Eight Points To Help You Rethink And Reinvigorate Your Working Day

As many of us return to the office, how can we ensure we feel and perform at our best?

Be mindful of your anxiety

Any change in circumstances is likely to cause some anxiety. The psychologist Roland May, the founder of the modern analysis of anxiety, describes it as the natural, healthy and useful response to change. It just doesn’t particularly feel healthy. Most people are likely experiencing something as they head back to the office, amplifying the Sunday-evening, back-to-school-in-the-morning feeling by two, ten or even a hundred times. Anxiety goes from the normal to the neurotic, the latter being something you should definitely seek medical help for.  The other side to (normal) anxiety is without it we wouldn’t experience excitement and wonder and all the fabulous things they are connected to. We wouldn’t want to lose that would we?

 Win the commute

How can we take something that fills us with dread and make a positive from it? Often when we look at a commute we think how can I get from A (home) to B (work) as quickly and directly as possible. Well, you don’t need to take the fastest most direct route. See if you can find a way to include a decent walk, run or cycle into your journey.

Can you use the commute to boost your physical, spiritual, emotional and emotional energy? Use the time on a train or bus productively, it’s a good time for meditation, audiobooks, real books, podcasts, as well as time to think.

Harvard Business School Professor Francesca Gino, said use time to transition into work – go through your plan for the day, set goals and priorities – it helps you hit the ground running when you do make it to the office. The recommendation is don’t think of it as time to relax - keep it constructive.

 Rethink! 

"Rethinking isn’t a struggle in every part of our lives…we refresh our wardrobes…but when it comes to our knowledge and opinions, we tend to stick to our guns.” So says Adam Grant, Organisational Psychologist and author of the excellent Think Again.

First we rethink our commute and next our working day. Just because this is what you always did, how you’ve always worked, what you always thought doesn’t mean you can’t change your behaviours and your mind on how to be most effective.

 Beware the Dunning-Kruger effect!

We live in a world of polarised opinions. Complex issues are condensed into twitter posts. One side (our one) is right and the others are wrong and bad!

Have you noticed how some people are able to speak with incredible confidence and conviction about certain (or indeed all) subjects? They have strong opinions and believe they are always right.  This is a real, identified condition with a scientific name - the Dunning-Kruger effect. It affects people with low self-awareness and low cognitive ability - it’s when people believe that they are smarter and more capable than they really are.  

Focus on psychological safety

The opposite to the Dunning Kruger effect is when you show humility and admit to not having all the answers - everyone is encouraged to be themselves and they are confident to speak up. This is a big part of psychological safety and it should be encouraged, if not enforced. In meetings be curious, ask open questions and include a healthy challenge. It’s not about being nice to each other (I know you’re all nice) and consider those ‘what and how’ questions as a sign of respect for someone’s plan or idea.

 Find your inner Mr Bump and Little Miss Curious

Very much aligned to an environment of psychological safety is putting yourself outside of your comfort zone, being vulnerable and looking at every challenge as a test and difficulty as an opportunity. This is having a growth mindset. They teach it in schools now – both my daughters roll their eyes and yawn (very sad) whenever I mention it. My sister-in-law is a teacher at a primary school and says they cover it there – starting in reception where they use Mr Bump to highlight resilience and Little Miss Curious for asking lots of wonderful questions.

 Build teams that are geared for creativity and collaboration

Some geniuses are lucky to come up with fantastic ideas by locking themselves away from everyone in a dark room. Most people though get their ideas and improve their existing ones by speaking and listening to people and (one of my favourites) stealing them from smart alecs (like Adam Grant). With a hybrid-working model including days in the office, this time should be used for collaboration, for meetings and for finding those serendipitous water cooler moments everyone has missed out on. Make some noise – walk around, speak to people – don’t just sit there with your headphones on!

Take wellbeing seriously, but you can have fun doing it!

The trials and tribulations of the last 18 months have brought wellbeing to the fore and long may it stay there.  Employee wellbeing is essential to the success and sustainability of any organisation and those that prioritise it develop a reputation as a great place to work.

However serious the issue is, it doesn’t mean you can’t include a sense of fun in your wellbeing programmes. Team challenges are great for this – you can cover within the challenge elements you wouldn’t normally feel comfortable talking to your team about – the quality of their sleep, did they exercise, take a break, meditate, win the commute, share values, gratitude and er spend 5 minutes in a cold shower! And for all the fun of the challenge you bring people together and create a strong, happy and motivated team that will better enable you to achieve your important goals.