In any other year we'd be horrified to see trees going up and lights going on in November. But this year is different. We need some cheer, and Christmas can't come soon enough.
We can safely say that we’ve all reached Covid19-fatigue. Lockdown #2 in England comes to and end this week, to be followed with measures that will still be challenging for many parts of the UK.
The Christmas lights, present buying frenzy and online festive food orders will no doubt provide a welcome distraction. But, by going early, we have to keep up our resilience and motivation to last the course, and avoid pre-Christmas fatigue.
Managing the Christmas Cheer
It’s worth remembering that although Christmas is a joyful time of year for most, the pressure to deliver a ‘perfect Christmas’ can push some close to the edge. With so many of us working from home, or already under increased covid-related pressure, not only is it hard for managers to spot deterioration among their teams, but it’s also hard for those managers to reach out for their own benefit.
Building resilience is always important, but it is more so this year. Many families will feel unable to gather together, even if the relaxed regulations will allow it. Those whose jobs have been affected will be worried. And what should normally be a time of ‘good news stories’ can seem pretty bleak.
Once upon a time, this would have been outside the remit of the employer. Resilience has traditionally been left to the individual with an attitude of you are either resilient or not. However, resilience is a skill that can be improved with assessment, training and coaching. Developing resilience at work feeds through into personal lives, which of course people often do bring to work, despite their best efforts. It’s difficult enough to leave one’s personal life at the office door, it’s even harder when your desk is your kitchen table and your house feels like an inescapable bombsite.
Give Resilience this Christmas
The key dimensions of resilience are assertiveness, adaptability, perseverance, optimism, self-esteem and an unbiased attitude.
When we improve these dimensions we are better able to manage change and uncertainty. We can recognise and handle stress constructively. We are able to value new experiences and with a more positive mindset, especially in challenging times.
Greater resilience also helps to underpin our emotional intelligence. We have more strength to focus on our self-awareness and emotional regulation, which enables us to respond to and support others.
Maintain Motivation through Christmas
So we’ve ‘gone early’ but must be mindful that we don’t peak too soon. Just as our trees will lose their needles in an over-heated room or for want of sufficient water, we must manage our motivation to peak just at the right time – 23-27 December, in this case.
Motivation is a key factor for remote worker. Too little results in reduced productivity, too much over an extended period can lead to burnout. But motivation is a difficult skill to identify and qualify. It can easily be confused with aggression and having tunnel-vision. Yet it is much more complex than simply striving to hit a target. Motivation is dependent on several dimensions: autonomy, purpose, reward, well-boing, growth, recognition and collaboration. All of these dimensions can be honed with assessment, training and coaching so that the individual and team can be in the best possible place – their flow zone.
Motivationflow® from flowprofiler® enables teams and individuals to understand their motivation and helps them to find the right balance.
Use flowprofiler® and McQuaig to develop a healthy workplace culture all year round
Develop emotional intelligence, resilience, motivation and with flowprofiler® to help your people manage pressure and form strong team relationships at work. With a keen focus on positive psychology, flowprofiler® uniquely measures resilience, motivation and emotional intelligence across two states: day-to-day and under pressure. The result is rich diagnostic information, easy to understand feedback and meaningful professional development.
Understand how your people are behaving differently and what you can do to support them with McQuaig. The McQuaig tools measure the traits needed for success in any role. It looks at how a person prefers to behave naturally and compares this with how a person is behaving in their current job. The analysis between the two shows any adjustments the individual is making and whether they are showing signs of high or low morale.
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Get in touch to find out how flowprofiler® and McQuaig could be the game-changer your organisation needs to thrive through and beyond the current crisis.
flowprofiler® and associated marks are registered trademarks of Chalmers International Limited | All rights reserved
eqflow® and associated marks are registered trademarks of Chalmers International Limited | All rights reserved
resilienceflow® and associated marks are registered trademarks of Chalmers International Limited | All rights reserved
motivationflow® and associated marks are registered trademarks of Chalmers International Limited | All rights reserved
