From the course: How to Support Your Employees' Well-Being

Practical tools for supporting a struggling employee

From the course: How to Support Your Employees' Well-Being

Practical tools for supporting a struggling employee

- When someone is struggling at work, the challenge is always how best to support them. This is doubly difficult because it's usually the case that from person to person, no struggle's the same. Plus, because everyone is different, one person's idea of support is different from others'. So how can you make sure that you provide the right support that's best for the person without causing further upset or losing trust? Well, here are three things that science shows would be helpful to most people. A favorite study of mine looked at what happened when people invested 30 minutes a day in being listened to. The person listening wasn't specially trained. They were just capable of active listening, so not interrupting. The effect on the people in the study, all of whom had higher than desirable levels of stress, was that they felt better. Not only that, but their cortisol levels, which are linked to stress, actually came down and stayed down. There's magic in the gift of attention and being present to listen to someone, even if at times they're so low, there are no words. If there's one thing that the brain doesn't like it's uncertainty and ambiguity. The brain has evolved to respond with fear because it involves elements of the unknown. Managers who can draw people's attention to certainty in things like the company values, the way they will communicate with the team and practical things like what would happen if someone took time off work, or how a return to work would look to help create healthier brain environments. In addition, if an individual is struggling, try to find out if there's anything specific that's concerning them. Anything that they're unsure about, deal with it and then draw their attention to what they can trust and rely upon within that scenario. At my daughter's school, the teachers responsible for her don't just tell her that getting fresh air and spending time in nature is going to help her to learn better. They actually take her outside. A great manager finds opportunities to role model the things that reduce stress. If the manager themselves is at peace, then those physical signs, if not also the deeper signs, could be picked up by mirror neurons in others. Remember how contagious yawning is? Well, similar mechanisms could be put to work to lower heart rates, to increase deep breathing and other physical practices that reduce stress. Science has shown that there are a large range of things that people could do to help minimize their stress levels. It might be taking a few mindful moments at the start of a meeting, holding meetings near greenery outside or inside, taking microbreaks throughout the day to stretch, to breathe, to get into nature. They share what they're grateful for, perhaps at the start or the end of the week. And they ask others to reflect and share, also. Managers can also choose kindness. In jargon speak, we say that they demonstrate prosocial behaviors. Ancient wisdom tells us that they're kind. And all these things work together to reduce stress in environments and for individuals. You know that when a team member is struggling, it can have a significant impact on employee productivity and morale. That's why it's so important to use strategies that have a good research base behind them to support people. It's no longer good enough for managers to just be great technicians. They're here to help facilitate high-performing neuron environments for their people. And that very much includes helping to reduce stress and support people when they're struggling.

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