How To Support Your Overwhelmed Team

As a leader or manager, one of the most important responsibilities is to support your team. This can include providing; direction, guidance, coaching, training, feedback, and access to resources to help them perform in their role.

However, sometimes your team may feel overwhelmed, which can negatively impact their productivity, job satisfaction, and overall well-being if it isn’t handled.

In today’s post, we will define what overwhelm is and provide several ways that you, as a manager, can support your team.

Let’s Get Clear On Overwhelm

Overwhelm is a feeling brought on by a thought as a reaction to a circumstance happening in our life; in this context, work.

This thought, which may not be true, creates a feeling of overwhelm where our conclusion is we have too much to do, too many responsibilities, and not enough time or resources to accomplish everything.

If we let this feeling continue without being checked it can lead to stress, anxiety, and burnout.

I appreciate that sometimes, overwhelm happens because our deadlines really are too short, and resources are stretched.

Though in most cases, our overwhelmed feelings are brought on by thoughts often triggered by our overreactive primitive brain, which wants to keep us safe.

I am sure many of you will have read a previous post of mine about the primitive brain here and how it often overreacts.

No matter how experienced and logical we are, overwhelm can affect any of us.

With your new awareness of what overwhelm is, how can you help your team?

It starts by coaching them on how to manage their mind.

Coach Them To Manage Their Mind

Let me share a personal story illustrating how effective mind management can be. To be transparent, I have occasionally admitted and verbalised that I feel overwhelmed!

Last month, I noticed in my diary that I had three programmes to deliver to new clients. One I needed to design from scratch, and the other two I had run before. Each programme was at least two days of face-to-face delivery in different European countries.

So, plenty of flight drama was playing out for me! All of this was happening while I was experiencing a busier-than-usual social calendar.

Bad planning on my part? No, the truth was there was plenty of time to get everything done.

Here is how I managed my overwhelm.

First, I challenged myself with a few coaching questions to reveal the facts;

• Is that true that you won’t get everything done?
• What do you need to do first?
• How long will it actually take to do that?
• What other tasks can I de-prioritise?
• How can Lisa help me?

By asking a few questions, I started to look at the facts rather than the emotional fiction I was playing out in my head.

The good news is this process has been working for me for years; which means it can work for you and your team too. What other practical things can you now share with your team that will help?

When a team member is feeling overwhelmed, it’s important to get them to look at the facts so they can reassess their workload and priorities properly.

Here is something that will help it’s called Parkinson’s law.

Parkinson’s Law is the observation that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. The term was first coined by Cyril Parkinson in an article he wrote in the Economist over sixty years ago. It is even more relevant today with the distractions surrounding us.

Annoyingly our primitive brain attempts to tell us things will take much longer than they actually do.

Here is something we can all relate to that blows that theory away.

Have you ever noticed that when you are about to head off on holiday, you somehow manage to tick off so much work?

Why is that?

We practice constraint, minimise distractions and work our to-do list like demons.

What if we did that all the time; what difference could that make to what we could achieve in a shorter time frame?

As a manager, you can train your team to prioritise their tasks and focus on the most critical ones that drive results.

You can also consider delegating tasks to other team members or outsourcing some tasks to external resources to lighten the workload in times when your team is busier than usual.

Encourage Breaks and Time Management

Encouraging breaks and time management can help your team alleviate stress and reduce feelings of overwhelm. Encourage your team to take regular breaks throughout the day, stretch, and take a walk.

Additionally, consider implementing time management strategies such as Francesco Cirillo’s Pomodoro technique or Tony Schwatz’s ideas in the power of full engagement.

Finally, let’s talk about talking.

Create Communication and Feedback Loops

Effective communication and feedback are essential for supporting an overwhelmed team. Encourage open and honest communication, and create a safe space where team members can share their concerns and challenges. Provide regular feedback and recognition to help your team feel valued and motivated too.

As a manager, supporting an overwhelmed team requires empathy, communication, and flexibility. By helping them handle their mind and re-evaluate their priorities, encouraging breaks and time management, providing training and support, and offering flexibility and work-life balance, you can help your team overcome overwhelm in their work life.

Until next time,

Julia

About Julia Carter

Julia Carter is the MD of Zestfor Ltd and specialises in working with leaders and managers of virtual teams to improve team effectiveness.

At Zestfor, we deliver development and leadership programmes to support teams to manage their mind and become effective and productive employees.  If you would like to know more, contact me here and I will be in touch.