“New Work” is a promise to more independence, individual responsibility and a better balance of work life and private life. That sounds like freedom, flexibility and popping that after-work-drink latest at 5. But at the same time, we see an ever increasing number of people being exhausted, unhappy at work, or even burned-out. Just a coincidence? It’s time to look into this!
We are living in times of rapid change. Digital technologies are revolutionaizing old business models and create entirely new ones. Robots and algorithms take over more and more complex tasks. Are we humans being replaced in future so that we can resort to spending our time at the beach? Well, not likely. Human brains will be even more important when it comes to creativity and innovation, strategy and steering, interaction, communication and service. Because despite all the progress of digital technology: human connection and what we create in our minds, our mental productivity, remains the most important engine of our world!
With New Work, rapid change is also what we see in the way we work. The pandemic shifted within months what would otherwise have taken years – a transformation in fast-forward-mode. There’s no going back. Hierachical structures and rigid thinking are gone for good, and “management by exerting control” doesn’t work anymore. It never really did in the first place. Today, the way we work is independent, integrated, agile and self-organized. This requires leadership based on trust, empowerment and empapthy.
But how well are we prepared for “New Work”?
How do we manage our working days between agile sprints, meeting marathons and email-flood? Do we get the balance right between our own career ambitions, performance pressure, too many tasks with short deadlines, and private life when managing our time ourselves? And how are we as leaders equipped to building proximity despite physical distance, and leading people who are working increasingly independently? After more than 2 years of a global pandemic that pushed many of us into a giant experiment to work remotely for extended periods of time, we see that many things went surprisingly well, maybe even better than expected. But the data is also very clear we are paying a price. Chronic stress and exhaustion, a feeling of isolation and resignation, and also turnover among leaders and staff are at record highs!
New Work with all its flexibility and independence is no place for lazybones. Quite the opposite. The opportunity to work at any time often leads to working anytime. Chronic overload has reached critical dimensions in many companies.
As a result, not only motivation and performance are suffering, but also the health of employees. Chronic stress can contribute to back pain, sleep disorders, heart attacks, stroke, depression, burnout and – long term- to the development of Alzheimer’s disease, to name just a few. For companies who do not manage to provide a healthy work environment, this is expensive. They are less attractive when it comes to winning new talent, and company performance will suffer as well. Chronic stress is the biggest limiting factor of mental productivity. Stress management and resilience have become key competencies in todays work environment.
It’s time to address this. Strategically and holistically. Because for our future, we need productive and smart minds, creative minds, energetic and motivated minds in order to achieve peak performance. And most of all we need resilient minds who can balance the pressure and stress of our worklife with a healthy dose of mindfulness and confident calmness.
And with “minds”, I mean more precisely: brains.
Which leads us to one question: What can we do for our brains to achieve peak performance?
The answer is: There is a lot we can do!
The performance of our brains does not only depend on training and past experiences. Just as important for our brain performance are our daily habits. They give us energy, spark creativity and drive productivity. Or they take all this away, then we are dragging ourselves through the day, stressed, tired, and unproductively.
The same holds true for the mental level. With our thoughts and beliefs we create new ideas and opportunities, develop drive and determination. Or we sabotage ourselves, live in the past, mourning missed opportunities and drowning in stress. Mental strength and resilience are only decisive factors to win in professional sports, but also in our jobs. It all starts with believing in yourself and in your abilities to overcome any challenge that is thrown in your way. That’s what Henry Ford was talking about when he said: „Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right!“
I am convinced that “we can”! We can make New Work better and healthier than the way we used to work in the past ever was. The key is in our brain, which we can deliberately and intentially boost to peak performance with healthy daily habits and smart mental techniques. This is what it takes to succeed in the ages of New Work.
If we get this right, what we’ll achieve with New Work is not “performance without pressure”, but performance with ease. That’s the idea of BetterBraincare.