Download Human Resources - Dr. William Howatt

The Coping Crisis:
Building Psychologically Safe Workplaces
Dr. William Howatt
Greetings from Dr. Bill 25+ Years of experience
Author: Certified Management Essentials (CME)
10‐course program Pathway to Coping Skills: 9‐week interactive program
Regular contributor to The Globe and Mail’s 9 to 5 and Leadership Lab Business Career Columns
Chief Research &
Development Officer,
Workforce
Productivity
Author:
The Coping
Crisis
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The Coping Crisis
Today’s discussion will include:
1. Why coping skills matter Reference: The Conference Board of Canada, September 30, 2015
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e‐library/abstract.aspx?did=7305
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Hmm, why are you thinking about …
The number of employees reporting mental health and chronic disease on the surface continues to grow What you may not know
is how deep this
problem is and its root
causes.
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Stress is not all bad. It is when it moves from eustress to distress Distress,
resulting in
hypoarousal
Depression
Performance
Peak performance
Eustress
Distress,
resulting in
hyperarousal
Anxiety
Stress severity and duration scale
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Daily stress load defines risk for mental health driven by psychosocial stress 100
maximum
tolerance
High Risk Distress FDI can prediction Mental Health Risk Frequency Duration
Intensity (FDI)
Consequence and impact on home and work are evident Experience symptoms of stress physically and/or mentally Intense bursts of feeling overwhelmed Worry more about failing or experience stressful thinking Challenged Motivated 0 to low
stress
Low Risk Eustress can support life fulfillment and happiness 7
Distress left alone can be a driver
of chronic disease
Depending on perception and situation, the following can be triggers Family
Peers
Money
Social
Work
Noise
Health
Life Expectations
Psychological
safety
The fight or flight response is either all on or off; you can’t turn it half on or half off. The fight or flight cannot tell the difference or process the discrepancy between a bear and a baby!
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Stress, if left unchecked or not dealt with,
over time can result in disease
Stress
Disease
Burnout
Crisis state
Functioning state
At each level it is common for a person to have different abilities to cope with stress.
Base Line Health
Duration
The challenge for leaders
1 in 5 Canadians will experience a mental illness in their lifetime.
One of the root problems of mental illness is the fact that those with an illness are not disclosing their issue.
1/3 get treatment.
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Group Activity #1—What percentage of your workforce falls in each of the below 5 categories?
%
Happy
%
OK %
%
Stressed
Mental Health Issues
%
Mental Disorder (Organic/Cognitive)
Risk
60%
of employees are “at
risk” for mental wellness challenges
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Happy — Discouragement — Risk
Happy
OK Stressed
Mental Health Issues
Mental Disorder (Organic/Cognitive)
Examples ONLY
Presents self in a positive manner
Typically enjoys engaging in pro-social behaviours (exercise, community, etc.)
Energy and drive are evident/presents to the world a positive light
Proven cognitive coping skills to manage and balance the challenges life and work
present
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Happy — Discouragement — Risk
Happy
OK Stressed
Mental Health Issues
Mental Disorder (Organic/Cognitive)
Examples ONLY
Presents as being content – and, yes, experiences happy moments
Self-disciplined to push through day – lives life M-T-W-T-F-S-S
Most days has enough energy to get through day
Able to cope with most days – but often has some script running
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Happy — Discouragement — Risk
Happy
OK Stressed
Mental Health Issues
Mental Disorder (Organic/Cognitive)
Examples ONLY
Feels pressure that often releases when changing environments (e.g., leaving work)
Stress is often situational (e.g., peer conflict) and when away from stress can feel OK. Finds it hard being around stressors
Increased fatigue (mental and physical) Health habits slip and struggles to cope. Can appear in some situations not as confident as some onlookers would expect.
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Happy — Discouragement — Risk
Happy
OK Stressed
Mental Health Issues
Mental Disorder (Organic/Cognitive)
Examples ONLY
Struggling more with internal dialogue to find options that could give some relief Symptoms starting to chronically have a negative impact on quality of life – happiness and health
Stressful events harder to recover from; often just shut person down. Symptoms increasing, stress
May be introduced to psychotropic drugs to cope with anxiety or depression, or sleep medication 15
Happy — Discouragement — Risk
Happy
OK Stressed
Mental Health Issues
Mental Disorder (Organic/Cognitive)
Examples ONLY
Nature vs. Nurture: some folks are born; some develop; there is not one road!
Chronic symptoms to be managed, risk for self-harm increasing, risk to others increasing
Some type of medical intervention is commonly required. But not in all cases!
Greatly benefit from development of coping strategies to be able to function at full potential in society
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Exploring how to curb the slippery slope from health to mental illness Healthy
state
Coping
challenges
Mental
health risk
Mental
illness
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External stressors impact on employees
Perceived stress load
Employee
Performance
Outcomes
Impacts
Health
Organizational
Results
Predicts
Effectiveness
Engagement
Growth
Productivity
Profitability
External stressors
Sustainability
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Five daily challenges that influence your total health Health
Imagine you only had ten brain units.
Health
Self
On average, how many brain units do you spend focused on each of these five areas?
Self
Relationships Relationships
Career
Career
Money
10
8
Money
6
4
2
0
Employee’s internal stress load impact
Perceived stress load
Impacts
Impacts
Internal stressors
Employee
Total Health
Profile
Physical
Health
Mental
Health
Workplace
Health
Predicts
Predicts
Employee
Performance
Outcomes
Health
Engagement
Productivity
Life Health
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Factors that pull down and lift up health, engagement and productivity Organization’s
capabilities
Employees’
capabilities
Health
Engagement
Productivity
Environmental
stressors
e.g., work demand,
manager – employee…
Employees’
stress load
Mental & physical
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Why look beyond engagement
Engagement is a critical HR metric but by itself it can be
misleading
OLD THINKING: Sees survey NEW THINKING: Considers both results as a 100% indication of engagement and health, in three categories:
productivity
% of Highly Engaged & Healthy Employees
Both the organization and the employee benefit
High Engagement Survey Results
=
High discretionary effort
=
High productivity
% of Highly Engaged & Moderately Healthy Employees
The organization and the employees benefit; however employees are also experiencing strain on their health and personal lives
% of Highly Engaged & At‐Risk Healthy Employees
The organization benefits but employees are at risk due to work style (e.g., work addiction, burnout)
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How coping skills can help in predicting outcomes
Perceived Stress Load Health
Coping skills
Engagement
Productivity
Environmental and Internal
LEADING INDICATOR
LAGGING
INDICATOR
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Coping skills
Coping skills are the tools one has on demand at their disposal to manage the challenges regardless of the source of stress
1. Internal stress – they put on themselves 2. External stress – that originate from their environment. How effectively such stressful demands are dealt with ultimately depends on the person’s skills to cope with relationships, life and work.
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A large percentage of the population has never been formally taught coping skills
How did you learn
coping skills?
Coping skills support:
• problem solving • decision making • how to manage life stress
What is the impact when a person has gaps in their ability
to cope? Source: The True Picture of Workplace Absence, Morneau Shepell 2015
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What is your current resiliency coping charge? Resiliency
Stress
Size = coping
capacity
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Stress Trapped: resiliency is ultimately the ability to see the light and take action –
No hope
Low energy
Stuck
No way out
Rescue me
1
2
Light at the end
Dig my way out
A journey
One step at a
time
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Coping crisis: Solve this now or….
What is the rationale for the order of the following numbers?
8 5 4 9 7 6 3 2 0
The perfect resiliency state. Resiliency
Stress
Size = coping
capacity
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Take the first step to greater coping skills
The Coping Crisis and psychosocial factors How many Sams are out there today who are not aware of how their micro decisions and choices are shaping their health?
Information does not equal results. For example, what's one key to losing weight? What percentage of people struggling with their weight know this success formula key?
What is one potential roadblock?
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The Case of Sam
He drastically increased his body fat. At age 39 he was put on hypertension medication.
Sam is struggling to cope with job stress in his current role and work demands. He thinks he is trapped with no options.
A G E
He developed the habit of over‐eating at night to feel better (e.g., chips, ice cream, pop, and fast foods).
His lifestyle choice after work was dominated by watching TV at night and snacking. He has no structured pro‐health habit (e.g., exercise, hobbies or outlets).
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This unhealthy coping between age 34 and 39 put 60 pounds on his 5’8” body frame over a period of 30 months.
At age 43 he was put on medication for clinical depression. 42
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At 42 he became a Type 1 diabetic (late onset).
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Current coping crisis risk continuum: Where Sam started his journey to creating At-risk coping
A person’s sole
purpose is to
move away
from pain
Avoidance
coping
Process
coping
Effective
coping
Creating
reality
A person
makes no
choices to
avoid anxiety
and instead
may provoke
people, places
and things as a
strategy
Process a
person goes
through to cope
Healthy coping
that enables a
person to react
to life in a
healthy and
safe manner
The ultimate
coping style –
the person is
not focusing on
coping with life
but creating it
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Coping Skills Conundrum
Old
behavior
So why do so many people fail?
New
behavior
It perhaps has less to do with
motivation than awareness of how
the mind works.
Decision
point
Coping
PAIN
Coping
Behavior
Revert
to old
behavior
A person has a clear plan to lose
weight; they know what to do; and
they have a plan.
The challenge is that the demands
of life don’t stop; stress and
pressure to set priorities continue.
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Understanding Sam’s ERC pathway
Internal & external
stimuli
Mental Experience
Beliefs
Expectations
Values
Environment
Interpretation
E
R
Emotions
Resources
Pleasure
Pain
Process
Coping skills
Decisions skills
C
Healthy
Coping
Choices
Unhealthy
Coping
Choices
Action
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Coping churn’s five gears
P
In this gear, the mind is looking to turn off and do nothing,
such as watch TV, read, Internet – anything that distracts the
person from life. This is like living in a micro world.
R
In this gear the mind keeps replaying the past. This can bring
stress as the events are replayed. This can result in the mind
looking for ways to get away from pain to feel better.
1
D2
3
Drive 1 – In this gear, the person is starting to push forward through
coping churn. There is a degree of motivation and acceptance. What may be
the barrier are knowledge and skills
Drive 2 – In this gear, the mind starts to accept responsibility and
believes there are choices and opportunities. The challenges with this
level are failure and not being prepared that failing is typical.
Drive 3 – In this gear, the person is moving forward and doing well with life
and are now out of coping churn.
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1‐2‐3 I can cope
Awareness
Action
plan
Inventory
of skills
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Establish a pathway to develop coping skills Road to mastering coping skills Get a Baseline
THI Coping
Skills scale
Motivation and
committed to
learning
QWL Globe
and Mail
Coping skills
Pillar
Triggers:
• Coping
skills score
• Attendance
• STD
• WCB
Prevention
• Coaching
• Mentoring
• Classroom
• On-line
Strategy
• Selection
• On-boarding
• Performance
• Management
Learning
coping skills
• Relapse
• Coping
conundrum
• Stages of
learning
• Mastery
takes time
Move from
coping to
choosing
Selfmanagement is
outcome
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Coping skills are like any other skills to learn Unconscious
Incompetence
Conscious
Incompetence
Conscious
competence
Unconscious
competence
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Like any skill, to master coping skills one will need to manage failure Mastery
Competency
Feedback
Confidence
Practice
Adapt
Focus
Normalize
Failure
Motivation
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Learning
Nine Boxes for Mastering Coping Skills Matrix
Poor coping skills but open and motivated to learn; ready to take more ownership for choices and actions
Good coping skills, committed to ongoing
learning Mastery of coping skills to be a top performer at home and at work
Poor coping skills; contemplating benefits to learn
Good coping skills overall; has potential to do more if willing to put more effort and time into mastering coping skills
Strong coping skills; moderate awareness for benefits for ongoing practice and learning
Poor coping skills; unmotivated to learn Functional coping skills; low awareness on the benefits for learning more
Good coping skills; moderate risk of being over‐confident and not open to new learning or ideas
Coping
Capacity
Different triggers that indicate when coping skills training can be helpful Attendance issues
Performance
managing
intrapersonal skills
THI Coping skills
score less than
65%
Discipline issues around
self-management
(e.g. anger, acting out
when under pressure)
WCB (e.g. PTSD,
Chronic Pain)
Self evaluation of need and
motivated to develop
intrapersonal skills (coping
skills is a cognitive-based
developmental skill)
STD/LTD
(e.g. mental health
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Pathway to Coping
online course
Benefits of the course to employers:
Benefits of the course to individuals:
• Provides a supportive social environment
encouraging employees to seek help
• Creates an engaged workforce that is
motivated to succeed
• Reduces absenteeism and turnover rates
• Builds positive employee/employer
relationships where employees want to
come to work
• Enhances both the psychological and
physical health of your employees, which
will lead to higher employee job
satisfaction and increased productivity
•
•
•
•
Develop new, more adaptive ways of coping
Find peace
Get ahead personally and professionally
Improve relationships
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Manager
micro-skills
By Dr. Bill Howatt
More and more employers are tuning into the role of employees’ coping skills • How 'mindful hydration' can reduce stress and boost productivity
• How to stick to your goals to be healthy, and why that matters at work
• Like any skill, developing coping skills requires focus, practice and patience
• Do you have the right fuel to make it through your workday?
• Take control of your finances to reduce stress at work and at home
• Ways to find peace of mind during a busy day
• Is a lack of sleep hurting your productivity at work and at home?
• Why you need good distractions in your life
• How time management is key for your work and personal life
• How to have an ‘attitude of gratitude’
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Coping skills the ROI/VOI Impact Improved discretionary effort Decrease in preseenteeism Faster return to work Increased return to work experience and coping Improved productivity (e.g. problem solving)
Improved mental health Improved
employee
coping skills
Improved job readiness Lower risk for accidents Improved
organizational
ROI
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Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
— Helen Keller
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Questions?
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