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The best way to reduce worker stress? Scrap meeting

The best way to reduce worker stress?  Scrap meeting

Employees are the company’s most valuable asset.

It’s a common refrain: Employees are a company’s most valuable asset.

More specifically, it’s their cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that processes language, thinking, reflexes and planning, says neuroscientist and psychiatrist Bruce Perry, founder of the Neurosequential Network. “The cerebral cortex is very sensitive, so putting stress on your employees is actually shooting yourself in the foot,” says Perry.

Here, Perry explains how employers and employees can create the right work environment to promote calm, productivity, innovation, and creativity, as workers face standards grim issue of the war in Ukraine and a seemingly never-ending global pandemic.

You talk a lot about regulation. What is this?
If you go too long without eating or resting, you will lose your balance: You are suffering from dysregulation and that affects your physiological function. We all do things to keep our systems in balance, so the body says, “I’m safe, I’m comfortable, I’m not cold or thirsty – I’m in an environment where people care about me and respect me.” When you’re in that tuned state, you have most of the access to the cerebral cortex.

How is the workplace losing air conditioning?
If your brain sees something unfamiliar, its default response is to act as a threat and trigger your stress response, which shuts down your cortex.

Like a surprise mission or a scolding boss?
Yes. You’ll be more productive with a boss who’s consistent, even if he’s predictably a jerk.

How do organizations contribute negatively to this?
The structure in most organizations is hierarchical, which creates a lot of unpredictability for certain people and gives them a feeling that things are done for them, as opposed to having a role to play. role in deciding how, when, and where to do their work. These factors increase the level of stress and distress you experience.

How can employee assistance programs (EAP) help?
The biggest problem we have right now is that the executives think they already have EAP, so that box is checked and they will just wait until everyone has a crisis. It’s just externalizing the problem, rather than realizing that the choices they’ve made about how they’ve structured the business are contributing to the problem.

To what extent can people simply cope?
If people become thin or depressed or anxious, their tolerances will erode, and they will become physically ill or mentally distressed, and many will leave the workforce. We are seeing this right now during the pandemic – everyone is retiring early, dropping out of school and leaving the workplace contributing to their distress.

Can therapy solve this problem?
The idea that in an hour a week you can change your brain in the long run is just a myth. Talk therapy works – it can be wonderful – but the person must be in the right frame of mind, free of control disorders, anxiety, and overload. Sometimes it is much better for the person to develop a set of tools for self-regulation.

What would that look like at work?
Patterned, repetitive rhythmic movements, like walking, rocking, chewing gum, or side-tapping (feet or hand) tell the brain that you’re safe. There is a wide range of techniques that may involve breathing or movement. You integrate prescribed breaks into your work hours, such as two minutes of standing up, stretching, and walking every 40 minutes.

Can you give an example of something stressing an employee’s cortex?
Meetings are the silliest thing any organization has ever created. They default to a certain amount of time and put a bunch of people in to do nothing, while other parts of the organization are pressuring those people to be productive. Do you need to hold a lot of these meetings and does everyone need to be in the meeting? Organizations do a lot of things that are extremely counterproductive.

What else helps exhausted or traumatized employees?
Relationship moments, such as one to two minutes touching the base. You need hundreds of little moments for people to signal that you belong, that you matter, that you are cared for and heard. It is a set of continuous, repetitive experiences that have therapeutic effects on the central nervous system.

Why hundreds?
It is similar to learning a language. Can you change your brain to understand Spanish two minutes a day?

Can leaders do relational moments?
Regulate yourself first. If you’re distracted, overscheduled, on time, or overwhelmed, you won’t be there right away.

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