Most if us work because we have to earn money to live. Yet in the modern era, at least in a developed - 1st world society, success at work is - or at least should be about so much more than just earning money.
Work should be about about feeling engaged, a sense of belonging, a sense of purpose, a feeling of shared endeavour, of connection, of value, of contribution, of making a difference, of freedom of choice. of friendship and of personal growth.
Yet for far too many - work is a means to an end that comes with too high a price .... that price being huge stress, anxiety, imbalance, stuckness, fear.
Work related stress causes feelings of not being able to cope, of self doubt, of depression, of lack of clarity, of demotivation and guess what ...... in attempt to fight back we often turn to completely the wrong person to sort it out..... ie 'ourselves'.
Have you ever found yourself giving yourself a good talking to, telling yourself you need to work harder, focus more, be better prepared, communicate more clearly, pull yourself together? In other words do all the things you are not doing - leading ultimately to just increasing the anxiety levels and often further inhibiting performance.
There is now a welcome and much needed broad acceptance that proactive mental welfare in the workplace is fundamental to success, to general wellbeing and to helping people transition from 'survivor' to 'thriver'. Yet even within this welcome new dawn there is a gap - a gap between remedy and development.
In days gone by there were two worlds - personal development and remedial cure. If you were suffering from a diagnosable condition, from a clinically defined, psychological conditions such as self harming, eating disorders, alcohol abuse, depression, not sleeping, anger issues .... and many more) then you may have been offered counselling and remedial phsychotherapy.
Equally if you were bumping along, perhaps heading for the next stage of your career, or perhaps doing well already or perhaps struggling with a career goal or some aspect of your work then you may have been offered some performance coaching to help you challenge your thinking and perhaps benefit from the experience of a coach or mentor.
But what about the vast majority of the working population who may not fall into either camp but don't have the answers they need, do wake up at night worrying, cant quite articulate what if anything is wrong and yet need something to help them thrive.
At Poisson Rouge we believe that any organisation the truly cares about the welfare and long term performance of its people should explore and invest in their psychological wellbeing.
As Kathleen Hogan of Microsoft so aptly observed recently - there is 'Human Energy Crisis' that is taking it toll on our workforce. Burn-out, feelings of detachment or not being seen or heard, feelings of lack of empowerment to do or decide on the things that matter to them all contribute to detachment and lack of performance.
..... and guess what - often they just need to heard - to be listened to - to be shown that people care, that it matters and that they matter.
We are passionate about this and as a result have recently launched a 'Talking Therapies' practice to bridge both worlds. Not necessarily to solve problems and not necessarily to provide advancement. Simply to ensure the psychological and mental welfare of our clients teams.
If this resonates with you - we'd love to hear what you what you have been doing for your people to anchor them and make them feel noticed, cared for and well.