Part 3 in the Trilogy of leading working ability: employee’s role

In the trilogy of Leading working ability we have come to the third part. In the first part, we discussed the role of the manager leading people, keeping the needs of their brain in mind. The second part was about the role of the CEO or board in leading working ability as an integral part of leading a profitable business. In this third part, I will focus on the employee’s own responsibility for taking care of themselves, preferably also their working ability, in order to live a life you enjoy and is mainly fulfilling to you (note: a perfect life does not exist...), at work and at your leisure time.

Managing working ability: The roles and the rules; who is responsible for what?

Just like in (work)life in general, when managing the working ability it is important to have clear responsibilities; everyone knows their role, and everyone is committed to take responsibility on their part. In my mind managing the working ability is team work, with the following responsibilities.

In the team there is an enabler, which is the top leadership of the company. The enabler provides the necessary resources and processes, tools and IT systems, sets the direction, and ensures that the course is maintained. Then there is the influencer, who is the manager. The manager has a huge opportunity to impact the stress levels and mental health of his/her team members, for better or for worse. Are you helping your employees to reach their best potential, or are you pushing them towards harmful mental overload and weaker motivation and performance? And last but not least, the employee him/herself plays a very important role in managing his/her own working ability. More about that in this blog.

Take Care of Yourself!

When I say "employee" in this blog, I mean all employees. Whether you are a team member, a manager, or even a CEO, you are at work, and it is crucial that you take care of yourself and your working ability. You should never delegate this responsibility to anyone else. You are the person with whom you will spend the rest of your life, hopefully a long one. And by life, I mean also life outside work. It is important that you get along with yourself and take care of your own health. So, don’t give this responsibility to anyone else. If harmful stress or pressure start building up, seek support; from your manager, from your loved ones, or if necessary, from occupational healthcare.

Managing your own working ability 

What does managing your own working ability mean in practice? Personally, I find it a bit artificial to talk about working ability as something separate from life itself. The same things that help you maintain your working ability also keep you healthier and ensure you can do things that are important to you – in other words, it is more about managing your overall well-being.

Healthy Habits

There has been a lot of discussion about healthy habits, and in this blog I will just briefly touch them. Hyvää Elämää will soon launch a coaching program about lifestyle; what does good to your brain and mental well-being, so more on that in the near future.

To succeed in resilience, stress tolerance and mental well-being it is crucial to ensure adequate recovery. In terms of recovery, sufficient and high quality sleep is the very most important topic. There are other helpful topics, too, and those will be covered in a more detailed level in the becoming coaching program.

Physical activity is great for overall health and also for brain health and mental well-being, be it stress tolerance, memory, learning, concentration or creativity. With physical activity I am not talking about serious athletics or sports, but basic physical activity promoting health. You can find the updated national physical activity recommendations here. 

Proper nutrition also plays a significant role what comes to mental health. There is about 50-500 billion living nerve cells in your brain, each requiring comprehensive and high quality nutrition to function properly.

More on healthy habits and choices that support your well-being and mental health in the upcoming coaching program. Remember to subscribe to our newsletter here to stay updated! 

Thinking Skills

A hugely important and significant factor to copy with your stress levels and mental well-being. You have tens of thousands thoughts every day. Thanks to our brains being stuck in the caveman era, the brain tends to think in a threat-oriented, often negative way, and sometimes our thoughts are even complete nonsense. All this is normal brain activity. 

The challenge begin when we start listening to our thoughts and considering them as facts. Thoughts lead to emotions, which then lead to reactions. So, just a thought that feels threatening can trigger a fight or flight response i.e. stress reaction in you.
You can’t control your thoughts, but it’s very useful to learn how to deal with them. More on this also in the upcoming training.

Managing your own work

Managing your own work is a theme where we have a lot to do in today’s working life.

By managing your work, you’ll make your workdays more sustainable, ensuring that you have energy also to other important things in life.  Naturally, the possibilities to manage your own work is not the same in all kind of jobs, but at every job and workplace there is something we can influence on, and it is important to do so.

Especially in knowledge based business you need to have strong self-management skills. It’s no longer reasonable to think that your manager is always looking over your shoulder and telling you what to do next. That’s not a) fun nor b) practical. Therefore, it is crucial that you take care of and strengthen your own self management skills at work, whether it is about calendar management, taking breaks, prioritization, asking for help, etc. We will also launch a training program on this topic, as soon as the material is ready to go. So again, please subscribe here to our newsletter and you are among the first to know about this program!

What if you’ve ended up in a job that is not good for you?

Finally, I want to address something that doesn’t get much attention but can have a significant impact on work related stress and overall well-being. As an occupational physician, I’ve many times faced a situation where the employee knows s/he is in a job that does not do good for him/herself. It may be the work or work environment that doesn’t fit with their values, or the job is not meaningful, maybe even so that the competence needed or ways of working are not a match with the employees’ own strengths. Yet, they continue in the same position.

In such a situation, when an employee realizes they are in the wrong job, an action for your future health is to start thinking about plan B, what comes to your working future. However, I definitely do not recommend resignation and jumping into the unknown, but it’s possible to start planning the next phase of your career while still working in your current role.

What would you like to do next in your professional path? And please start this reflection before staying too long in a job that stresses you out and eventually falling ill. Before something, even a small thing may “break the camel’s back,” leading to a loss of working ability. Especially falling ill with mental health issues or burnout, recovery takes some time. At this point, it’s not so simple to start looking for a new job. So it’s extremely important to first take care of your health and working ability, the same as in the airplane where you first need to take the oxygen mask to yourself. 

Work doesn’t have to, nor can be, perfect or super-meaningful every day – such jobs don’t exist. But in general, work should be good enough so that you are not struggling every single morning when starting your working day.  

Managing working ability is a team effort where everyone’s contribution is needed

Managing working ability is a team game, where all players and their roles are very much needed. The positions (roles and responsibilities) and rules (common practices, ways of working) must be known by everyone, and everyone needs to work towards a common goal. When working this way, you will succeed. The company and its employees thrive when everybody takes care of their responsibilities, work flows smoothly, and the basic pillars of profitable business are in place. When that happens, everyone wins. Vice versa, research shows that a bad working atmosphere directly impacts the company’s cash flow, meaning its ability to invest and grow, and, ultimately, its ability to pay salaries.

At least the last point most likely is in everyone’s interest.

Can we help your company to succeed in the team work for better working ability?

We are happy to help! Please send an e-mail or call and let´s discuss more! 

With well-being regards
Anna-Mari