Becoming a Stress Reducing Agent in Your Workplace

Shortly after receiving my original cancer prognosis, I met with Dr. Richard Sagebiel, a pathologist, specializing in melanoma research at UC San Francisco. Richard had a disarming way of carrying on a conversation, even if it was about the cancer he had discovered in my body!

“So, your life is pretty stressful?” he asked casually.

“I don’t know. I ran my own law firm for about 14 years, then moved into my current firm,” I answered, somewhat evasively.

He continued, “The reason I ask is that we all naturally produce and carry cancer cells in our bodies. But our immune system keeps them under control. However, if your immune system becomes overwhelmed, the cancer cells can take hold, multiply and become a tumor. Stress suppresses your immune system.”

“Really?” I replied, “I had no idea. I never really considered my life “stressful.” It’s just “life” as I know it.” It’s been 22 years since that conversation.

Stress not only is related to increased incidence of cancer, but a variety of maladies ranging from strokes and heart attacks to PTSD and other psychological disorders. It is a condition, if chronic, that should not be trifled with. A second major fact I would learn about stress is that while it may be “self-imposed,” it also can be environmentally induced.

Self-imposed stress, in my experience, most often arises from the incongruity between your work and your values. You may not know it at your career’s onset or for years to follow. But gradually, discomfort arises in your mind, body, temperament or health that clues you in to the fact that something is wrong. You even may try to sweep it under the rug, but eventually it manifests in a way too great to ignore. If this sounds at all familiar to you, review the four questions from “Assessing Your Work Life - 1” (April 30, 2013).

Assessing your work has the benefit of relieving stress. You focus energy on alleviating it at its source. Even before you reach your destination, the inquiry itself loosens stress’ strangle hold.

Stress manifests in your mind, body, emotions and health without declaring its origin. If your work assessment inquiry fails to manifest stress, look to the workplace. Often stress is externally generated. I recently attended a lecture by neuroscientist, David Eagleman, best-selling author of “Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain.” He observed that a “corporation” should be thought of as a “big brain” in which all the individual brains of its members are a part. I agree. And, I would add, should that big brain manifest stress pathologies, the constituent brains also will suffer.

Examine whether or not your workplace has a mission statement. Its absence is by no means a fatal flaw. But, if one exists, it evidences values. Does it reference employee well-being, the value of the workplace environment, or the value of the individual?

Does it refer to the work environment as a “culture” or “community”? Does it speak to individual growth or development? How was the value statement originally created - by promulgation or broad-based collaboration? Does it speak to the satisfaction of your client or customers? What, if anything, does it say about transparency - within the community, with its clients and customers, and with the world at large?

I probably am being unfair. I am projecting what I believe are important considerations in the creation of a healthy workplace environment. However, from my review of the many mission statements and value propositions, most are externally focused. They speak in terms of customer and client satisfaction, the quality of the product or service, and revenue. Little attention is given to a generative workplace environment, the health and well-being of the constituents of the enterprise, or of their potential for growth and development.

Most value statements are years out of date and speak to the values of generations past. Retaining anachronistic value statements does more harm than good. It evidences a lack of recognition that business is constantly evolving, that the best products and services originate in the healthiest workplace environments, and that employees, customers and clients understand that proposition.

Don’t be alarmed if you find no value statement. There are plenty of places to look for answers. What really matters in your workplace? What is the reputation of your workplace “on the street”? How much does gossip constitute a part of your workplace culture? What behavior is truly rewarded? What does that rewarded behavior tell you of workplace values? Does your compensation system reward collaboration or creativity?

Are you encouraged to grow and develop your expertise? Are you supported in your efforts to maintain your health? Is unethical behavior tolerated or perhaps rewarded?

Do you and your colleagues feel safe, physically and psychologically? Is individual toxic behavior appropriately reined in? Is your privacy respected? Is it possible to initiate and maintain meaningful, personal relationships with your colleagues? What do the personal lives of your leaders reflect as to the values of the enterprise? Do you see joy in the workplace? Do you witness empathy and generosity amongst your colleagues? Does your culture support and social reward community service?

Finally, if you want to change the values of your enterprise, is there a path to do so? Would it be safe to communicate with others openly on this subject? If you decided simply to “upgrade” your own behavior to a higher standard, what would you anticipate as the reaction from your colleagues?

This is a difficult area of inquiry. It takes courage and perseverance. You learn a great deal about yourself and your own values in the undertaking. And, not everything is revealed at once. The important thing to recognize is there are a variety of potential responses to what you learn. You initially may find things “satisfactory,” “in need of improvement” or “intolerable.” But as you stay in the lab, retain an open mind, and give your colleagues the benefit of the doubt, you may find that by you changing how you address your work environment, you create room for others to do likewise. Just as I no longer expect perfection of myself, I have begun to give much greater slack to my colleagues. I learn as much from my own shortcomings as theirs. I wish for their success, as well as mine. But I do not tolerate abuse, dishonesty or malfeasance. And if the culture of my workplace allows for that, then I will initiate change for my own sake and that of my colleagues.

If you decide to become a “change agent” to improve your workplace, then there are a few things you ought to consider. First, you must operate with the assumption that those who most influence the work culture possess sufficient competence and moral character to support the changed culture, as it begins to manifest. Absent that assumption, you are on a fool’s errand. You need not know this to be true. But, you must believe that it is possible.

Next, understand that change and fear go hand in hand. Humans will show a much greater commitment to avoiding potential harm than seeking potential benefit. That is why change is difficult to initiate and takes time to manifest. You have to moderate your change actions so as to not provoke fear.

There is a distinction between power and force. Power arises from the fundamental coherence of a proposition to an affected population. Force is what is used to affect an outcome when that fundamental coherence is absent. Your work involves using power to effect needed change.

Power and force often are confused. To avoid the fear which lies at the heart of force, you must epitomize the coherence of your change values. This means using language and maintaining a demeanor which is congruent with and fully supports the change you are seeking. It means emphasizing the positive. You emphasize your “sameness,” with your colleagues, rather than your differences.

At the outset, you focus on specific outcomes that benefit the immunity, you open yourself up to collaboration, and do not identify problems, without offering solutions.

In other words, you “walk the talk” of the culture you envision. You begin change “narrowly” and allow a positive outcome to widen the scope of potential future actions.

In effect, you devise “experiments,” seeking proof of how cultural change can be effectuated. You want your experiments to be low “cost” (i.e., low fear), of short duration, but with high-impact.

If you scale your efforts properly, allow for the possibility of failure, commit to learning from your setbacks, reduce the risks of negative consequences to others, you soon will acquire a sense of direction as to what works and what doesn’t.

In devising your experiments, talk out the possible outcomes with your peers. Build support and invite collaboration in the exercise. Distribute ownership of any positive outcome. See yourself more as a facilitator of outcomes, than a “leader” of change. You don’t need to be the “conflagration,” you only need to be the “spark.”

For permissions, go no higher than necessary. This will have the effect of governing your actions. If you need CEO “sign off” for your first experiment, you are moving too much, too fast.

Closely monitor responses to the outcomes. Some may be heartened, others threatened. Further investigate, through conversation, how different people come to their perspectives. Adjust your thinking and design your future actions accordingly. I believe it was Tip O’Neill who said, “All politics are local.” The same is true of workplace change.

Don’t forget that once you have a cohort who shares a view of what the environment should be, you and your cohort can begin to live within that environment. There is nothing like a living example, to inspire your colleagues.

There remains a possibility that you will encounter force on your journey. You will have to maintain the courage to look at it closely and consider how your approach is creating a threat. Try to moderate your approach. It’s so easy to default by going to the battlements and responding with what you believe to be your power. But, as soon as you do so, your power devolves to force. If your values, your actions, your integrity and your wisdom have not found sufficient support with your colleagues, this is not a battle that you should choose to fight and win. Battles are about force, not power. There are always unforeseen casualties. You disengage and find another, better way to a supportive work environment.