I did a workshop a few weeks ago on resilience and we discussed the 4 key ways that resilience can improve your workplace:

1. Improving personal resilience and how you address stress.
2. How the team manages workplace overload?
3. How the organization addresses change in the workplace?
4. How successes and failures are addressed?

This team wanted to discuss workplace overload which they all agreed they were experiencing. What was interesting about this group was that they stated that while everyone in the room felt overwhelmed, they were also excited about the work they were doing.

We talked about some early resilience research around the “3Cs” that suggests that employees who (1) have a sense of control in the work, (2) are challenged by what they are doing and (3) have a sense of commitment to the mission

builds a storehouse of resilience with which they can endure and even thrive in the face of workplace challenges.

As we explored these areas, they agree that their manager allows them to find their own path in getting their work done and that fuels much of their passion about their work.

Most articles about workplace overload suggest things like delegating, saying “no” to others and strategies to be more efficient as some of the remedies. For sure if you’re workload is causing problems with your health, family time, or your workplace productivity then you will want to do something about it. However, if all is going okay and you are enjoying what you do, you can let go of that anxiety and enjoy the ride.

© Richard Citrin, All rights reserved, 2017

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