meaningful contribution, which all boost wellbeing for the team or group. Just try it and watch the energy of a group or one-on-one conversation come alive!

Tip #3: Use a Positive Frame

A positive frame means talking about what you want instead of what you don't want. Got a problem? Great. Name it: bring it up and clarify the issue. Then flip it and frame it so you are talking about desired outcomes instead of the problem. Talking at length about problems and problem-solving can be demoralizing and debilitating; it contributes to stress and burnout. When you flip the focus to the desired outcome, where the problem is either fixed or moot, and then ask generative questions (GQs) to move you toward that outcome, the energy, creativity, and engagement in the conversation skyrockets. For example:

• Name it: We can't manage the caseload.
• Flip it: We can manage the caseload.
• Frame: Our streamlined process enables us to serve accepted cases efficiently and effectively!
  • Who among us is able to manage a high caseload with client satisfaction without burning out? What is their process? How do they manage to accomplish that? How do they take care of themselves? What can we learn from them?
  • Are there cases we deal with that really don't belong in our area? If so, how might we pre-screen for those and redirect them before they become our cases?
  • Let's revisit our screening process. How might streamline how we address and assign cases?
  • What might be automated or digitized?
  • How might we most effectively use artificial intelligence?
  • What could be done in groups instead of one-on-one?
  • Who else in the community might we collaborate with?
  • How might we partner with other organizations to prevent the need for our services?
  • Which clients move through our system with positive outcomes most rapidly? What can we learn from the caseworker and clients that can be replicated through the department?

Positive framing enlivens people. We are energized when we move toward what we want or want more of. The energy and positivity that arises in conversations about desired outcomes generates a sense of control over our future, boosting our wellbeing.

To learn more about these three tips, read Conversations Worth Having and attend a Conversation Bootcamp. Download your free Conversation Toolkit to get started and consider registering for Monday Kickstarters to get practice framing challenging conversations. You may also be interested in these related blogs:

• Conversations for Psychological and Physical Safety at Work
• 8 Reasons for Leaders to Develop Empathy
• 6 Tips to Enhance Your Capacity for Empathy

Shared by Cheri Torres, PhD. This article was inspired by reading the Positive.News article on World Mental Health Day. Wellbeing is not complex, but it is challenging when we feel bombarded by social media, politics, family and workplace demands. If we are surrounded with problems, fear-based future projections, and negativity it's almost impossible to have a sense of wellbeing. BUT we are in charge. We don't have to live at the mercy of all of that. We can tune in, get curious, and pay attention to what is working and talk about moving toward what we want more of in our life and the world.

Photo Credit: pexels-rdne-7845063.jpg at pexels.com