EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
LIZ VILLANI , FOUNDER , BE YOURSELF AT WORK
Creating a working environment and culture where your employees feel comfortable and safe bringing their authentic selves to work is a crucial step to reducing stress , whether in the office or working remotely .
It is exhausting and stressful for people to
feel they have to pretend to be someone else constantly . According to research we carried out last year , only 16 % of people feel they can be themselves at work .
Everyone else feels they have to adopt a fake persona – to be more professional , charismatic or simply to fit into the work environment . It is stressful and draining .
It is essential that everyone in a business – from leadership down – realises that de-stressing in the workplace can ’ t just be about using meditation apps from HR or waiting for quieter periods . The best way to de-stress a workplace is to create an environment and culture that enables employees to understand their values , pressure points and triggers .
In all organisations , there will inevitably be stress points between different teams and departments and , often , between different personalities . It is when we expect others to think exactly the same way as us and assume we share similar values that things tend to fall apart .
By helping colleagues and teams better understand themselves , where their challenges and issues lie and how to empathise with each other , they can be better prepared to deal with unexpected and stressful situations . Teams are far less likely to catastrophise or fall out with each other .
As with all aspects of company culture , how stress is managed cascades down from the top . Only when leadership teams understand how to bring their authentic selves to work can they expect it to trickle-down to the rest of the organisation , allowing people to ditch that exhausting persona and truly be themselves at work . www . intelligentcxo . com
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