Finding Career Satisfaction

A yoga mat ain’t going to cut it. People are stressed out. And according to Gallup’s latest report 41% of employees report experiencing “a lot of stress.” And it doesn’t matter how many mindfulness apps you throw at it, they’re not going to fix poor management or the fact that people don’t have what they need to get their jobs done. There isn't a one-size-fits all solution to reducing stress, as it can vary depending on how an organisation is setup and how people get stuff done on a daily basis. But with us spending an estimated 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime, we need some series stress-busting strategies to shift these worrying statistics. So, where to start? From our extensive research and experience with over 100 organisations, we've identified the following core principles that need to be in place for people to feel engaged, motivated and happy in their work. They are: 1️⃣ Alignment: Clearly defined purpose, values and strategic goals embedded across the employee experience. 2️⃣ Appreciation: Regular recognition of individual and team contributions through meaningful praise, gratitude, and rewards. 3️⃣ Belonging: A deep sense of acceptance, celebrating diversity and providing equal access to opportunities and resources. 4️⃣ Communication: Consistent communication with documented rituals and processes for timely and accessible information transfer. 5️⃣ Empowerment: Support, systems, structure, and tools that enable teams and individuals to be productive, make decisions, and work autonomously. 6️⃣ Flexibility: Choice and adaptability in work methods to accommodate individual needs and optimise productivity. 7️⃣ Growth mindset: A shared belief that individuals can grow and improve their skills through hard work, testing new ideas, and sharing learning opportunities. 8️⃣ Play: Regular opportunities for fun and creative activities with peers to facilitate social connections and trust. 9️⃣ Psychological safety: A belief that people won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes. 🔟 Wellbeing: Prioritising physical, emotional, social, environmental, intellectual, and financial health. So it's time to pop the yoga mats away, and think about how you can start to reinforce these these principles into your daily practices, and create a workplace where people feel seen, valued and supported. Got some stress-busting strategies to share? Let us know in the comments so that we can collectively design kinder, fairer, better designed companies. Not sure where to get started? We’ve got stacks of resources over on our journal pages, check out the links in the comments 👇 #CompanyCulture #EmployeeEngagement #Wellbeing

Most “stress management” initiatives in the workplace completely miss the point. April is recognized as National Stress Awareness Month and during this time, we see companies sharing meditation apps, yoga classes, and breathing techniques. And yes, those help. But if your employees are constantly in fight-or-flight mode because of how they’re treated at work… no wellness app in the world is going to fix that. Here’s what the stress management conversation needs to include: - Leading teams efficiently and building trust - Setting consistent, realistic expectations - Communicating with clarity and respect - Providing feedback that’s direct and kind - Modeling healthy work-life boundaries at the top I’ve worked with organizations that didn’t realize the stress they were “managing” was actually being created inside their culture. Don’t just talk about stress. Audit the culture that's creating it. I have helped organizations create positive workplace cultures for 16 years. If you’re ready to take the conversation beyond wellness apps, I can help you start with the hard stuff - the stuff that actually works. #CivilityAtWork #LIPostingDayApril #Stress

Good intentions cannot build a healthy work environment. We tell leaders to be inclusive, but rarely show them how. Inclusion is a daily practice, not a feeling. Meetings where the loudest voice dominates are systems designed to exclude. My dissertation on Workplace Neurodiverse Equity used Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory to show how environments shape our capacity to thrive. Neurodiversity is the natural variation in human functioning. Everyone is part of it. Some of us just need a bit more intentional help. So, here are 10 practices to lower stress and increase support for your team: 1/ Agendas Reality: Spontaneous demands spike cortisol. Practice: Send agendas and necessary decisions 24 hours in advance. Yield: Ensures deep processing time. 2/ Brainstorming Reality: Verbal brainstorming blocks ideas. Practice: First 10 minutes are silent. Write ideas before speaking. Yield: Eliminates bias of loudest voice. 3/ Cameras Reality: Forced visual attendance drains energy. Practice: State engagement is measured by contributions, not faces. Yield: Reduces sensory overload and prevents fatigue. 4/ Cold Calls Reality: Cold calls trigger fight or flight. Practice: Give notice before asking for input. Yield: Reduces performance anxiety and restores executive function. 5/ Captions Reality: Auditory processing varies wildly. Practice: Enable live transcription on every call by default. Yield: Ensures information is captured despite barriers. 6/ Movement Reality: Movement regulates; it is not a distraction. Practice: Normalize pacing, knitting, or sketching. Yield: Increases focus and emotional regulation. 7/ Processing Time Reality: Forced participation creates anxiety. Practice: Normalize saying you need time to process. Yield: Cultivates psychological safety. 8/ Expectations Reality: Unspoken rules are invisible barriers. Practice: If an expectation matters, write it down. Yield: Eliminates ambiguity and social guessing. 9/ Visuals Reality: Auditory information is fleeting. Practice: Never just speak a point. Share screen or provide written anchor. Yield: Reinforces working memory. 10/ Transitions Reality: Back to back tasks drain executive function. Practice: End meetings at 25 or 50 minute mark. Enforce strict hard stop. Yield: Respects biological limits and allows recovery. Stop relying on good intentions. Start cultivating an environment where every mind can thrive. Just remember, we are all a bit different, stay curious, and adapt to each person. What is one neuro-inclusive practice you plan to plant in your next meeting?

Helping your team cope with stress looks like kindness. Fixing the workload is the real leadership. High performers are used to having a lot on their plates. But there are times when it really is too much. Sometimes the workload can be more than what people can handle, or the team's been working intensely for months and is running out of energy. A lot of companies respond by offering wellness apps, spa vouchers, or stress management workshops. That treats the symptoms, not the root cause. The best way to prevent burnout isn't teaching people how to cope with more stress. You need to redesign the work to create less stress. Here are 10 ways you can do that: 1️⃣ Cap work in progress ↳ Stop running everything at once. If something new starts, something else pauses or stops. 2️⃣ Plan from capacity ↳ Plan work based on the time and people you have available. Leave room for any curveballs. 3️⃣ Reduce meeting load ↳ Cut back on recurring meetings where possible. Protect blocks of uninterrupted time for deep work. 4️⃣ Name the real priorities ↳ Define the top 1–3 outcomes for the week. Be explicit about what’s getting done. 5️⃣ Remove bottlenecks ↳ Make ownership and decision authority explicit. Reduce waiting caused by handoffs and approvals. 6️⃣ Set response-time norms ↳ Be clear about what needs a fast response and what doesn’t. Make it explicit to the whole team. 7️⃣ Design around energy ↳ Pay attention to pacing across the day and week. Sustained output beats constant intensity. 8️⃣ Eliminate unnecessary repeat work ↳ Use templates and automation for repetitive tasks to free up energy for high-level decisions. 9️⃣ Build recovery into the plan ↳ Schedule coverage so time off is actually possible. Ease the load after major pushes. 🔟 Reduce decision overload ↳ Cut down the number of decisions you have to make each day. Use clear defaults so the team takes ownership. Wellness perks might help in the short-term, but they won't fix how the work is structured. Talk to your team, ask what challenges they're facing, and work through the solutions to relieve their stress. Which one of these would make the biggest difference for your team right now? For more posts on leading in ways that support sustainable performance, follow Clif Mathews. ---- 📨 Every week, 16,000+ execs learn how to define their own success via socials and in my newsletter, Second Summit Brief. Sign up here so you don't miss out: bit.ly/SecondSummitBrief 🔁 Repost to help another leader shift from managing stress to removing it.

Wellness programs aren't solving our workplace stress problem. Despite billions invested in corporate wellness initiatives, mental health challenges keep growing. The reason? We're treating symptoms instead of addressing root causes. The data is staggering: 86% of workers experienced moderate to extreme stress last year, with work being the primary driver. That stress costs U.S. companies $47.6 billion annually in lost productivity alone. The shift we need: Instead of handing out mental health resources after people are already burned out, leaders must prevent stress before it starts. This means: ✅ Building psychological safety where people can speak up without fear  ✅ Using data (listening sessions, pulse surveys) to identify risks early . ✅ Training managers in inclusive leadership because leaders account for 70% of the variance in employee engagement When psychological safety is high, only 3% of employees are at risk of quitting. That's not just good for people, it's a strategic advantage. To foster a psychologically safe work environment: 1️⃣ Normalize honest, two-way conversations between leaders and team members. 2️⃣ Set the tone through empathy, transparency, and vulnerability. 3️⃣ Invite diverse perspectives and encourage idea-sharing at all levels. 4️⃣ Foster a feedback-rich environment where learning is celebrated, not penalized. The question isn't whether your team is stressed. It's whether you're addressing the causes before there's a crisis or after. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/eg44VUnv #Leadership #EmployeeWellbeing #PsychologicalSafety

Stress costs the UK economy 28 billion pounds every year in lost productivity and sick days. That number is not just data. It is a warning. Because behind it are overwhelmed teams, stretched capacity, and systems that are asking for more than people can sustainably give. Yet, when organisations respond, the solutions rarely match the scale. A mindfulness workshop. A one-off wellbeing session. A reminder to “take breaks.” And while those efforts are not wrong, they are not enough. Because they focus on helping people cope, instead of fixing what is creating the pressure in the first place. This is where leadership comes in. Because workplace stress is not just an individual experience. It is a structural outcome shaped by how work is designed, how expectations are set, and how leaders behave under pressure. So if the source is systemic, the solution must be systemic too. It starts with clarity. Clear priorities reduce noise. Clear roles reduce friction. Clear expectations reduce anxiety. When people know what matters and what can wait, pressure becomes more manageable. Then comes workload design. Sustainable performance requires realistic planning, not constant urgency. Leaders must move from “everything is important” to disciplined prioritisation, where capacity is respected and trade-offs are made consciously. And just as important is psychological safety. People need to be able to say “this is too much” without fear. Because when teams can speak early, stress is managed early, before it becomes burnout. Finally, leadership modelling ties it all together. If leaders reward overwork, ignore boundaries, and operate in constant urgency, no policy will fix that. But when leaders demonstrate focus, rest, and disciplined execution, it resets what is acceptable across the organisation. This is what sustainable stress reduction looks like. Not isolated initiatives, but aligned systems. Not quick fixes, but consistent leadership choices. Because you cannot workshop your way out of a culture problem. You have to lead your way out of it. And when leaders close the gap between the scale of stress and the seriousness of their response, the result is not just less burnout. It is better thinking, stronger performance, and organisations that can actually sustain their success. Happy Friday!

Been through product launches, 100-hour weeks, impossible deadlines. Here's how I manage stress—no fluff, just real tactics 👇 1. Intentional Pauses Even when swamped, I schedule 5-minute breaks between tasks. Sounds counterintuitive, but it's a game-changer. Microsoft research backs this up: short breaks reduce cumulative stress. I step away from screens, breathe, or stretch. These "unproductive" moments boost clarity. 2. Tech Boundaries No badge of honor for always being "on." I use Do Not Disturb, block notifications, and set clear availability windows both during and after hours. The Digital Wellness Institute confirms: boundaries reduce burnout and boost productivity. Tip: Designate "deep work" hours. Share this with your team to align expectations. 3. One Non-Negotiable Routine When busy, don't drop all self-care. Double down on one thing. For me, it's a midday walk without my phone. Find your one habit and protect it fiercely. Real-world example: During a major client workshop with tight deadlines, I used these tactics. Result? More clarity, energy, and presence for both team and clients. Remember: Small acts compound over time. Prioritize what truly matters. Your well-being isn't indulgent—it's essential for peak performance.

The most dangerous words in a high-pressure workplace? “I’m fine.” I’ve seen it in law firms, in tech teams, even in my own companies. By the time someone finally admits they’re not fine, burnout has usually already taken hold. The real problem isn’t that people don’t need help. It’s that they don’t feel safe asking for it. An open-door policy is not enough. Leaders need to build systems that make support-seeking part of the culture. Here are strategies that work: 🔹 Micro-affirmations & vulnerability modeling Notice the small signals. Recognize effort. Share your own challenges openly, when leaders model it, others feel permission to follow. It shows strength, not weakness. 🔹 Collective leadership responsibility Spread decisions across senior members. Shared burden builds resilience and normalizes asking for help. No one should carry the weight alone. 🔹 Peer support networks Confidential groups with rotating facilitators (every 3–6 months) keep conversations safe and fresh. Rotation avoids hierarchy pressure and supporter burnout. 🔹 Stress journaling Let employees log stress privately. Review anonymized themes and fix systemic issues instead of targeting individuals. Patterns reveal what people rarely say out loud. 🔹 Time-batched emotional check-ins Protect short weekly slots for open check-ins. Treat them like client meetings, non-negotiable. A small window can prevent big breakdowns. And here are three rituals you can start this week: ✔ A 15-minute Support Circle where leaders go first → It shows strength in admitting challenges. ✔ An Overwhelm emoji in Slack or Teams → A tiny symbol that lowers the barrier to speak up. ✔An Ask Me Anything: Stress Edition slot → Honest answers from leaders remove the stigma of stress. This isn’t about being soft. It’s about protecting performance, reducing risk, and keeping great people in the game. When leaders engineer psychological safety, firms don’t just prevent burnout, they unlock resilience and long-term growth.

💥 The real workplace crisis of 2025 isn’t AI…it’s chronic stress. Across multiple reputable studies, workplace stress and burnout are hitting their highest levels in years (but the numbers vary more than headlines suggest.) Here’s what the data actually shows: • Wellhub’s 2024 State of Work-Life Wellness report found that nearly 85% of U.S. workers have experienced burnout or exhaustion, and 83% reported stress-related sleep loss in 2025. • A 2025 Forbes/Censuswide study reports 66% of employees experiencing burnout — still one of the highest levels ever recorded. • Across studies, most research places burnout somewhere between 66% and 85%, depending on how burnout is defined and which populations were surveyed. Different numbers, same conclusion: Workplace stress is spiking, and it’s affecting nearly every demographic — especially Gen Z, millennials, mid-level managers, caregivers, and women. The impacts are not just emotional...Stress is showing up as: • Increased absenteeism • Rising turnover • Difficulty focusing • Poor sleep • Strained relationships • Higher long-term health risks This is bigger than individual burnout. It’s a structural risk to performance and wellbeing. But we’re not powerless...small, evidence-based practices help The research is clear: ✨ Gratitude (15 minutes/day) - Supports mental wellness, reduces depressive symptoms, and improves sleep and heart health. ✨ Laughter - Single laughter sessions can reduce cortisol (a key stress hormone) by up to 37%. ✨ Mindfulness (10 minutes/day) - Reduces anxiety and depression while improving well-being for at least a month after consistent practice. ✨ Consistent sleep routines - Improve emotional stability, mental clarity, and stress resilience. ✨ Social connection - Strong relationships reduce long-term health risks, loneliness raises early mortality similar to smoking. The takeaway? Stress isn’t a personal failure. It’s a systems pattern (and leaders who understand that will define the future of work). If you’re feeling stretched thin this season, you’re not alone. You’re living through one of the most demanding transitions in modern work. And there are ways to rebuild your foundation. On The Shift Show, we’re exploring how professionals can stay future-ready without sacrificing their wellbeing in the process. 💡 What’s one thing helping you manage stress right now?