LifeMasters
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Recent USA research shows that anxiety is costing the business sector more than Depression. The figures in the USA have reached over $40 million, just in anxiety treatments. This excludes time-off, low productivity, reduced moral, active dis-engagement and other associated losses. 

People are not coping with the escalating challenges, increased pressure and resultant fears and stress in the workplace.  The problem is that most people don’t like to have the label of “needing therapy” for their anxiety , and therefore they limp on silently, turn to some kind of drug, or just plod on, without properly addressing the symptoms or resolving the primary cause of their anxiety.

In South Africa, I believe, we have even a greater challenge with anxiety. With everything going on around us; levels of fear, frustration, anger and anxiety are sky high, yet we continue to pretend everything is all right. At great expense, we smile on as if nothing was wrong. We repress the real situation in the fear of being seen as weak. Anxiety rules the workplace... but we all just keep on smiling.

Almost every one of my friends has had some kind of traumatic experience in the domain of rape, robbery, hi-jack, assault or workplace fear and anxiety. I often hear stories about people in companies being held up, screamed and shouted at, and abused in some manner. 

Some companies have support counselors or services for the people directly, involved in these traumas, however they have totally neglected the others who are not-directly involved, who nevertheless still are impacted by anxiety, fear, stress and loss.. 

I can recall a story where a mother was in the offices when her eldest child was held up at gunpoint, in their offices. The child received counseling but not the mother, nor any of the other staff in the same office.  Anxiety prevailed... So what! -  it seems is the response of the day.

The important point that managers/bosses/company decision-makers constantly miss, is that indirectly affected people, who don’t receive some kind of support services to normalise their feelings and fears, possibly suffer greater and longer, than the directly affected people.

There are still some companies who still rule by fear. The leadership will deny this, but all you have do do is talk to the staff and to the customers.

Rules like no chit-chat during working hours, no pictures on the walls, no laughter, no talking in the passages, no low-volume discussions. If you said this sounds just like a prison, the employees would fully agree with you.  And then these "intelligent" leaders cannot understand why their staff are fully disengaged and profits are crashing.

At any given moment we are usually doing the best we can with what we have at that moment in time. However companies still expect a full days effort for a full days wage even when they don't provide suitable support or resources for their staff well-being. 

The real problem is that few leaders or managers really understand the impact of fragmented eMotion, like Anxiety, on performance, health and the FLI (fee-like-it-factor).  Most of our “present energy” is either leaked out into the past (grief, anger, frustration, resentment or loss (real or perceived potential loss), or into future (anxiety or fears of what could happen).

This low energetic state magnifies and increases stress, pressure, anxiety and exacerbates fears, whilst dramatically reducing engagement, productivity, health, satisfaction and relationship quality. 

What this means to your business is that relationships with self, team-mates and clients suffer. Our tenacity and tolerance levels drop; our capacity for adversity, resilience and creativity is squashed, and people become dis-engaged.

We live with most of our energy wasted into the past, or the future, with very little energy in the present here and now to operate and maintain a fully functional healthy mind, heart and body.

The brain-mind may understand what’s happening, but as we now know from recent research, the heart-mind needs to be addressed separately from the brain-mind for and the body-mind. 

Most of our support interventions are based on how WE believe the person could feel, rather than how they REALLY feel.  For South African companies to fully harness the vast power of their Human Capital, they will need to put support services, coaching  and workshops in place that provide a “service and tune-up“ strategy for their staff on their energetic levels as well as their mental levels.

Harnessing the full power of a person is founded on emotional, energetic levels, not just on IQ. Learning, growing and coaching interventions need to be redesigned to PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT and staff / customer engagement, which would then include interventions other than just technical information training.

The day you realize the advantages of really empowering your staff, to discover and release what is holding them back - this is the day you enter the arena of “World Class Performers”.  Your main competitive advantage is your staff. When they can be inspired to become fully engaged - "then your cooking with gas!"

If you believe that – then live that, and show that, by providing resources and services to reduce anxiety, stress and fear and increase fun, freedom and engagement. 

This is the success strategy for the 21st Century organization to survive the competition and thrive. Get your staff fully engaged, not with fear or threats, but with passion, participation and fun.