Watch the full webinar, The superpower of the future: Adapting to uncertainty with Heidi Grant.

Uncertainty and Increasing Levels of Stress

In today’s unpredictable business landscape, teams are constantly needing to adapt and transform to keep pace with changing demands. During such transitions, organizations expect their employees to remain resilient.

But constant uncertainty can become stressful for most people. According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workplace Report, a staggering 59% of employees worldwide are ‘quiet quitting’, with high levels of stress being a key driver. In North America alone, 52% of respondents reported experiencing prolonged periods of stress each day. 

Despite stress becoming an all too familiar companion in workplaces, our understanding of how to effectively manage it remains incomplete. We tend to view our ability — or inability — to cope with stress as an inherent trait tied to our individual emotions. However, as highlighted by best-selling author and leading psychologist Heidi Grant in our recent webinar, this is a result of how our brains are wired to function.

Our brains were not designed to handle the types of complex problems we face today. When stress hits, our working memory shrinks, making it difficult to process information. Our focus narrows, fixating on minute details rather than the purpose behind our tasks or projects.

When we’re under stress, we forget to “lift up” to the big picture. We focus on the how and forget the why.

Heidi Grant

5 Techniques to Manage Stress at Work

While it is impossible to completely eliminate uncertainty or stress, there are proven strategies that can help manage them both for individuals and teams. In our webinar, Heidi Grant shared several techniques aimed at cultivating team environments that embrace change and effectively confront current challenges.

Look out for silent strugglers.

Not everyone openly expresses their struggle. Some individuals may be facing challenges silently. Rather than assume that all members on your team are effectively managing their emotions, remain attentive to the silent strugglers and be ready to offer support. 

Proactively reach out to remote or hybrid colleagues.

As remote work becomes increasingly prevalent, bridging the physical gap is crucial to combat feelings of isolation among team members. Regularly checking in on remote or hybrid colleagues and organizing virtual team gatherings can help them feel included.

Be an active listener. 

Building an environment where individuals feel safe to express their concerns and ideas is paramount to fostering open communication. As a leader, demonstrating genuine interest in your team’s voice can encourage a culture of trust and collaboration.

Balance realism and optimism.

When communicating changes or challenges, it is tempting to declare that the change is going to be ‘great’. But overly optimistic language can disregard people’s experience. Start instead by acknowledging the difficulties that lie ahead. Then, reframe the situation in more positive terms, emphasizing the collective strength of the team and their ability to overcome obstacles together. 

Prioritize self-care and energy management.

Ignoring the importance of self-care can lead to mounting concerns that drain you and your team. To prevent burnout, set clear boundaries and encourage your team to spend enough time recharging themselves. By prioritizing self-care, you create an environment where well-being is valued and productivity can thrive.

Nurturing Psychological Safety

Many of these techniques can be linked to Psychological Safety, a concept popularized by the work of Amy Edmondson. She defines a psychologically safe workplace as one that encourages candor and eliminates interpersonal fear.

As Heidi Grant notes, to nurture psychological safety, one must also go beyond mere intentions. It requires translating those intentions into meaningful actions. In our people-development work with leading organizations — across goals like building trust and creating belonging and connection — we at Mentora have found that, in addition to providing space for opinion, leaders must show that they are willing to engage with contrarian points of view, and employees must strengthen their ability to engage with leaders in all conditions, perfect and less perfect, with courage and clarity. Only then can they align teams toward achieving their goals, particularly in challenging times.