Take a second and check in with yourself. Are your shoulders raised up somewhere close to your ears? Relax them. Is your jaw feeling tight? Release the tension. The world is stressful right now, and as we tunnel headlong into Stress Awareness Month, we need to stay alert.
All right. Now that you’ve been detoxed, it’s time to focus your attention on others. Your coworkers are most likely experiencing the same anxiety you’re currently under, but due to virtual circumstances, it can be harder than ever to identify.
Don’t worry, we’ve compiled a series of ways you can be supportive—all from a distance, of course.
Listen
We’re not the first person to advise you to listen to what your coworkers are actually saying, but we will be the first to underline it. Very rarely will your teammate actually come up and say, “Hey, I’m feeling really overwhelmed. Can you help me with this project?” But what they will do is give you context clues to pick up on. A sigh here, a lackluster response there, and you’ll be able to identify if someone is in trouble.
Engage
Now that you’ve seen a problem, here’s the time when you acknowledge and fix it. Our teams at Kinetix have been great about hosting casual remote hang-outs, where we are able to talk and banter like we would do in the office. Scheduling thirty-minute hang sessions like this is a great way to check-in with your team and still feel connected as a group. Each weekday morning we start the day with a chat over coffee, and I can attest that it has helped me ease into each workday feeling cheerier about working from home, and it’s been helpful in identifying who needs extra help on a certain day.
Help
That’s what you’ve been looking for all along, hasn’t it? Your team is made up of humans just like you, and when the stress gets to be too much, everybody likes a helping hand now and again. There are several ways to go about this; you can divvy up work, prioritize with them, send them a nice note, or even just let them vent to you. Stress can express itself in a myriad of ways, but letting your people know you’re available to them is key.
Take these tips with you as when finish out National Stress Awareness Month. And remember to relax those shoulders!