Situations where we need our resilience
Exhaustion. Burnout. Compassion fatigue. Secondary trauma. Traumatic workplace stress.
It’s very likely that you’ve used one of these labels – or something very similar – to describe your experiences at work. People who are drawn to the front lines of making change are here because of our visions for the world, our values and our empathetic hearts, but there’s no denying that it’s a challenging space to work in at times.
Take heart from the knowledge that you are not alone. I know this because I’ve been there.
Before my days as a leadership coach, I worked in frontline change-making fields – the NHS and education – and I’ve burned out more than once. It made me become someone I didn’t want to be – snapping at my colleagues about trivial things, forgetting important tasks, letting my clients down and collapsing on the sofa every night unfit for any kind of social life, just the eat-sleep-repeat grind of it all.
A quick delve into the research says it all:
In some areas, 1 in 10 housing officers can be expected to leave their employer in the next 12 months
Domestic Abuse Helpline Staff in the UK have experienced increased emotions of anxiety, helplessness and guilt and decreasing emotional distance between work and home life since the pandemic
29% of people working in domestic abuse sectors would get a diagnosis of PTSD as a result of their secondary traumatisation
Social workers are using unhelpful coping strategies like emotional eating (57%), excessive alcohol consumption (35%) and drugs (6%) to manage their stress
44% of NHS staff report feeling physical health symptoms as a result of workplace stress
Taylor et al (2018) said it simply – we’re “all wounded healers” and we’re continuing to operate in challenging fields with shrinking resources and increasing service user needs.
The research community is, however, agreed on one thing – the answer to traumatic workplace stress (and its impacts) needs to come at an organisational level.
We need the culture of organisations to shift to support worker wellbeing.
We need people to step up and become outspoken advocates for resilience.
We need role models who know how to actually be resilient, not just talk a good talk about it.
That’s where the audacity comes in.
Imagine a workplace where workers are encouraged – and provided with the training, time and practical tools – to put their own wellbeing first. If a challenging situation occurs, there are habits in place to help you resolve your emotions and process them (rather than taking them home with you at the end of the day). You and your colleagues come together to ground yourselves in hope for the future, knowing that you are making your best difference without compromising your wellbeing. All of this led by a culture from above you in the chain.
It’s not a pipe dream, it’s the outcome of an audacious focus on resilience FIRST.
Do you have the audacity to join me in this new vision for the future?
