There’s an old Alfred Hitchcock movie called ‘Strangers on a Train’ with a famous scene involving a fairground carousel that starts spinning out of control. The carousel’s operator is shot, causing the ride to speed up to dangerous levels, leaving the passengers to cling on for dear life or be flung off.
I was left wondering last week whether we were all on that carousel right now. After multiple meetings with busy clients recently, it feels like a metaphor for our times. The pace of work and transformation is relentless and accelerating, with seemingly more people ‘falling off’ the metaphorical carousel with illness or burnout, or intentionally jumping off as they explore different options for their lives.
My friend Dr Kellie Pritchard-Peschek who is an expert in peak performance and burnout recently described the current wellness trend as trying to fit wellness into the cracks of a 1000 mile an hour life. When did we decide we wanted to operate like machines?
Recently new amendments to the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011 come into force, introducing psychosocial hazards. Psychosocial hazards “can create harm through a worker’s experience of a frequent, prolonged and/or severe stress response”. When I look at the listed psychosocial hazards, I think there’d be few companies in Australia who didn’t tick at least one of them. Hazards such as high job demands, low job control, low role clarity, poor organisational change management and poor workplace relationships.
With the current rate of burnout, this would seem to me to present a significant risk for organisations. So what’s the answer? Good leadership, management and governance is key, as is doing the fundamentals well that drive employee engagement, enablement, and productive cultures.
But there are also many things we can do for ourselves to ensure we build resilience. Jack Welch once remarked, “If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” Whilst this quote was directed at companies, it equally applies to all of us. With the pace of work and change increasing, how do we ensure we are equipped to thrive rather than just survive?
Getting clear on our personal values is the first step to ensure we are living and working in alignment with them. Next is an unwavering commitment to being the very best version of ourselves, at a mind, body and spirit level. Building skills and confidence in clear communication and boundary setting is life-changing. And we also cannot underestimate the regenerative power of joy. Prioritising activity (both work and play) that brings us joy, has a restorative effect, strengthening our resilience, building perspective, and restoring our energy.