Asking Humans to be Inhuman
Ruth Pearce
?? Champion for Mental Well-Being & Ethical Leadership | Speaker | Coach | Reducing Burnout & Nervous System Stress by Shattering Outdated Frameworks to Transform Workplace Well-Being!
Republished from a July 15th post on Linked In
I am scared.
The more people I coach, the more it seems that burnout, overwhelm and overwork are becoming the backbone of business.
Every day I hear about the urgent projects, changing priorities, the multiple roles, the need to multitask, fire drills, the next most important thing, missed vacations, 7 day working, lack of boundaries, instant access...
We are asking humans to be inhuman. And that is inhumane.
Are we designed to multitask?
Research says we are not. We are not multitasking, we are task switching which leaks time, focus and energy.
Are we designed to make decisions under constant pressure?
Research shows that we are not. We go into fight, flight or freeze mode and start using shortcuts and biases to make our decisions - which is not good for us or others.
Are we designed to sit at a desk, or stand behind a counter hour after hour?
Studies show we are not. Our bodies need movement, quality sleep and changing focus. Our brains need downtime, imagination and mind-wandering time, peaks and troughs in our efforts.
We have all the evidence to show that humans are NOT designed to meet the pressures that we are imposing - long days at work, pressure to deliver outputs faster and faster with fewer mistakes, reduced downtime. Our increasing sense of urgency for all things - the expectation that if someone wants it today they should have it tomorrow, is actually going to kill us. I see it everyday.
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Let's all take action
Employers - slow down. Accept you cannot meet every need of every potential customer in record time. Without a healthy workforce you will not have a healthy business. Manage customer expectations instead of pushing employees to the limit.
Customers - we are not entitled to the things we want at the expense of the health and wellbeing of others. So wait a minute, hour, day, week, a year if necessary to get that thing you want. You might even find that you don't actually need it at all!
Employees - support those who speak out and up on your behalf. It is understandable that you may hesitate to speak yourself, but don't shut down others who raise the red flag.
Please share in the comments!
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the original discussion - more than 110K people have viewed the post, over 150 shared it and there are 200+ comments. This topic touched a lot of people and the conversation has been powerful.
It is time we all took action to change the future of work.
Next time - Did I do this? Has the focus on building engagement created the burnout epidemic?
Join Ruth Pearce, Allison Jarrett , Rebecca Davies and Irene Poku MSc PCC on Wednesday August 3rd and 12pm EDT, when they discuss Burnout vs Flameout. Register for the event or join on the day here: Burnout vs Flameout with ALLE LLC
Insurance executive dedicated to applying the knowledge of health care insurance to the greater mental health public good!
2 年Every time I have asked a client to slow down, something BETTER happens. Here’s a perfect example: I get to be present (and actually have fun) for things like this: https://youtu.be/f3meKc0xiBA
Human Business Visionary | Enterprise Transformation Strategist | Agile Leadership Coach | Expert in Change & Growth | Available for Interim Leadership Roles | Author & Speaker | Former Allianz Executive
2 年As more companies become Agile, there is (still) a huge number who fall prey to the flaws of Agile: (1) understanding and practicing Agile as yet another methodology which helps employees become more productive, processes more efficient so that profits rise and shareholders are happy (2) missing out the human aspect of Agile and continue to treat employees primarily as resources and cost factors that need to be optimized (1) I call fake-Agilists or wanna-be-Agilists (2) businesses that are stuck in a 20th paradigm of seeing business more like a machine rather than an organism The post above explains that it is actually not that difficult to fully understand the potential and magic of Agile. What it takes is an honest self-reflection and boldness to rediscover our human being and this shape the future. It pays off as customers, employees, business and society benefit. This is the new value creation.