3 Key Challenges Managers At Top Organizations Are Facing: White Paper

At Newberry Solutions, we collaborate with some of the world's most successful companies. Our work gives us a firsthand perspective on the challenges that organizations are currently grappling with and how effectively they are tackling these challenges.

Across diverse industries, a clear trend has come to the forefront. The role of managers has become more pivotal than ever in guiding organizations through issues like workplace disruptions, the transition to hybrid work, and the cumulative impact of years of change and stress.

If you think that sounds like a lot of pressure on managers, you are absolutely right. Amid all of these new expectations, managers are more susceptible to burnout compared with both higher-level leaders and individual contributors. The stark truth is that the very people your company relies on right now are at a heightened risk of disengagement or even departure.

These trends prompted the creation of our special report, "3 Key Challenges for Managers." Our goals are to provide insight into the demands placed on managers, along with advice on giving managers the support they need to navigate these challenges. Here’s just a sampling of what this white paper covers:

• How the 305,000+ layoffs that happened in 2023 have affected teams and managers.

• The emerging gap between organizations and employees in their support for DEI initiatives.

• How hybrid work is changing managers’ jobs.

• The burnout crisis among managers.

• Proven strategies to help your managers thrive.

We are eager to hear your thoughts and questions, so feel free to tag me in your LinkedIn posts about this report or reach out via email at info@newlensleadership.com. At the core of everything we do lies the passionate belief that leaders can change the world when their full potential is nurtured. This white paper is designed to empower you to do just that.

Get access to  "3 Key Challenges for Managers."

Leaders, Are You Ready for 2024?

In my last article, we explored how your team performed in 2023 and what they might need to thrive in 2024. Today, I'd like to focus on you. These five thoughtful questions are designed to help you conclude this year on a positive note and set the stage for a successful 2024.

Photo by Rebrand Cities

1. What Can You Do for Yourself?

As the year winds down and we look toward 2024, consider what changes could simplify your life. If constant distractions and interruptions are a challenge, discussing ways to streamline communication with your team could be beneficial. Alternatively, if you find coaching your team challenging due to time constraints, our New Lens® app might offer the supplementary support you need.

2. Are You Getting the Support You Need?

In our fast-paced lives, it's easy to neglect our personal connections. These relationships, however, are crucial, especially during busy or stressful periods. Don't hesitate to reach out proactively for support. For instance, you might ask a partner to encourage you to start your day with a walk or run if they notice you're overworking and becoming irritable.

3. How Will You Balance Results and Relationships?

As high performers, it's common to focus intensely on results, sometimes at the expense of nurturing relationships. Remember, effective leadership is about achieving goals through and with others. To build stronger relationships in 2024, consider setting aside 15 minutes each week for relationship-building activities, such as sharing articles or making introductions.

4. How Much Did Your Behavior Reflect Your Intentions?

It's important to realize that others assess not only your accomplishments but also the experiences others have working with you. Your intentions are vital, but if they are not reflected in your interactions, they may fall short. Regular feedback from peers can be invaluable in ensuring your behavior aligns with your intentions.

5. What Team Issues Did You Play a Role in?

Every team faces challenges, such as conflict, low performance, or stress. To prevent these issues from spilling into 2024, it's helpful to reflect on your contribution to your team's dynamics. For example, I advised a leader who was inadvertently enabling a problematic dynamic by taking over urgent tasks. By helping her team reprioritize instead, she made a positive change.

What insights did you gain from these questions? Were there any surprises? As you continue to develop your leadership skills, consider exploring our range of products and services, including the innovative New Lens® app, designed to make leadership coaching more accessible.

Here’s to being intentional in shaping what your leadership journey looks like in 2024!

4 Questions for Team Leaders as 2023 Ends

As 2023 draws to a close, you might find yourself in a whirlwind of year-end tasks, deadlines and holiday preparations. In the middle of all that, you might not have had the chance to take a step back and assess the broader picture of how your team is faring. But as we approach the new year, it's crucial to set aside time to reflect. Taking a pause to evaluate the collective journey of your team over the past year can provide invaluable insights on the path you should take going forward. Use these questions to help you take the pulse of your team and identify what they might need from you.

Image by Alexa from Pixabay

What does your team’s stress level look like? As a leader, it’s crucial to recognize the symptoms of burnout on your team and to address them quickly. The effects of long-term stress (which we’ve all been experiencing!) can show up in different ways. For example, you may have noticed that your team members don’t seem as focused as they used to, or that communication feels strained. If your team members are showing signs of burnout, affirm your commitment to their well-being and look for ways to address the situation. Do you need to adjust workloads, deadlines, or the pace of work? Do team members need more support to navigate any changes or uncertainty? 

How can you help team members manage their energy? To address stress and burnout, you can also ensure that team members have the resources they need to maintain balance and sustain high performance. Leaders play a pivotal role in fostering a supportive environment that encourages overall well-being. Encourage healthy habits like regular breaks, setting boundaries between work and personal time, and actually using vacation days. And don’t forget to lead by example: If you work around the clock or don’t take breaks or vacations, your team members will assume that’s what you expect of them (no matter what you say).

How clear is your team on what success looks like? Since the beginning of 2023, a lot may have changed in your organization. Priorities and expectations have shifted; new challenges and opportunities have emerged. You may assume that your team knows what’s most important now. But, in times of rapid change, sometimes key messages about priorities get lost in the busyness of our day-to-day work. So, take some time with your team before year-end to talk about priorities going into 2024. Connect the dots for your team members about how their roles fit in and affect those priorities. Make sure each team member knows the top areas where they should focus to have the biggest impact on the business and empower them to focus on those “big three.”

Is there a need to upskill your team? If you have observed performance issues in your team in 2023, ask yourself whether they have the skills and training necessary to succeed. Over the past few years, so many organizations have gone through resignations, layoffs and restructuring, leaving their employees grappling with new roles or evolving responsibilities. Beyond that, if staffing is lean and workloads are heavy, your newer team members may have received little to no onboarding. But even your seasoned employees may need additional training if they’re taking on different types of projects. We’ve definitely seen these struggles and created the New Lens® app to address them while making it easy to fit development into busy schedules and tight budgets.

This week, I challenge you to identify one area to focus on with your team in 2024, and one or two initial steps you will take. This small investment of time will yield big payoffs in the coming year.

Big Insights from One Little Question [One Thing Video Series]

Sometimes the wisdom you need in a particular moment comes from a surprising source. For me recently, that source was a note I wrote myself a couple of years ago. That note consisted of just a single question. But it’s been helping me anytime I’m feeling frustrated or if something isn't going my way. In my latest One Thing You Can Do video, I talk about the simple but effective message of that note and how you can use it, too.

For more practical leadership strategies you can start using immediately, I invite you to check out our award-winning New Lens® app. It’s designed to make leadership development more accessible than ever through bite-sized lessons and small action steps. Ready to learn more? Request a demo now.

Micro Summit: 4 Core Leadership Strategies for Success

Have you registered for our online micro summit coming up on October 25? In just a couple of hours, this event will give you actionable insights into some of Newbery Solutions’ core strategies for success. We developed these strategies over 15 years of executive coaching and leadership development and incorporated them into the New Lens™ app.

This virtual event is geared toward executives, professionals in areas like human resources and talent development, and other business leaders who want to make a bigger impact and get results they couldn’t before. Don’t miss this chance to learn from powerful leaders who’ve been there and know the ropes. 

It all happens from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, October 25, and registration is open now.

Transcript

Hi, I am Neena Newberry with Newberry Solutions, and I'm excited to share the next installment of our One Thing You Can Do video series, which is all based on New Lens, which is our leadership development app that focuses on micro learning, giving you valuable strategies in two to seven minutes. This video is going to be under two minutes, and today I want to share with you a note that I just came across from a couple of years ago. This was a note that I wrote to myself and I had completely forgotten about it, but it has a really important question on it, which is, what meaning are you assigning to this?

So when I am in a position of feeling frustrated or if something isn't going my way, or if someone's behaving in a way that I don't necessarily expect, the question is what meaning am I assigning to this? And we all have a tendency to personalize things, and this question will prompt you to pause and really think about what you're doing in the situation. And it's very empowering when you realize you can make a different choice than the one that you're making. So I want to arm you with that question today. And for more leadership tools and strategies, visit newberrysolutions.com.

Go Ahead: Give Yourself Permission [One Thing Video Series]

What do you need to give yourself permission to do?

Maybe it’s actually feeling sadness, disappointment or anger instead of trying to stuff down your emotions.

Or perhaps it’s taking a break instead of powering through your exhaustion or burnout.

When it comes down to it, you’re the only one who can give yourself permission to make changes that will protect your wellbeing.

Do you have trouble doing this? You’re far from alone. That’s what inspired my latest One Thing You Can Do video.

Want more practical leadership strategies you can start using immediately? Reach out to me about New Lens®.

Transcript

Hi, I am Neena Newberry. In today's One Thing You Can Do video series, I'm going to give you a tip in under two minutes. This is modeled after our app, which is called New Lens®, and it's all full of micro- learning and tools and strategies that will help you continue to develop your leadership skills. In today's video, what I'd like to talk to you about is giving yourself permission. And this is a really important thing that comes into play in a variety of different ways. Sometimes it can be as simple as giving yourself permission to just feel what you're feeling. So, if you're that high performer, that go-getter, you may end up just stuffing that stuff way below the surface saying, "I don't have time to deal with this or feel emotional about anything. I just need to keep moving on and just suck it up and continue."

But that stuff does end up rearing its head later. And it can impact your productivity, your efficiency, and how you show up with other people. But giving yourself permission may also mean just giving yourself permission to take a little bit of time off, especially if you're feeling burnt out. Recognize that the whole thing that they tell you on the airplane about securing your own oxygen mask first before you secure others’ is really important. This isn't just a nice-to-have thing. This is something that's actually going to allow you to be there for other people. So think about what you need to give yourself permission to do and try something out this week. For other tools, resources and strategies, visit newberrysolutions.com. And check out our app, New Lens.

A Simple Question to Stop You from Spiraling [One Thing Video Series]

Want to build your leadership skills in just two minutes? Today I’m excited to share a new segment of our One Thing You Can Do video series. In this video, I explain a simple way to shift your mindset when your frustration at a person or situation starts to send you into a negativity spiral. With so many of us experiencing stress and even burnout, having easy tools like this one to support your wellbeing is more important than ever.

For more practical leadership strategies you can start using immediately, I invite you to learn more about our award-winning New Lens® app. It’s designed to make leadership development more accessible than ever through bite-sized lessons and small action steps. Ready to learn more? Request a demo now.

Transcript

Hi, I am Neena Newberry. I'm excited to share another segment of our One Thing You Can Do video series, which is under two minutes long and modeled after our New Lens app - which is all about giving more access to leadership tools, strategies, and resources that can be helpful to you. 

So, let's get started. Today, I want to share with you that I came across a note that I had written to myself a couple of years ago, and in this note it said, “Ask yourself, what meaning are you giving this?” So let me put that into perspective for a second. In those moments where you get frustrated or you have an argument with someone or something is not going as planned, and you start to spiral a bit (you start to go negative) to ask yourself, “What meaning am I giving this?” 

Is it that, “Oh my gosh, we're never going to get this done”? Or, “Oh, this person doesn't respect me or this person doesn't listen to me.”  - you know, start doing this personalizing thing, which is easy to do when we've been in a place of lots of change, lots of stress, burnout. There are so many different things that are in the mix. So recognizing what's going on for you is really important. 

So, asking that question, “What meaning am I giving to this?” and to be able to then shift and recognize how empowered you actually are - and that is to give a different meaning to it. Maybe it's just that this person wasn't really thinking about how they came across, or this person is moving so quickly that they're not noticing the impact they're having. Or that they're just not pausing to consider the downstream effects, versus “Wow, they don't respect me. They don't like me.” and all these other things. So this week I want you to try this out, see how it goes for you. For other tools, resources, and strategies, visit newberrysolutions.com.

Is Your Team Overwhelmed? Here’s How to Help

I don’t have to tell you how stressful the past few years have been. As we developed our most recent white paper, “Managers Under Pressure,” we found research showing that all of this cumulative stress has taken a toll. Performance and morale are suffering. Employee engagement is at a seven-year low, which Gallup calls “one of the biggest threats to organizations and entire economies” in 2023. On top of that, more than 40% of professionals report feeling burned out at work. 

Photo by Vlada Karpovich

With your energy tank running on empty, you may find that you and your team members may feel more overwhelmed in the face of challenges — such as a major project or an organizational change — than you did in the past. 

Finding both short and long-term solutions is critical. 

Let’s start by taking a look at some quick ways to get yourself on track —three questions to ask your team and yourself.

1. Are you focusing on the right work?

When things feel chaotic and you are strapped for time, it’s even more critical to focus on where you can have the biggest impact on the business and your career. Challenge yourself to identify the top three areas and the percentage of time you should allocate to each. Use this to guide what you say “yes” and “no” to. With only so many hours in each day, remember that making the highest and best use of your talent and skills will help you deliver more in less time. And remember to strategically leverage others to free up your capacity. 

2. Do you create space to be strategic?

High performers know that they can’t simply react to what’s going on around them and still deliver consistently strong results. Being strategic and intentional about what they say and do is key. When things get hectic, how consistently do you carve out time on your calendar to reflect so that you can do just that? Don’t underestimate the importance of this strategy in keeping you focused on the bigger picture. Even setting aside 15 minutes a week can help you be much more proactive.

3. Are you getting enough rest?

Maintaining your energy during demanding times can be the difference between thriving and surviving. When people work long hours, they may not get the rest or sleep they need. Both are foundational to giving you the energy to maintain a positive attitude, outlook, and perspective and the ability to make good decisions. If you don’t get 7-8 hours of sleep a night or take short breaks throughout the day, what one step can you take to address this? It can be as simple as taking some deep breaths, walking away from your desk, or going to bed 15 minutes earlier.

With a longer-term view in mind, remember to also look for ways to help you and your team put sustainable practices in place.  Through thousands of hours coaching leaders, we’ve seen where individuals get stuck time and again and the strategies that can really help them move forward. That led us to make this content available through our award-winning New Lens® app. But it goes way beyond content, to help you take action with the support of cohorts and managers. We’d love to show it to you. Let us know if you’d like to see a demo.

Are You Tired of Being Strong?

Over the years, people have consistently told me how strong I am. It’s always left me wondering, “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

Well, let’s just say it’s a mixed bag. Being strong and capable has served me well but, at times, has been a huge point of frustration. Today I want to share a little of my personal journey because I know some of you strong, reliable, “never-let-a-ball-drop” women may be going through something similar. 

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

On the positive side, being strong and capable has helped me work through tough situations, take risks, go for what matters to me and show that I bring something valuable to the table. On the negative side, I regularly feel the weight of life and the fatigue that comes with always being strong and being the person that everyone can count on.  

Wouldn’t it be nice if life were a bit easier?  

Well, I’ve decided that it has to be easier. So I’ve been working to better understand my own role in creating this situation. 

My biggest epiphany was realizing how much I have been tolerating for years, without anyone really knowing that I have been – including me. It’s amazing the insight you gain when you truly start opening yourself up to the possibility that there’s something you really need to see, learn or do differently to move forward.  

As I began to seek new information, I noticed my recurring fatigue and pain. This led me to ask, “What am I missing? What do I need to learn?” From these questions, I began to see the physical and emotional signs that I had been ignoring for years. Maybe you have some, too? 

Whether you realize it or not, these signs hold invaluable insight. What chronic or recurring aches and pains do you have in your body, whether it’s back pain, headaches or something from an injury? How often do you find yourself surprised by the magnitude of your reaction to certain types of situations? The signs are all around us, but are you noticing or ignoring yours? And what are they telling you?

As I started on this journey, I enrolled in a somatic coaching class. This type of coaching is all about giving you access to your full intelligence — intellectual, emotional and physical. In Western society, we often over-emphasize intellect and ignore the rest. So I want to encourage you to get in tune with your body. It holds more wisdom than you realize. Somatic coaching has been very powerful for me personally and as I help others move past roadblocks with this approach.

For those of you running around out there in back-to-back meetings or activities in the flurry of life, start by just taking five minutes a day to simply pause and notice. How are you feeling emotionally? How does your body feel? Where does it hurt? What does all of this tell you? What do you need right now?

For me, guided meditations have become a good way to reflect. As a very physically active person, taking the traditional approach to meditation by sitting still was really hard. So I had to start by doing it my way – listening while I’m running outside. That approach has worked well, but I have also come to realize the power of just being and breathing. I don’t meditate that way very often but when I do, it’s powerful. Today was one of those days. 

Here are the words that came up for me in the silence. I think they may resonate with you:

Lighten the load.

Let go of the burden.

You are loved and cared for anyway.

Bring playfulness back into your life.

Just play.

Enjoy life.

So, today, I want to challenge all of you women running around out there over-delivering and wondering how you can keep this up, or if you even want to. Yes, I’m talking to those of you who are taking care of everyone else before you take care of yourself or tolerating less than you deserve. Lighten your load. Do something for yourself today. You deserve it. Nothing is going to fall apart. You’ve already made sure of that.

And I’m right here in your corner, cheering you on.

How to Ease Your Team’s Stress (and Your Own)

Has the cumulative stress of the past few years taken a toll on you and your team? You aren’t alone. I’m hearing the same thing from many leaders I work with. As we created Newberry Solutions’ latest white paper, “Managers Under Pressure,” we learned that research backs up what we’ve all observed firsthand:

Photo by Pedro Figueras

• Employee engagement is at a seven-year low, which Gallup calls “one of the biggest threats to organizations and entire economies” in 2023. 

• On top of that, more than 40% of professionals report feeling burned out at work.

• For managers, the situation is even more dire. Their burnout rate is 43%. 

If you lead a team, it’s crucial right now to both prioritize your own wellbeing and support the people who report to you. You can make a big difference for them. A survey by The Workforce Institute at UKG found that managers impact people’s mental health just as much as their spouses do. 

I understand, though, that helping your team deal with stress (and managing your own) might feel like just one more thing to do when your schedule is already packed. So today I want to make this a little easier by passing along some unique, impactful tools that can supplement more traditional approaches to stress management. You can use these tools yourself and share them with your team members.

• The Living in Green Project. The website for the Living in Green Project provides information about stress management that’s great for sharing with your team. One valuable tool is the “Which State Is Your Nervous System In?” infographic, which can help you understand your stress levels. Be sure to check out their blog for more simple but powerful strategies grounded in neuroscience. 

• The Chopra App. If you are interested in meditation, but not sure how to get started, this app from wellness pioneer Deepak Chopra makes the practice more accessible. It includes meditations designed for a variety of situations. You can also find meditations as short as five minutes so that you can always fit a mindful pause into your day.

• Tapping. This is one of the quickest ways I know to reduce negative emotions and get your energy back to a calm and balanced state. Tapping is also easy to learn, affordable and can be used almost anytime. Think of it as a form of acupressure as a way to identify and release roadblocks. It is backed by science, and I can tell you from my own experience that it really works — and works fast.

Resources from Newberry Solutions

Our passion is creating solutions that address the challenges we see leaders experiencing. Earlier, I mentioned our white paper, “Managers Under Pressure,” which will help you learn more about both the magnitude of workplace stress in 2023 and how you can empower your managers to deal with their own stress and support their teams. We’re also thrilled to hear from users of our award-winning New Lens® app that they feel better equipped to handle any stressful situation. Schedule your demo today.

Our New White Paper: Managers Under Pressure

At Newberry Solutions, we work with some of the world’s top companies. That means we get a firsthand look at the latest challenges organizations are facing, as well as how they are doing in meeting those challenges.

Across all fields, we’ve seen a clear trend emerge. Managers are more important than ever in helping organizations navigate key issues. But, at the same time, managers are more likely to suffer from burnout than either higher-level leaders or individual contributors are. In other words, the very people your company likely needs most right now are at high risk of disengaging or even leaving.

That’s why we created our new special report, “Managers Under Pressure: Why these key employees are feeling squeezed in 2023 — and what you can do to support them.” In it, you will learn:

• The current state of both layoffs and resignations, and all the ways that this turbulent employment environment places additional burdens on managers.

• What the “new normal” of remote and hybrid work looks like, and how managers are dealing with it.

• The cumulative effects of three change-filled years on a stressed-out workforce.

• How to support your managers’ wellbeing and productivity so that they can support your organization’s success.

Take a moment now to download your own copy of “Managers Under Pressure.” We hope that it will become a valuable resource for you and that you’ll share it with other forward-thinking leaders. After you read it, we’d love to hear your feedback and questions. So please tag me in your LinkedIn posts about our white paper, or contact us directly at info@newlensleadership.com. 

What Leadership Skills Should Training Address?

As you continue to navigate a lean work environment full of change, are you looking ahead to next year to see how to develop your team’s leadership skills? Choosing a leadership training solution can feel like “one more thing” to tackle, so I’m sharing a series of articles to help make the process a little easier.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

In the first article, I shared some questions you can use to uncover what your team needs from leadership development training. This week, I’ll focus on helping you clarify the outcomes for your training solution. Remember, the program you choose doesn’t have to solve everything that’s going on with your team, but it should address your top two or three concerns. Below are common leadership challenges we hear about. Which ones affect your team?

Reducing Stress

I don’t have to tell you that everyone is busier than ever these days. Perhaps your team, like many others, is stretched thin because of staffing cuts or hiring freezes. According to findings of the Future Forum Pulse survey released in October, burnout is still on the rise, and 43% of professionals feel burned out. As a coach and facilitator who specializes in working with high-performing women, I was especially struck that the survey found 32% more burnout among women compared with men.

To be effective, leadership development solutions must address stress and burnout. Reducing your team’s stress burden will make it easier for all of you to deal with any other ongoing issues.

Prioritizing the Right Work

In a survey by Paychex Inc., 43% of respondents said a lack of time management skills is holding back their career advancement. As we navigate through uncertainty and change with lean teams, it’s no wonder that time management is difficult for many professionals.

To quickly gauge whether your team uses time effectively, ask yourself whether each member spends most of their time on their “Big 3”: the top three areas where they can have the biggest impact on the business. If not, aligning their capacity with what drives results should be a focal point in your leadership training program.

Improving Communication

Surveys consistently reinforce the importance of their employees’ communication skills, and leaders themselves say it is one of the most important leadership competencies. 

But, for many teams, the rise of remote work has introduced new communication challenges. Issues range from miscommunication over email and chat to overcommunication by managers who keep tight reins on remote workers to not knowing how to manage the volume of communication. The leadership training solution you select should reflect the new realities of workplace communication.

Developing Stronger Relationships

Closely related to communication is the ability to nurture productive relationships at work. Even before the pandemic, many high performers fell into the trap of keeping their heads down to focus on results at the expense of relationships.

Today, we have to be even more deliberate about relationship building. Research shows that employees find it harder to form a sense of connection with their colleagues in a hybrid workplace. And that impacts everything from collaboration to employee well-being. An effective leadership training solution should guide employees in how to build relationships with remote employees. If a training program involves peer learning or affinity groups, that in itself can strengthen relationships.

Engaging and Retaining Employees

One of the most important outcomes of a leadership development program isn’t necessarily part of the curriculum. Simply offering training and development is a big step toward keeping your employees engaged and retaining them at your company. In a 2019 survey, 94% of employees said they would stay at their company longer if it invested in helping them learn. A study that year by Sitel Group found that 92% of U.S. employees said that learning increases their engagement and motivation at work. 

What’s Ahead in This Series

As you consider the outcomes I’ve mentioned today, what is most important for your organization? With this in hand, you’ll be one step closer to selecting the leadership development solution that’s right for your team. In the final article of this series, I’ll talk about what effective leadership training looks like. In the meantime, I invite you to explore one of our newest leadership development solutions, the award-winning app New Lens. New Lens is designed to teach your team members how to manage their capacity, focus on the right work, communicate with impact - in a way that fosters connection and fits into their busy schedules. We would love to see if it can help you. Schedule your demo now.

How to Stop the Loop of Negative Self-Talk

I’m usually a positive person, but earlier this summer, I noticed that my inner voice (and sometimes my outer one!) was starting to drone on like Charlie Brown’s teacher. 

During my treatment for and recovery from cancer, I was vigilant about maintaining a positive mindset and keeping people with positive energy around me. But as the ongoing challenges of recovery and a global pandemic continued, I found it hard to consistently be positive. My attention shifted more to my fatigue and desire for things to be different.

Photo by Julia Avamotive from Pexels

What I experienced is sometimes called ruminative thinking. The thing about rumination is that the more you do it, the easier it is to keep doing it.

I knew I needed more than resilience tools to snap me out of the cycle. A vacation did the trick. It was my first “real” time off in a year and a half, where I could unplug instead of dealing with medical issues. And it allowed me to break the loop of negative thoughts and feel like myself again. 

After vacation, I had the mental energy to start using the resilience tools that I know work for me. And I discovered that many of my clients couldn’t seem to shut off their negative thoughts. It’s understandable, given that stressful events can lead to rumination. And we’ve certainly had no shortage of stress lately! But when negative thoughts start spiraling, you can break the cycle. Here are a few strategies to try.

Give Your Brain a Break

Shaking things up and taking a break from the grind of daily routines can reboot your brain – especially if you focus on what energizes you.

I did this by using my vacation to reconnect with close friends, get out in nature, and challenge myself — hiking, rafting, ziplining and other outdoorsy adventures. Being in the middle of nowhere and away from my technology helped me unplug. Researchers have found that a 90-minute walk in nature or exercise reduces ruminative thinking. Learning is another research-backed way to short-circuit rumination because it helps you focus your thoughts on the moment. For my son and I, learning to fly fish did the trick.

How can you shake things up and recharge? Even a one-day staycation can be mentally invigorating. Do something to get you out of your daily patterns and reconnect you with your authentic self.

Honor Your Feelings

Until you can make time for a break, you can turn down the volume on your ruminative thoughts.

I work with high performers, who often use logic as a key driver in how they approach the world. Logic is valuable but you can’t rationalize your way out of a loop of negative thinking.

Your logical mind may tell you that it makes more sense to forget about whatever is bothering you and just move on. But your emotional mind won’t let go as easily. Rather than trying to talk yourself out of your feelings, see what happens when you acknowledge what’s happening. By giving yourself permission to feel the way that you do — even if you don’t want to feel those emotions – you will move through your emotions more quickly.

Enlist Some Help

Get an outside perspective to help you stop ruminating. Ask someone whom you trust and who will be honest with you to help you snap out of negative thinking. Give them some guidance about how to help you in advance. For example, tell them that if they notice you complaining about the same things over and over, to remind you of the tools and tactics that help you feel more resilient. Below are some resources you can have on hand for when you need them.

• How to Discover Your Resilience

• Escape These 7 Thinking Traps

• How to Move Forward Amid Uncertainty

• 10 Ways to Use Your Body to Change Your Mind

• How to Overcome Negative Feelings

Remember that the goal isn’t to stop negative self-talk from ever happening. It’s to help you break the cycle more quickly. If you’ve found yourself ruminating lately, what’s the first step you will take this week to make a shift?

10 Ways to Use Your Body to Change Your Mind

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

As high performers, we're used to thinking of solutions for challenges. But sometimes all that thinking just doesn't work. Trying to think your way out of feeling stressed, frustrated or stuck often ends up making things worse. In the same way, it's hard to think yourself into feeling energetic, confident or calm.

Instead, there's another approach that can be a lot more effective — and a lot more fun. I'm a big believer in using your body to change your mind. More and more research shows us the power of the mind-body connection. Because of this connection, some activities that might not feel productive can actually help you be at your best.

So the next time you find yourself thinking about how to solve or fix something (especially if that "something" is your own mood or mindset), turn your brain off for a while and try one of these ideas instead. 

1. Get Moving

Exercise doesn't just enhance your physical fitness. It also gets your brain in shape. Studies have found a pretty amazing list of mental benefits from exercise. To name just a few, a good workout helps your brain produce feel-good endorphins, improves your stress response, boosts your confidence and reduces anxiety. The next time you feel stressed or stumped, step away from your desk for a walk. Even a quick break for some physical activity can lift your mood and clear mental blocks.

2. Go Outside

That walk will benefit your productivity even more if you can take it outside. Time in nature is a scientifically proven mood booster. It lowers your blood pressure and levels of cortisol, the "fight or flight" hormone. And when it comes to boosting your energy, a nature break is right up there with a cup of coffee. When you return to your desk, it should be easier to focus and concentrate.

3. Laugh It Up

If you tend to check social media during your breaks, skip your news feeds and go straight to the page of your friend who shares the funniest memes. Or perhaps watch a few minutes of a standup special or comedy series. I don't have to tell you that a good laugh feels great. But it also has profound effects on your body and mind. Laughing raises your energy and lowers stress and negative feelings. It can even help you process something that's been bothering you.

4. Let the Tears Flow

Crying may not feel as good in the moment as laughter does. But it's just as beneficial for you. When you cry, your body releases chemicals that can actually help ease both physical and emotional pain and leave you feeling calmer. Some researchers even think crying purges stress hormones and other toxins from your body. If you tend to hold back tears and "push through," see what happens when you give yourself the time and privacy to release all that tension in a good cry.

5. Give and Get Hugs (Safely)

One of the hardest things about the Covid pandemic is that it has limited our physical contact with people we care about. But now, as more of us get vaccinated, there should be more hugs in our future. And not a moment too soon. Touch lowers stress hormones and raises our body's feel-good chemicals, like serotonin. If you live with others, don't forget to spread the hugs to them, too. Sometimes we get lost in our phones in an effort to de-stress. But it would actually lower your stress a lot more to put down the phone and call for a group hug.

6. Maintain Your Appearance

As the pandemic continues on, many of us are feeling lethargy and apathy. In the words of one woman interviewed by The New York Times, remote work has us stuck in "deep pajamaville." Getting out of pajamaville can help us cope with pandemic fatigue. We often talk about maintaining a professional appearance in terms of how it makes others perceive us. But don't forget that the way you look, and the level of care you put into your appearance, also affects how you perceive yourself. This week, devote a little extra time to getting ready even when you don't have a Zoom call. Pull a favorite outfit or accessory back out. Pay attention to how changing your physical appearance affects your confidence and energy.

7. Boogie Down

One advantage of remote work? You have the privacy to get your groove on to your favorite music when you need a break. Dancing can help you stave off anxiety and depression, research has shown. Need some new moves? Get your kids to teach you viral dance trends from TikTok.

8. Belt One Out

While you're dancing, feel free to sing along (even if your kids cringe). Like spending time in nature or getting a big hug, singing lowers the stress hormone cortisol. So go ahead and unleash your inner Beyonce or Bruno Mars.

9. Strike a Pose

No time to take a walk — or stage your own mini musical production number? Just take a moment to stand up and put your hands on your hips (think Wonder Woman). Researcher Amy Cuddy has found that "power poses" like this one help us become "happier, more optimistic, more confident, more creative, more likely to take action, more likely to seek rewards and opportunities, (and) more physically energetic."

10. Be Still

A lot of the ideas in this article involve moving your body in some way. But sometimes what we need most is to quiet the body and, in turn, the mind. Meditation allows us to pause our relentless doing to just be. Practicing mindfulness meditation changes your brain activity — even when you are not meditating.

Your body holds as much wisdom as your mind does. What is it telling you it needs right now? Commit to trying at least one of these ideas this week. For more self-care strategies like the ones in this article, pick up a copy of "Staying in the Driver's Seat," part of my Leadership EDGE℠ series.

Strategies to Stay Calm & Focused in Uncertainty

Did you ever think you’d get this much experience navigating the unknown in this short a timeframe? Well, I certainly didn’t. In addition to all the changes that the coronavirus pandemic brought to my business and personal life in 2020, I was diagnosed with breast cancer on January 2. Although I’m cancer free now, there are still days where I ask myself, “Did all that really happen in 2020?” It was slow and fast all at the same time.

The good news is that I learned some incredible lessons – ones that will serve me for a lifetime and that I will share with others. For starters, the four surgeries and four rounds of chemotherapy in the middle of a pandemic reaffirmed for me that we have far more control over how things unfold than we realize.  I hope that some of these strategies resonate with you, especially as you navigate what’s happening in your life.

Focus on What You Know

When there's a lot of uncertainty in your life, where do your thoughts go? For most of us, it’s all too easy to zero in on everything that you don't know, or the gap between where you are today and where you want to be. Instead, ground yourself in what you do know. What information do you have about your situation? And what else do you know that can be helpful now? For starters, you have shown resilience in the past and know what's helped you during other tough times. And you know who can provide the kind of support you most need, and how they can best do so.

Be Fully Present

We can all play the “What if…?” game. It can be exhausting. Worrying about all the different scenarios and how they might play out in the future can drain the energy right out of you. Take a minute to notice how often you hit your mental "fast forward" button and project into the future when you are stressed out. 

After chemotherapy, I remember how I would go through unpredictable waves of feeling good and feeling bad. For example, I would feel fine for a half hour and then terrible the next half hour. At first, I would get disheartened when I realized that the “feeling good” was only temporary. But, over time, I recognized that I needed a different strategy. I didn't want to ruin the time that I actually felt good anticipating and worrying about when or if I would start feeling bad again. By focusing on the present moment and how I could make the most of it, it changed everything. What would change for you if you shifted your attention from the future to the present—to what’s happening right in front of you?

Take One Step at a Time

A big change can leave you with an overwhelming list of items to work through. That's true whether we're talking about a serious illness, a job loss or even a crisis like the winter storm we recently went through in Texas. If your focus is on solving that giant issue or project looming over your head, it can be paralyzing. If you find yourself in this situation, ask yourself, “What is one step that I can take now to start moving in the right direction?” When you’ve completed that step, identify the next. Framing things this way makes even the toughest challenges a lot more manageable. By not focusing on solving the whole problem, you will be able to solve it faster. There is a reason why my mantra is “small steps can lead to big results.”

Before you move on to the next thing in your day, I want to challenge you to try one of these strategies now. And if you'd like to hear more ideas on building a change mindset, check out Patti Johnson's interview with me on the "Be a Wave Maker: Conversations on Change" podcast. I’ve even gone back and listened to it myself to make sure I don’t lose sight of some of those small, but powerful steps that can make a big difference.

One Thing Video Series: Is Stress Affecting Your Relationships?

For busy professionals, prolonged stress affects how we show up for others, both at work and at home. And who isn't experiencing consistent stress these days? In my latest One Thing You Can Do video, I talk about protecting yourself, and your relationships, from stress.

How to Move Forward Amid Uncertainty

It all adds up: Election stress, pandemic stress, economic stress. Not to mention the regular stresses of our busy lives.

But no matter where we are emotionally right now, and no matter what lies ahead, we're all working to keep moving forward on the things that are important to us.

Your instinct might be to just keep pushing yourself. But that's not sustainable. Instead, I want to encourage you to take time today to think about where you are and to plot your path forward.

It's easy sometimes to overlook the first part of that process: checking in with yourself. But self-awareness, especially during times of change, is a crucial part of being a leader.

How Are You Right Now?

That's why I want you to pause to consider how you are doing at this moment. Where would you place yourself on a scale of 1 to 10?

A “10” means you consistently feel strong, optimistic or resilient. You developed strategies that have been working well for you this year. A “1” means you may feel depleted, drained or are struggling from week to week. You're at your lowest point of 2020. If neither of those extremes applies to you and how you feel vacillates, you may fall somewhere in the middle.

Remember that this exercise is less about the numerical rating and more about being honest with yourself and noticing what’s going on for you.

Next, think about what has helped you navigate all the uncertainty of 2020 so far. What has kept you going and gotten you through the most difficult times? Here are a few possible answers to help spark your thinking:

• I've felt my best this year when I've protected my time for exercising even when my schedule is hectic.

• I've discovered that writing down my feelings really helps me de-stress.

• Talking with friends, colleagues or mentors who lift my energy has helped me deal with the hardest parts of 2020.

What Do You Really Need?

Finally, pick one of those helpful habits or activities and think about how you can bring it to the forefront. This is important no matter what your emotional state and stress levels are right now. If you're feeling good, understanding why this is so will help you keep building on your momentum. If you're not doing so great, the best way to start turning things around is going back to the tools and strategies that have worked for you before.

Either way, make sure the step you focus on is easy to implement. It should involve an action you can take immediately to give yourself more of what you need. You can even share what you are doing with someone close to you so that they can hold you accountable.

As always, I want to remind you that small steps lead to big results. That's never felt more true. And I'm here to support you as you take those steps. Here are a few more resources that can help:

• Why pausing makes you more productive

• How to use passion to overcome fear

• When you are tired of being strong

• The best leaders ask for help

• All self-paced tools from Newberry Executive Solutions

How to Keep Your Cool and Communicate Clearly

Have you lost your cool at work lately? Or been on the receiving end of someone else losing their cool?

You're not alone. These are stressful times (to put it mildly!). And when we're under stress, it's harder to communicate effectively. Showing up the way you want to with your colleagues takes some extra intention, especially during difficult conversations.

How Stress Undermines Communication 

Even if you normally communicate with ease at the office, you might notice that it's more difficult lately.

That's because your brain can shift into a totally different mode under stress. Instead of being calm, creative and empathetic, you may be in "fight or flight" mode. So if you surprised yourself by using a sharp tone and harsh words during a recent encounter, this is probably what was happening.

If the person you are talking to is also stressed, it compounds the issue. They will have more trouble processing what you're telling them and are more likely to get defensive. For example, maybe your direct report failed to do something that you requested even though you thought you had explained it clearly more than once. Or perhaps they acted offended after you made a seemingly neutral statement.

On top of stress, many of us are communicating more via phone and video calls these days instead of in-person meetings. This makes it even harder to understand and be understood. More than half of communication comes from body language. So we're losing a lot of important cues even on video calls.

Do Others Hear Your Words or Your Tone?

You can see all of this play out in a recent coaching call I had with a client.

She needed to have a conversation with an employee who hadn’t completed critical, time-sensitive work. It's one of those talks that nobody looks forward to, even in less-stressful times. So we decided to role-play the conversation to help her prepare.

When we acted out the conversation together, her tone has such an edge that I couldn't even hear what she was really saying. Her annoyance and frustration clouded the entire message. It didn't feel like she wanted to understand what might have happened. Instead, it felt like my client had already made up her mind that the employee couldn’t possibly have a good reason.

I asked my client to go through the role-play again, this time from a place of curiosity, truly seeking to understand what had happened from the employee’s perspective. Her tone was more neutral this time, but she shared so much detail that I got lost.

On the third try, I asked her to keep the same tone but to focus on the "headlines" first, and then details. This time she nailed it. When we debriefed, she laughed, telling me that she simply repeated what she had said in our first role-play. The difference was that this time I “heard” her, because her tone was more open and not so accusatory.

This exercise was eye-opening for my client. She realized that in her drive for results, she doesn’t always stop to evaluate her approach and how it could affect the relationship with her employee.

If you find yourself on edge a bit more lately, a role-playing session like the one I had with my client could help you prepare for a difficult conversation. It can help keep those strong emotions in check and prevent things from escalating.

Before you move on with your day, I want to challenge you to identify one action you will take this week. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Assess your patience level on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being high. Self-awareness can do wonders in helping you make a shift.

• Find a safe place to vent your frustrations. And, no, that safe place is not at work. Remember that handwriting your thoughts (uncensored) on a piece of paper can quickly do the trick.

• Identify one action you can take to reduce your stress level and infuse some positive energy into your life.

Review the key principles of clear communication, which are more important ever right now. My guide "Communicating With Impact," from the Leadership EDGE℠ series, is a great starting point.

Are You Waiting for Things to Get 'Back to Normal'?

A lot of high performers have been pushing hard lately, figuring that they'll catch their breath when things get "back to normal."

If that sounds like you, I want you to pause for a moment and reconsider your approach. The seismic changes we are all experiencing continue to unfold. Since "no normal is the new normal," what does that mean for the way you work and live?

This Is a Year Like No Other

When we're so busy with day-to-day tasks, it's easy to forget everything that's changed in just the past 12 or so weeks.

Covid-19, which was declared a pandemic on March 11, may have you worried about your own health or the health of loved ones. You may have also experienced profound changes at work. The economic impact of the pandemic has spurred furloughs and layoffs. With those cuts, people who still have jobs face heavier workloads. Many of us also began working from home — while simultaneously caring for our kids all day as schools closed.

And then, in the midst of the pandemic, George Floyd's death set off protests, civil unrest and a national reckoning with racism. If you are a Black American, you may have felt more anxiety and depression. On the business front, many organizations are making changes to better support diversity. (And some have faced public allegations of racism.)

That's a lot! As people have been pointing out on social media, it's like we're experiencing the 1918 flu epidemic, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s all at once.

Are You Stuck in Crisis Mode?

Understandably, a lot of us have been working in crisis mode — or "just trying to get through."

The problem with that approach is that it’s not sustainable with all that is going on. Some states (including Texas, where I live) have seen a surge in coronavirus cases. We're also seeing a new wave of layoffs. For those still employed, working from home remains widespread, and work-life balance is suffering. And while some districts plan to reopen schools this fall, it's far from certain how that will happen and the changes it will require. At the same time, the protests sparked by George Floyd's death continue, and new incidents (like the police shooting of Rayshard Brooks) further increase tensions.

The bottom line? "Normal" might be a long way off. You might be used to simply powering through short-term crises at work. But that isn't sustainable during this period of ongoing change. As an executive coach, I'm seeing a lot of fatigue among high performers who are relentlessly pushing themselves.

Strategies to Accept and Adapt

If you're feeling exhausted, here are some strategies to avoid burnout:

• Focus on the present. None of us can predict the changes and disruption that are ahead of us.

• Use your body to change your mind. Activities like physical exercise, dancing to music you love, singing, playing with your kids, or doing things that make you laugh can be very effective.

• Be kind to yourself. For example, if you always push for perfection in your work, ease the pressure. Your "good enough" may be more than good enough right now.

• We’ve all had moments of irritation and impatience. It’s totally understandable. Find constructive ways to release the negativity so that you don't unleash it on others. Start by pulling the thoughts and feelings out of your head (uncensored) and onto a piece of paper. You’ll be surprised at how well this works.

• Reflect about what you really need. What have you learned from the past few weeks about your own tendencies in this “new normal”? And what does that mean you should stop, start, or keep doing?

• Give yourself a break. Maybe you have to defer your dream summer vacation but can you find another way to recharge? A day trip or just taking a few days off, even if you just stay at home, might do the trick. If nothing else, deliberately add breaks into your back-to-back work schedule.

You can't control what happens next in this tumultuous year but you can make choices to improve your mindset and reenergize. This week, identify one thing you will do better navigate the new normal. My self-paced tools may help you navigate some of the challenges you are facing.