Mental health issues challenge who we are – they question our identity. If we can help people better access the things that make them fully human, we can better equip them to have the answers they need when those questions get asked. This article is part of our series on mental health and stress resilience at work..
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‘Having spirit’ is our best defence
Stress in business is on the increase, and this is adversely affecting our mental health at work. When such levels of stress exceed our natural ability to handle them, the consequences are most commonly a decline in mental health at work. And this is usually manifest in anxiety, and depression, all too frequently at a level that means we cannot function effectively.
In the previous articles in this series, we have looked at strategies to diminish or avoid unhealthy levels of stress. This included how we organise, use creativity, work together, lead others, prepare ourselves and learn from each other to improve mental health at work. In this article on stress resilience we look at how we handle the stress that still gets through. Stress resilience is our ability to handle these levels of stress without it affecting our mental health at work.
We diminish the impact of stress when we retain a belief in ourselves and our potential – a spirit of hope, perseverance and love – and a faith that we can make a difference. 
These things give us arguments to keep anxiety at bay, and to lift us away from depression. In this way, they give us a resilience to cope with more stressful situations than might be possible without them.
These things give us arguments to keep anxiety at bay, and to lift us away from depression. In this way, they give us a resilience to cope with more stressful situations than might be possible without them.We might term these things our ‘spirtuality‘ – as in to have ‘spirit’, or be ‘spirited’. A sense of inner resolve. A force for good. The determination to pick ourselves up and start again. They are the things we most easily lose during bouts of anxiety and depression. But they are also our best defence against those bouts, and sometimes our best chance of recovering from them.
Spirituality sets us apart
However, over recent decades, our prediliction for: the material in business; the purely rational in science; and polarity in politics and the media has led us to pay 
less attention to those things that cannot be explained in those terms. As a result, we have abandoned the concept of ‘spirituality’ to more superstitious perspectives. And we have lost sight of its true potential to balance materialistic and rational dominance. Sadly it is no longer a term that can easily be used without prejudice or misunderstanding.
less attention to those things that cannot be explained in those terms. As a result, we have abandoned the concept of ‘spirituality’ to more superstitious perspectives. And we have lost sight of its true potential to balance materialistic and rational dominance. Sadly it is no longer a term that can easily be used without prejudice or misunderstanding.we are not machines – so don’t think like one
But as the world grows ever-increasingly more complex and uncertain, materialism, logic, and binary arguments are insufficient to cope with the rate of change we are required to work within. As a result, their has been a realisation of how much we have allowed the balance to slip. And a resurgence of re-embracing our ‘spirit’ in things like mindfulness, diversity, emergence, authenticity, vulnerability and trust.
Business is reawakening to spirituality
All of a sudden things like hope, love, loyalty, character, centredness, integrity, trust are back on the business agenda. And we are just about reaching the point where we can re-appropriate the term ‘spirituality’ to mean something which reflects the impact and potential of all of those things. Which is just as well, because if we were to attempt to tackle what is coming without them, we would all have serious mental health issues. Spirit is key to stress resilience at work.spirituality is key to tackling the challenges we face
So, in terms of mental health at work, how can we use this opportunity to help people to access and develop these things, and to better protect them from mental illness?
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- Firstly, talk about it. Gradually rebuild their vocabulary to enable them to gain a better grasp of their spiritual side, and its importance to them in building stress resilience at work. Launch discussions on topics like: authenticity; vulnerability; mindfulness; diversity; creativity; story-telling; personal narrative; trust; spirit … And build their insight, their understanding, and their ability to articulate their feelings in this area. Most of all, bring it back centre stage so they know this is normal. They do not need to suppress it.
creativity is a spiritual act
- Secondly, introduce and build the role of creativity in your meetings. Creativity is a very spiritual act. Whether you express it in influencing images, writing, concepts or patterns of activity. Creativity changes our relationship with the way the world is and might be. It is about moving beyond the confines of our situation and tapping into things we do not fully understand. In doing so, it reshapes the world around us. And the joy that we feel in our spirit when that happens is a spiritual reaction to what we are doing – a connectedness with something bigger and more enduring than our physical selves.
- Thirdly, equip yourself and your people with a mindset of ‘adventure’. Adventure creates stress resilience at work by providing a valid alternative to a victim mindset in response to change.
Develop a mindset of adventure
To clarify a mindset of adventure, I would like to contrast the example of two people working in the same role facing identical circumstances. Their workload is higher than they can reasonably cope with. Things go wrong from time to time. They inevitably get complaints and encounter blame. Head office has blocked further recruitment and introduced a brand new system. And there is new initiative starting to look at changing the process, again.
- As a result, Jeb feels that: he is stuck; and suffering the consequences of bad decisions made elsewhere; the blame is unfair; mistakes are inevitable given the set up; nobody listens; his team-mates let him down; he wants to avoid the initiative; if his performance drops further he will be fired; and he just wants to make it through each day – all of which is totally true!
- While Aja: choses to stay; wants to learn from how she responds to the challenge; is curious to find how bad decisions might be reversed; empathises with the blame and with her team mates; wonders about options for self-help; sees the initiative as a way to fix mistakes; and to learn new skills; believes listening starts with her; knows they won’t fire her – and if they did, that will be a new experience; sees each day as a new opportunity.
it isn’t what happens to you, it is what you make of what happens to you
Even though everything else is equal, Aja’s level of stress resilience is obvious in her perspective. She is clearly getting far more out of her day than Jeb. It also means that she is far less likely to suffer stress and depression. And the only difference is her spirit – her sense of adventure.
As time goes on, and all other things remain equal, Jeb will infuence and attract more Jebs. Aja will influence and attract more Ajas. And hopefully they will make her team leader because then maybe she can help the Jebs develop a sense of adventure and stress resilience too.
the future is an adventure, or a disaster – you choose – you literally choose!
The reality is that Jeb and Aja’s context is going to be a common consequence of the changing future of work. Increasing uncertainty and complexity will generate extra work, confusion, tensions and mistakes. It will also generate opportunity, new experiences and connections, learning, and insight. But if we are to equip our people to not only survive but thrive in this new world, we are going to have to help them engage with a mindset that emphasises the latter.
Leading by adventure
Waiting for someone to experience mental health issues is too late. For those who feel mentally trapped within their circumstances and their minds, the levels of change we will experience will be overwhelming. But it is easier if we develop new strength way ahead of any damage ocurring. We need to take them on a journey into their imagination, their spirit, and the resources that are available to them now. We need to give them time to: appreciate new perspectives; develop new skills; and gain confidence in their spirit way ahead of the time that it is all that stands between them and a deep dark pit.
an adventure into ourselves and our potential
To begin this journey, we ran a 50 session weekly programme called ‘Leading by Adventure’. It is a series of short weekly challenges that tap into exploring and developing different aspects of the mind. Helping people to see it as the untapped resource that it is, and lifting them to an understanding so that they can use it effectively under stress. Feel free to use this as a resource to build stress resilience and mental health at work with your people. LeadingbyAdventure.com
Author: Mike Clargo | Culturistics
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Relevant Links:
Daily re-restructuring for agility? How adaptive structures maximise agile engagement.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast – but what sort of strategy are you feeding it?
Facilitating mental wellbeing – The power of adventure in keeping our minds fit & healthy.
Patterns of collaborative excellence – Rediscovering the lost wisdom of design.
Prescient emotional knowledge management – do you have what it takes?
Culture eats strategy for breakfast – but what sort of strategy are you feeding it?
Facilitating mental wellbeing – The power of adventure in keeping our minds fit & healthy.
Patterns of collaborative excellence – Rediscovering the lost wisdom of design.
Prescient emotional knowledge management – do you have what it takes?
In the West, workplace stress and problems with mental health at work now accounts for over half of all lost time.
Not only is the general trend getting worse, but the causes of stress and poor mental health at work are also increasing. Faster change, greater competition, more complexity, longer exposure, increased uncertainty.
Because the fact is, that these stresses and the risk of mental illness is also affecting us. In many ways the impact of change is having its greatest influence on the leadership. Whether we admit it to ourselves or not, we too are increasingly busy. More and more, we are handling complex and ambiguous situations. Many of us are feeling it a struggle to keep up, and are unable to find time to ourselves.
So what are the causes of stress for your organisation?
Unsurprisingly, these events are connected with fundamental human needs for security, affection and control. Three things that are echoed in Maslow’s hierachy of needs.
It also ties in with what we need to be successful as we cope with the demands and opportunities of our work. The things we need to rebuild our mental health:
What happens in this ‘internal space’ holds the key to how people handle stress. It also determines the extent to which that has repercussions for the mental health of their colleagues and the overall system.
In fact, it is rare to encounter an organisation which is wholly red or wholly green in this. That said, given the relative business and people benefit of the green descriptions over the red ones, there is always merit in actively seeking to become more green.
Do people know the extent to which meetings within their organisation have a positive or negative influence on the factors in this stress map? Most executives would not have any data on the proportion of meetings which fell into each category. Or whether there was any meaningful patterns within that. This, in itself, is part of the problem.
All extrapolations of how work will change over the coming decade highlight the extent to which routine will be automated, and people’s roles will be inherently about change. As a result, levels of collaboration will continue to increase. And continuous learning will become the key business skill for those who will thrive in this emerging future of work.