#BeTheChange at Work | Reducing Stress, Burnout and Rebuilding Engagement

For many teams, stress is no longer a spike. It is something that sits in the background of everyday work.

It shows up in different ways. Slower thinking, reduced focus, more tension in conversations, and a sense that work takes more effort than it should.

In this episode of our Workplace Harmonics series, supported by Viatris, mentl founder Scott Armstrong is joined by Dr Valentina Faia, Specialist Psychiatrist at the BioPsychoSocial Clinic, and Andy Fieldhouse, Team Relationship Coach at The Team Space, to explore the real drivers of stress, burnout, and disengagement in today’s workplace.

Together they unpack how stress shifts from a short-term response into a chronic condition, how team dynamics influence how people cope, and why clarity, communication, and trust are critical to maintaining performance.

Key Highlights

• How chronic stress changes how people think and perform
• Burnout is not just about working too hard
• Team culture determines performance under pressure
• Clarity and communication are critical psychological buffers

If work feels harder than it should right now, this conversation will help you understand why, and more importantly, what can be done about it.

Whether you lead a team or are part of one, this session gives you practical ways to reduce friction, improve focus, and create a more sustainable way of working.

This session is part of our Workplace Harmonics series focused on practical well-being tools for leaders and teams navigating pressure and uncertainty at work.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and context for Stress Awareness Month
02:00 The cost of disengagement and why it matters now
03:30 What chronic stress does to the brain and body
08:00 Early warning signs of stress and burnout
10:45 How stress shows up in team dynamics
13:40 The role of leadership behaviour and trust
18:00 Why burnout is about more than workload
20:00 Poll: What is driving stress in teams right now
23:30 Communication, clarity and cognitive overload
25:50 How to improve meetings and reduce friction
29:00 Psychological safety and team performance
33:30 Poll: What changes teams are willing to make
36:30 Practical tools for leaders and teams
50:50 Supporting people through uncertainty
53:10 Actions leaders can take immediately
55:55 Final reflections and key takeaways

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Welcome, good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. Uh, my name's Scott Armstrong. I'm the founder of Mental, if you didn't already know, and this is part of our Workplace Harmonics webinar series, which is supported by Vietris. Um, it's a series of webinars focused on practical tools for leaders and teams navigating pressure and times of uncertainty. And did you know that April was stress awareness month? Um, I know I've been stressed in April. I think they might also want to include March in that recently. Um, but we're going to focus on the theme of be the change at work, how we can reduce stress, burnout, and rebuild engagement. And there are very good reasons why we need to rebuild engagement, which we will talk about. Um, before I introduce my guests, I'd just like to say thank you to Veatrice for their collaboration to make these webinars possible and to Amcham Abu Dhabi Healthcare Committee and all its members who are joining us today for the call as well. Uh, and it is my pleasure to welcome Rima Melouf as the regional head of corporate affairs for Beatrice and the co-chair of Amcham Abu Dhabi Healthcare Committee. Rima, welcome.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome again. On behalf of Vatrix and the American Chamber of Abu Dhabi, I'd like to sincerely thank Mantel, Scott, for creating this timely and much-needed webinar series. And of course, today's experts present with us for sharing their time and insights. We really appreciate the passion, the commitment, uh Scott, and all the experts today, and as well as the audience who have joined us as we come together to discuss workplace well-being and mental health. Thank you to everyone. I look forward to hearing more about the strong word resilience and how we can make it strive with vulnerability that we as employees, as leaders and as parents are struggling with during these difficult times. I wish you an excellent session ahead, and I look forward to hearing more.

SPEAKER_02 2:00

Thank you very much, Rima. And thank you again to everybody from the Amcham Abadabi Healthcare Committee joining us today as well. Um, yeah, I said there were very good reasons why we needed to rebuild engagement. Um, a new piece of research that Mental's just done, based on the Gallup Global State of the Workplace study, which comes out every year. The cost of disengagement in the GCC, up to $200 billion. Here in the UE, it counts for about $50 billion. Um, over in Saudi, around $100 billion. And if you are wondering, in the UE, that's about $28 million per hour. Um, right now, to my guests who are both experts in their fields. First, I'd like to welcome Dr. Valentina Fire, who is a specialist psychiatrist at the Biopsychosocial Clinic, and Andy Fieldhouse, who is a team relationship and dynamics coach at the Team Space. And he's also the author of the best-selling book, Getting Teamwork Right. Did I get that right, Andy? Absolutely, you did. Thank you. Great stuff. Uh, welcome to you both. Thanks for joining us. So let's kick off. Um, Valentina, I'm going to start with you, if I may. Um, when stress becomes prolonged in the workplace context, and right now we've kind of got this um we've got it inside and outside the workplace, but when it becomes prolonged in a workplace context, what's actually happening to our people? Sort of from a psychological but also a physiological, which is not easy to say, point of view. And from that, what's the most important thing leaders should understand about how stress shows up with their people?

SPEAKER_01 3:33

Thank you for the opportunity to talk about this topic because it's very dear to my heart. And I see a lot of people coming in, especially in the last couple of months, uh, with uh what we call chronic uh stress. Because when stress becomes prolonged, medically becomes a chronic condition. And so we move from an acute reaction to something more um prolonged, established, and difficult to deal with. Um stress shifts from an adaptive short-term response to something else, a state that truly alters the brain function on one side and the body system. And it's funny because people um who are very stressed sometimes present uh with different features. They come and seek help and they come and show up to my clinic and say things like, um, could I have developed ADHD? Because the symptoms are actually very, very similar. And then in the assessment, in the in the chat that we have with our patients, we observe that actually there is an alteration in the prefrontal cortex functions, in what we call the executive functions. So yeah, the condition that people have to deal with when stress is prolonged in the workplace, especially, is actually very similar. And it can be confusing for some people to understand and to acknowledge. Um it's simple things, it's reduced concentration, lack of focus, reduced working memory, increased errors, um, indecisiveness from a more psychological point of view. But also the somehow the tunnel, the tunnel thinking, you know, which mimics the hyperfocus is not clearly hyperfocus, but it's in a similar domain. And what we observe from a physiological point of view, if stress becomes truly chronic, and we're not in the categories now for what concerns the our surroundings, a couple of months is not enough. But some people are in a situation of chronic stress, prolonged stress for years, especially in the workplace, especially if the the work environment doesn't adjust to the to the specific circumstances. And you know what is very interesting from me, maybe because I'm a little bit of a nerdy doctor, but um it's really interesting to see the physiologically the anatomical changes that happen in the brain of people who are um exposed to chronic stress are very similar to the anatomical features of people with ADHD. And the prethrontal cortex is affected with a combination of effects on the amygdala, which we all kind of know, you know, it's the fire, fear kind of response system, which are very similar to some of the features we observe in the people with ADHD. So they're not wrong. The history, of course, is different.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

I find that absolutely fascinating. I mean, look, I do have ADHD, I'm diagnosed, so I know exactly what those symptoms feel like. I find it interesting as well that it is actually a physical thing. You know, as you say, you say there's physical changes in the brain. It's not just uh, oh, you know, get over it, you know, man up or all that sort of thing. There is actually something physical happening to us. Uh I'm gonna I'm just gonna ask, and before I bring you in, Andy, if I may, um I just want to know, what are some of the early signs that that sort of stress, because in any workplace, you know, some and again that fight or flight, sometimes stress is a good thing in a workplace. If you're, you know, uh rushing to meet a deadline, you know, it gives you that burst of energy. But as you say, from prolonged stress, how do we spot from an individual or maybe from a leadership uh perspective that stress is shifting from something that's manageable to something that is more prolonged and something more concerning? And before you answer that question, I just want to also say to the audience, if you've got questions for Dr. Valentina or for Andy or for me, um, you can ask them in the QA box. Um, so if you do ask a question, we will try our very best to find the time to ask that uh directly. So it's your opportunity to speak to the the guests directly. So, yes, those early signs, how can we tell if stress is shifting from something manageable to something more concerning?

SPEAKER_01 8:04

This is an interesting question because I also manage my clinic, and what I keep repeating to myself is that we need to look at people, not only look after people, we need to look in their face and see if they have slept well. If they get sick often, you know, from a medical point of view, recurrent sickness, it's an early sign that the immune system is compromised, they're not coping. If they come to work with dark circles in around their eyes, we need to be aware. One of the first things that gets affected is sleep. If they're not joining, and we read the not joining, I don't know, the little palm tree snacks uh that we all set up thinking that this is enough care, and I'm very critical of that. This part I appreciate the snacks. Um you know, we tend to think that they are disengaged. So maybe this disengagement is due to emotional exhaustion. So leaders should be looking and be paying attention to daily changes and ask themselves a very simple question. What is changed in this person? What is the difference, you know? Because cognitive impairment, which is the byproduct of this over-engagement, the chronic engagement of the prefrontal cortex, can show as poor performance, but in reality, it is cognitive overload. So learning to read what shows as something that is the byproduct of a state in which their bodies and the brain are and reading it critically, not jumping to the conclusion this person is disengaged, this person is emotionally uh unaware or emotionally not engaged with the rest of the team. They're withdrawing, they're withdrawing because they don't have capacity, emotional capacity to join a team meeting or to have a chat with us. What has changed? I would say the change is the very early uh sign because nobody would hire someone who would show like someone extremely stressed. We would not hire someone who comes up in the in the office and is like uncomfortable, correct?

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Yeah. Andy, how does that resonate with you? And like, because obviously you work a lot with teams. Um, how are you seeing that um play out in the organizations that you work with? What are some of those early signs? Because I know you sort of drill into how teams are working together.

SPEAKER_03 10:44

Uh yeah, thank you. Um, I think that the way you can think about this is the systemic nature of a team relationship. Um, when people connect and they're part of a part of a system, a net uh uh together, uh, that has a kind of life energy of its own. That's kind of what I work with when I'm coaching teams. So it's paying attention to that, you know, that that kind of um what we call the emotional field, um, reading the emotional field within the team. And I think what what we've seen is as Valentina was saying, the the initial sudden kind of level of stress. Oh my goodness, what's going on at home, at work, and everything else. And and that kind of gives way to this kind of level of chronic. And it's the same within the team culture and the team, the team kind of relationships. So um, and but teams respond differently. Um, it's an interesting thing, and it's very similar to COVID. Um, when I was working with teams in COVID, um, I did a short survey and the anecdotal conversations I was I was having, and I found that about a third of the teams reported actually coming together and being better as a team. And and there's this sort of the circling of the wagons mentality sometimes for some teams, where actually it's the making of them. Um, and the threat is turned into a almost a in a funny way, a positive instigation of we're gonna get through this, we're gonna fight through it together, we'll be okay, which comes down a lot to how the leader presents and how the leader decides to take, you know, take the team through that. And yet, you know, there are other teams for whom um it is incredibly damaging. And I and I I use the analogy of an egg. If you if you know an egg has has um strength, you know, it keeps the the yolk and everything inside and and you know it has a level of strength. But if you stick that egg in a vice and start turning the vice, you know, if it's already got a couple of cracks, it's it's gonna crack very quickly. And so depending on your relationship, your culture, how things are going when you enter into the difficult time will have a big influence on what is going on. And you need to pay attention to that. You need to, you know, you need to know what what how people are doing and and what is going on. So it's you know, it's it's been an interesting time and it will continue to be as as we move forward and and noticing you know which which way is your team going to go.

SPEAKER_02 13:08

Um with my hairline and yours, Andy, I'm not sure we should be using visualize of an egg. But uh anyway, uh but uh but within that team perspective, because I find that fascinating, yeah, when that stress is building, you know, and moving from, as you say, something that maybe teams gel around, um, where does it begin to break down? And how can a leader or or even a colleague begin to understand, okay, something's going wrong here? What are those symptoms?

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Um, I think one one of the important things to to know is that um you know your team's chance of achieving what you want it to achieve, its performance output, directly relates to the culture climate within on the team. So if you want it to succeed, if you want it to achieve 70% of your capability relates to how do we do things around here. So, what's that look like in the first place? Well, 70% of that comes from the leader's behavior. And so they have a massive impact on what is going on, you know, how do people do things? Because either you're doing it consciously and intentionally, and you're giving instruction and you're creating clarity, uh, establishing norms of behavior and rules of engagement and everything else, or it's happening because they're watching you. And so, you know, when when do we know when when things are happening? It's a lot to do with what the leader is up to. And um, leaders who go silent, leaders who are ambiguous or inconsistent or unfair, um, will quickly lose the team. And so it can happen, you know, really, really quickly. Um, I'll give you a very quick example. In COVID, I know someone who worked for a big organization, and the CEO at the beginning did the right thing, communicated frequently every Friday on a call with the global staff, gave them updates, was honest. It's gonna be hard, it's gonna be tough. We're not gonna get through it without losing people. Okay, fair enough. But everyone appreciated the clarity and the communication and the regularity. But then he made a mistake and he said, Um, if we are gonna lose people, if we're gonna have to make redundancies, you will hear it from me first. And then a few days later, before the next update, uh, the WhatsApp message groups went wild with people saying, Oh, I've just been called to see my line manager. Have you got, yeah, I have two, I have two, bang, bang, bang. And they were all made redundant by their line managers in those meetings. And they were like, What? I thought we were gonna hear it from the CEO. And trust went off a cliff as a result of that that inconsistency and basically that betrayal of trust. So um, you know, the leader's behavior, the how the leader is doing things is is hugely important. So uh you will see that, and you and you know, the rumor mill in the kitchen and the at the snack bar will take care of it. Um, people will know, people will talk. Um, if there is silence, they will fill the void with conjecture and opinion and gossip. And so uh you can very quickly feel the changes in these relationship systems um with that with that gap of information.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

I can see you nodding, Dr. Valentina, Valentina. Um Andy used a really important word there. Um, from a psychological perspective, right? How important is trust within an organization and from in for individuals for each of us to trust each other inside an organization?

SPEAKER_01 16:38

I think I can bring in my clinical experience in working with a lot of um, you know, executives and professionals and in the region, apart from the current circumstances which are exceptional, but there's always an enormous amount of stress and pressure.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

And I want to make um a very clear comment on that. It's not even if it's not even only psychological. I think this is existential. We need to trust the people that we spend the majority of the time with, because we spend eight hours, let's say nine, let's say eleven, more reasonably, all considered between the meetings and the call that I take from the car going home, and no, and the time I spend, you know, working with my team outside of working hours. We need trust because humans only thrive if their emotions are contained within the boundaries. And the other very important part is that the people that I work with come clinically and tell me how they feel, and they ask, Am I burnt out? They are never people who have worked very hard only. Those are people who have worked very hard and have been facing a sense of hopelessness, being facing injustice, unfairness, people whose values are not aligned anymore with the values of the company. I don't know if Andy has a different experience, but this is what I see. I see people who are happy to work very long hours to travel. We have a population that travels every week. I mean, those young professionals, God bless them, they are super strong, they go to Saudi, they come back, and then they party. You know, they uh they they really want to work hard and be performative, and they see that as a challenge. They don't see it as you know a defeat. But when the values are not aligned anymore, when your efforts are not, you know, uh recognized and the trust is broken, that is when you go and burnout. That's my experience at this clinical.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

I think that's a really important distinction, actually, because you know, burnout, we we do associate with just just working too hard, working too much, Andy. But that that that it is actually deeper than that, and it's not somebody that's overworking, but it's somebody that's working hard while lots of other things are going wrong in the organization. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

And and and that's it, it is an important distinction because work can be fulfilling and exhilarating and hard, but really rewarding, and and you don't mind doing long hours because you want to be there. And you know, that that concept of flow when it's like, oh my goodness, the day's nearly gone, and it feels like you know, I've done, you know, I've been doing not nothing, but um, you know, where's the time gone? Um, and there will be people who who will be, you know, stressed and burnt out who are doing seven-hour days. So um it's not just about about time, it's what's the quality of that time that that is that is being spent and and and what is going on for you.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

I agree completely.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Well, I'm gonna ask our audience to get involved now. Trust us, this is a psychologically safe space. Um, I'm well, and if I can get the technology to work, we're gonna launch our first poll. So we'd like you to vote and tell us what's contributing most to the stress in your organization or team. Or, you know, you can also talk about a past experience. But I'm gonna try and launch this poll now. And if you should see, it will come up in a moment, and you will have the opportunity to vote. Fingers crossed, it's whirring around. And now live, can you now see the polls? Here we go. What is currently contributing to stress in your team? Is it high or unclear workload, a lack of role clarity, too many meetings or interruptions? I'm sure we could relate to that. Pressure to be always available, or poor communication and alignment. Um, Andy, which of those do you think will be showing up most?

SPEAKER_03 20:49

Communication, I think it's a it's a constant um you know, communication and and and alignment. You know, uh the the biggest complaints are I work with uh uh toxic culture, working in silos, communication issues, probably. Those are the probably top three problems that teams have difficulty with. So I'd imagine that just gets exacerbated and and kind of you know um grown. But but you know, every organization and I know every team is different. So um you you might find an even split with these kind of things depending on their situation. Valentina, you want to take a guess at this one?

SPEAKER_01 21:26

There's no mention of you know uh emotional safety, or but that's another big one that I hear a lot, you know, like the predictability. Yeah, the predictability, somehow what the outcome is.

SPEAKER_03 21:40

I'm gonna have another one. I have another missing one. Um poor leadership. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Oh, leadership, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Leadership. Okay, right. Thank you. Um, we can ask those questions. And if you want to ask those questions, again, remember the QA guys, you can get involved. What I find fascinating from the results of that first poll, and thank you for voting, is uh and And at Mental, we write this uh white paper every year with Signa Healthcare, which dives into um all sorts of areas of workplace well-being. And it always comes out that actually here in the region, whether it be in the UE or Saudi, when it comes to people uh responding to the question, are they willing to work hard for their company? We are world leading in this region. You know, people here want to work. People are willing to work hard to help their organization succeed. And that's actually reflected here because you can see like high or unclear workload is actually owned down at 8%. It's the it's the the least of the lot. And actually, from the top results is poor communication or alignment and lack of role clarity, um, with a little bit of pressure to be always available. So it's interesting. We come back to that kind of idea of burnout, not just being working too hard, but actually it's because in this region we are willing to work hard.

SPEAKER_03 23:01

And I think you know, the communication thing, under pressure, communication gets stressed. Um because we we are, you know, our nervous systems are more heightened, we have shorter triggers, there's more confusion, as Valentina was saying. I think there was that kind of tunnel vision. You know, you get attached to your outcome or your mode or mood, um, and and that will cause greater tension and conflict between people. So I think that you know, heightened stress and more pressure will stress communication in you know in a in a in a big way or you know, between people.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

If I can add something, clarity uh of communication, clarity in the decision-making process is one of the most uh powerful psychological buffers that we can offer to our employees or any anyways at work, because it it directly shapes the way in which the brain responds to different situations. Because we are, as humans, we want things to be manageable and predictable. So if my communication is clear, my expectations are clear, my goals and my objectives are clear, my brain saves a lot of capacity, which is actually used at work. If instead I'm given different information, different communications, and my my targets are constantly moved around, and my objectives are changed, and there's no clear communication about the reasons why those things happen, that implements a system in the brain, activates a system that says basically danger, careful. You know, the activation of the amygdala is this. It's oh my god, what's going on? Am I safe? Right? So clarity is simple as a tool and it's extremely convenient from a financial point of view, because you assign a task and you just abide by the task. And the person is actually, even someone who is already under a lot of pressure, is able to accomplish that task. But if it changes continuously or it's unclear, it becomes unmanageable.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

That seems, Andy, as a really good starting place for organizations that, if they or leaders, if they want to make a change, that seems like something that they can start with straight away, is examining clarity. Again, the the research that we do at Mental, like I say, this region, one of the hardest working regions in the world, but also the levels of stress inside the workplace are also among the highest in the world. So where what where are those bases? Is it clarity? Uh and how do you see that lack of clarity damaging an organization versus uh you know, an abundance or clarity done well improving an organization?

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Yeah, um, absolutely. And it's um this is at any time important. It becomes even more important um when there are other factors that are influencing and distracting your people because they're worried about their kids at home and their their own disruptions, homeschooling, etc., etc. So yeah, uh a completely as well. Yeah. As Valentina is saying, it means their brain is being used for other things. And that, you know, it's it's like um, you know, you it's like a computer, it's only got so much RAM or gigabytes or whatever. And then if you fill it with worry, then it's not going to be functioning and doing what you need it to do. Everyone at work is there by choice. I say this every single time I work with teams. Everyone gets a choice to be there or not. And when they are there, to choose whether to do the work or not. And your job as a leader and as an organization is to give them the opportunity to make the choice you want them to make and do the best work that they're capable of. So clarity is the answer to that. You know, why should I do this? What is it that I need to do? When, with whom, where, how, all of those different things need to be answered. And like I say, when other things come along and uncertainty and unpredictability, ambiguity, you know, and and when there is no end in sight, it's it's even more vital. So you cannot, I don't think you can communicate enough. As a leader, you've got to ramp up what you are saying, you know, the frequency daily, every single day. You're, you know, we talk about being on the C-suite. You need to see, you need everyone needs to be the CRO, the chief repeating officer of the messages, of the information. But what you communicate, tell them what you know, tell them what you don't know, and tell them what you are going to do and what you're not going to do and can't do. Give people that that honesty because that's what they want. You know, don't sugarcoat it or pretend uh, you know, be completely optimist over optimistic and when you can't follow through on it. And as this the example I gave earlier, there's nothing worse than than inconsistency and unkept promises when it comes to trust and and comfort. Um, and so so communicate frequently, be honest about what you can and can't do and do and don't know. And and as Valentina was saying, you know, yes, look at people, notice their behavior, their physical change, but also ask them, talk to them, see what's going on, how are you doing with things? Um, I talk about the three the three lead leadership superpowers in these moments, you know, humility, vulnerability, and empathy. Um, you know, you show your humility, you show vulnerability to give them permission to act a certain way. I I guys, I'm struggling. I'm having it, you know, I'm finding it hard. But you know what? I believe in you guys, and I believe in us, and this is what we can do. And and um let's let's for this week concentrate on this and then we'll reappraise. So you don't make massive long-term plans, you just go week by week, day by day, you know, show that you care, ask them how they're doing, and and and that becomes an incredibly strong example, um, but also creates the clarity that they need.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

I think we need to make a distinction when we talk about early uh stress and we talk about chronic stress that easily can turn into burnout. And I agree with it, Andy. The main changes are behavioral. When I was saying I hired these people and I get another kind of people, another kind of person working for me, you know, the change, this is very easy to predict, but the person might not have internalized as yet that they are uncomfortable. So I doubt they're gonna come and say, I'm overwhelmed. I wish there was enough, you know, safety in the culture of the company for someone to come and say uh I can't do this. You know, typically when they come and say I can't do this, is I can't do this anymore. And it's one minute before resigning. That's my experience. Um, and that's very important to understand.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

That's powerful. That's powerful.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

The main change is behavioral. You need to check the behavior, you need to check because the behavior corresponds to a mental state, to a brain-deprived system, to something that it's fading away and it's out of their control. When they come and speak, unfortunately, often it's very late.

SPEAKER_02 30:19

Let's talk about that. Um, and I'm gonna bring Joanne in because Joanne's asked a question, and I did make the promise that you could ask questions about experts. Um, but she it opens the door for us to carry on talking about emotional safety. Um, Joanne's asked, you mentioned emotional safety as a predictor of burnout in the workplace. What are your thoughts on how this differs between neurodivergent and neurotypical employees, given that stress response can emulate symptoms of ADHD? Uh, great question. One I think for you, Dr. Valentina.

SPEAKER_01 30:50

So, neurodivergent people are one of my patients, one of my passions. So I I really love to work with them. Uh and one of the things that we do here at BTS is that we try to support this community very strongly. We have a support group coming on on Saturday. Sorry, a little bit of advice, but that's it's free of charge. So, I mean, that's like nothing. So it's Saturday. Yeah, yeah. Just come in Saturday. Join if you want. Um, because we do know that there are very specific features. And I have observed different behaviors. So I would say that the majority of my patients who are neurodivergent, which is a bigger umbrella than just having ADHD, but it's includes many more symptoms, autism, it can be dyslexia, it can be dysgraphia in children. I mean, it's a very big, big, broad term, but it's more appropriate than just mentioning ADHD from a proper, let's say, scientific point of view. Some of them were absolutely calm during the recent storm that we just probably are getting, you know, out of calm, thriving, concentrated, focused. I just finished that session with someone who told me I have a thousand, a million new ideas for my business. I'm gonna revert it completely. I'm gonna but probably not gonna be able to pay myself a salary for the next three months. And he was okay with that, you know, because typically people who are neurodivergent divergent tend to thrive under pressure, you know, it's what they know, it's what they know how to manage. They've been practicing all of their life, quite paradoxically. So they thrive during the storms. Would it make sense um to know what is the let's say brain function of someone? Yeah, I think it is something that has to be included in the conversation. Some the majority of my patients have thrived in the very early stages, and this is compatible with the brain development and with the brain modalities of functioning. And then when the when the situation has become longer and chronic, they started struggling. So they were kind, fine, we'll navigate that, it's fine. I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. Let me see the patterns, let me identify what the triggers are. But then, as is expected in someone who has was neurodivergent, they started struggling down the line, you know, and they're struggling now. Now that things are going back slowly to normal. So how to differentiate? Well, we cannot do an MRI on everybody that comes in uh or I don't know, employees, despite we should have a good coverage. Uh we should offer good coverage enough to have an MRI. But um surely we have to notice and mention and discuss those topics in the team, I think. I don't know if I answered the question.

SPEAKER_02 33:47

Uh well, I hope so. I hope Joanne that that's helpful. But I I think Andy, let's build on that as well because you know, emotional safety. Um and speaking as someone who who has ADHD, um, I often think that the the and I I hate the word accommodations, but policies that we could put in place to create emotional safety surely help all employees, whether they be neurotypical, which it in itself is a bit of a misnomer, I think, but neurodivergent. Emotional safety just embedded in a team. How important is that? Because I know you're all very passionate. You know, you talk about psychological safety, but you know, emotional safety, psychological safety. How fundamental do you see that for teams to perform?

SPEAKER_03 34:32

Well, it's been proven. Um, Google did a big study called Project Aristotle a few years ago, and they identified the single biggest factor of what makes high-performing teams is psychological safety, meaning I feel I can be myself um without fear of judgment, ridicule, or consequence for just being me. Um, and what does that look like? It means um uh the two factors they identified is uh what they call conversational turntaking, equality. Everyone is speaking and listening in equal measure, everyone's voice is being heard, and there's ostentatious listening. You know, you're respecting, you're you're you know, you're shutting the laptop, putting your phone down, you're looking people in the eye, you're nodding, mirroring, you know, and the communication is going well. But what those two factors create is opportunity for people to be themselves, to to exist. Um, we have a terrible habit and teams of marginalizing the different or dissenting or or um minority voice. Um and just be and that may be someone who's neurodivergent and and and we shut it down accidentally sometimes, sometimes deliberately. So, what teams can know, first of all, notice, become aware. What are you like? What is you know, how are you doing things? Is that happening? You know, do some people talk more than others and some people just never get a chance? Because if you create that equality, it means there's space for people to express themselves. Um, and and we have a we have a phrase in the in the kind of systemic coaching work that I do, which is called the voices of the system. Every voice of the system belongs to the system. And there is 2% truth in everything that is expressed, no matter how hard it is to hear, no matter how difficult it is, or contrary. Um, and and it's getting good at listening to the voices and allowing that, you know, it it is it at the heart, it's at the heart of um, you know, working with diversity is is understanding that everyone's voice is valid. Um, so you create that opportunity to listen to each other. And when you do listen, you really listen, you know, you and it's a practice. There are things you can do, like I've already said. Put the phone down, look people in the eye, repeat back. I've this is what I've heard. Have I got that right? Have I understood you correctly? Well, no, actually, you missed this. Oh, okay. Um, and and that that is something, yes, you can put it down as a commitment, as a kind of constitution in a charter, but that's not enough. You have to live it every single day. And you're gonna make mistakes, and you're in it's gonna it's gonna not be easy, but you've just got to kind of push the boundaries and build. And and Valentine is completely correct. It's it's rare here to get psychologically safe teams, you know, it's rare, unfortunately, and it's a lot of work that needs to be done. Um, but uh, you know, I I've worked with multicultural teams of people from lots of different parts of the world, and despite all the diversity of personality, of religion, nationality, neurodiversity, everything else, that I know that fundamentally at heart, all humans are the same. And if you peel away the layers like we were when we were little toddlers, we all get on. We all like the same things. We want to belong, we want to have a purpose behind our work and what it does. Um, and and we want to be heard and seen and to be part of something. And that's what psychological safe teams do well. And you know what comes what's going to happen as a result? School's gonna take care of itself. You you know, it'll be easy. You know, you won't have to be fighting constantly to get the results.

SPEAKER_02 38:08

It will happen because people are making I know you've you've talked about that in the past. Just just explain to the audience that concept of the school will take care of itself because that comes from quite a famous coach, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 38:19

Yeah, um American football fans will know Bill Walsh. Um, he coached the San Francisco 49ers, and and his story is incredible. He he joined the team in 1979. They had never won a Super Bowl, they were a mediocre team at best, and he transformed this team in 10 years, they won five Super Bowls. I mean, they went from nothing to superstardom um because of his stewardship and his leadership. And and he, you know, he wrote the book about how he did it. You know, his book on leadership is called The Score Takes Care of Itself because he knew that it's that powerful. 70% of your performance capability of getting the score relates to the culture climate on the team. And he went to the 49ers, which he writes in the book about with what he called the standard of performance. And it was a set a way set way of doing things that had as much to do with values and relationships and communication as it did with the work, with the tackling, the passing and the and the blocking. There's as much to do with that, and he and he instigated, you know, he he he gave guidance and clarity and rules, and this is how we do things. And bang, five super bowls. This becomes easy. People get into flow, they commit, they choose, and and they they support each other. And geez, you know, that magic happens. And I've seen it in teams that if you get it right, if you if you if you get all that in place, and it's you know, it's not for the faint of heart, and it does take a bit of effort and it does take a little bit of time, but it's totally possible for any team to do it. Um, um, you can create that, you know, and and it does it, but just you know, results will happen.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

I just want to stay with that just for for a second more. Um, uh, because again, uh emotional safety, and I think I've seen there's sort of sort of sort of four levels of psychological safety, the greatest being challenger safety, which is that someone feels that they can actually challenge the status quo. Um, Valentina, to have that sense of control or agency from a psychological perspective, how important is that? You know, and what is the risk of cutting people off from that, that they feel that they don't have any sense of control or agency over their role, their job?

SPEAKER_01 40:33

That is the prerequisite to burn out and to probably leave the organization, I guess. Because as humans, we need to have some sort of control over our destiny. I mean, we um I've sorry, just a note, I find it very interesting that we're moving from a very specific conversation which could have been phrased in the terms of psychological, coach, uh, the workplace, and we're moving to progressively towards more human conversation. We're talking about values, we're talking about trust, we're talking about safety, we're talking about control. So we're talking about human qualities. And this is the point I always um get confronted with this idea that especially leaders have expectations on themselves of being that they have to overperform and be extremely um kind of perfect in a bubble in isolation. And in reality, um in reality, asking for help, which is one of the requisites of psychological safety in the workplace, should apply to everybody, not only to the leaders. Otherwise, we have performing leaders who, yeah, sit down, put their phone down, look you in the eyes, but they don't ask for help for themselves. They they're not, and I'll give you an example that yesterday a patient of mine who's a lawyer told me. She said that she struggles to give feedback and she gets overwhelmed by the amount of work that she needs to do. So she has juniors in her law firm that work for her and she asks someone to do something, and then almost inevitably, when she goes and reads the documents or whatever they've been doing, she finds it not at their standards. So instead of telling the person, can you please redo that? Or can you explain to me what have you done here? Can we work through it together? She ends up working all night and redoing it herself. Okay, and this is one of the main triggers that bring also leaders into burnout. Let's not forget instead she made this reflection on Iran, and we shared it, and I couldn't agree more. It's so important to be able to receive and to be able to give the feedback because that's the learning process, and feedback is one of the elements of a good um of a strong um culture around emotional and psychological safety, the ability, the predictability of the feedback, and the ability to give and to receive feedback, which goes back to that sense of control. Because if I know that I'm given feedback, that I am tracked in my work production, but I have agency within those brackets, that is what I can perform to the best of my abilities because my brain is free. I have boundaries, I have a leader who takes care of addressing my needs and addressing my scope of work. I have feedback before and after. It's predictable, reliable, it's fair, and then I can produce, be creative. Again, we go back to a human quality, creativity. Because creativity really thrives in those limits. Am I making sense from your perspective, Andrew?

SPEAKER_02 43:54

Making a hundred percent sense to me. Um but then my brain is a bit weird. Mine is up on you. I mean, a massive part of working life is meetings. Um, and that also tends to be a uh from my experience, somewhere where psychological safety can break down as well. What do you see organizations getting wrong about meetings or leaders getting wrong about meetings because they do play such a big part of our working life? You know, sometimes I wish we could just do away with them and just get on with the job. Okay, how long have we got? About 14 minutes. So you're gonna have to keep this one brief.

SPEAKER_03 44:32

Okay, I'll be very, I'll be trying to be brief. Um, it's a real choke point. Um, it is an absolute, you know, when you're working in a systemic way, you need to get together and do things together. And the meetings are the way we do that. Um, so um, but they're they're inevitably boring. Um uh you know, people don't talk. There's there's so many things that that happen. Um the thing is to make them quality, to make them something that people actually look forward to. Even even the finance meeting where you've got to crunch the spreadsheets for those of you who don't like spreadsheets. Um, so I think a few a few tips. Um watch the equality uh of turn taking of who's speaking. Um, leaders tend to dominate conversations. Liz Liz Wiseman, who wrote multipliers, has a great tool where she gives a leader um three chips with two minutes, 60 seconds, and 30 seconds in an hour meeting, says you can only talk when you play one of your chips, and when you played it, it's gone. And they're like, What? I can only speak for three and a half minutes in an hour-long meeting. And she goes, Yep. And it's just to try and encourage them to speak less. And then it makes you really think about what you're gonna say and makes it real quality. So, so think about you know how much time is being spent just waffling, you know, the efficiency of the meeting. Secondly, um, what is the purpose of the meeting? What's it actually for? And and I use that phrase. I used to have my my my old um my old boss used to, you know, kind of take the Mickey out of me because I always said it, the beginning of every meeting is a moment where everyone comes in and they're checking their emails and they're waiting for people. And then just this moment when everyone's gathered and the laptops get shut or whatever, and then someone says, right, what's the purpose of this meeting? And it just focuses people's attention for for that meeting. Um, how long are your meetings? We choose them for 30 minutes or an hour or two hours, only because it's an arbitrary, arbitrary allocation of time. You know, it's the one once around the clock. Why don't make it 37 minutes? You know, why does it have to be an hour? Um, and uh Parkinson's law states that you will use the resources you allocate to a task to their fullest. So if you allocate fewer resources, you okay, you can't cut it by three quarters. But if you took 10 minutes, 15 minutes off your meeting, you would be more efficient and you would get done in 45 minutes what you were getting done in one hour. And then you can use the full 15 minutes for team relationship work or a conversation, check-in, something else like that. The last thing I'd say is what is happening in the meeting. I used to sit through so many meetings where we were doing an individual task of absorbing data that was displayed on a screen. I could have done that on my own before I got into the meeting. As long as there's there's a commitment to reviewing the data, send the slides the day before, tell everyone it's a deal breaker, you have to review it. Come with your questions. We are going to use the time to make decisions on the data and not spend the time looking at the data. So, question, you know, what are you doing? Does it have to be is is it it should only be something that you need everyone to be there in the room? And five, sorry, one more. Is everyone necessary? You know, I've seen big egos have 30 people in the meeting for three hours, making them look powerful and important, and half the people in there don't need to be in the room. So just a few thoughts on making your meetings, you know, less stressful, more efficient.

SPEAKER_02 47:57

So, audience, it's time for you to get involved again. I'm gonna uh because we've got literally 10 minutes left, and this conversation is flying by, and I'm gonna fully utilize my full hour of this meeting, but I'm gonna launch our second poll. So, in a second, we're gonna try and focus on um what might you do over the next 30 days to make a change in your team? Uh, what do you think would be most helpful? Clarifying priorities and reducing low-value work, reducing or redesigning meetings along what Andy was just talking about there, clearer boundaries on availability, introducing, introducing regular check-ins with a team, which is obviously something Andy and Valentina have been talking about the importance of. Or protect time for focused work. Again, sometimes, and I know this because uh and Valentina, I think you'll relate as well. Um, I find the interruptions uh with some and with ADHD, you know, sometimes you need just some time, just like no interruptions. I really but please vote now. Um, let us know how you're feeling, what you think we can do over the next 30 days. Andy or Valentina, what do you think? Either from those those responses, or you know, I'm sure there's there could be 15 different options on there, but what do you think? The check-ins. Check-ins, yeah, and Andy. Um, what do you think on that?

SPEAKER_03 49:19

Yeah, I think it depends if you're the if you're the team leader or just a team member. I think maybe it will be slightly different for you. Um, yeah, it is situational depending on what is going on at the moment. So I don't I it really does design. Uh it depends. Um, although having given all that advice about your meetings, I see every everyone's everyone's got perfect meetings. They don't need to change them.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Yeah, no one's gone for that one at all. Uh uh, but uh I mean and and and thank you for validating me, audience, by also then saying uh actually protecting time for focus work is one of the things that we we need, which I think is really, really important. But they also do, you know, the audience is is really gelling with what you've been saying as well, which is check-ins being important, but also clarifying priorities and reducing that low value work. Thank you for for voting. I'm gonna check because I think we may have had a couple more questions come in, um, or maybe not. Uh one more comment. Oh, yes, we've got another question from Philippa. Philippa, how do we best support people through the uncontrollable, the things we can't offer reassurance on? The research, recent situation, the challenging economic situation that everyone's navigated, particularly in the GCC, obviously linked to what's happening in the world, um, and plus the pressure to win and retain business, realistic threat of job loss. Yeah, I mean, that's that's hard, isn't it? Because right now we're all working hard. There are things that are outside of our control. So, Philippa's question how best to support people through the uncontrollable. I'm gonna start with you, Valentina, if I may. How do we support them from a psychological perspective?

SPEAKER_01 50:51

I have to link with uh what Andy said, you know, I think leaders need to be authentic, they need to be relatable, and they need to show up for their team, especially when there are circumstances like the current circumstances we're facing. Um the uncontrollable can become controllable if we break it down into pieces. And so we can't control the war, but we can control ourselves, and we can encourage our team to do the same. You know, we can speak up about the need to self-regulate, to take care of their physical health, of their bodies. I told my team when at some point people were leaving the country if you have a couple of hours, pack up your sessions and go to the gym, go for a walk, you know, move your body, take advantage of what is happening in any possible way to self-regulate. Let's have a dinner, let's have a lunch, let's come together. You know, you break it down, the isolation, the fear. Necessary, you come together, and all of those feelings are dealt with in a different way. So we can control, that's the reality. We can't control the unpredictable, we can't. And it's something that we have to accept as humans, but we can break it down and control the little proportions of the unpredictability day by day, hour by hour. And if we do it together, there is a chance that we can, you know, have a laugh and see the um I I think humor is a great resource as well. So that is regulation, which means bringing it back to the basics sleep, food, movement, you know, the balance of your body. The body takes over sometimes in the emotional responses. If you bring back the body into balance, that can regulate your brain as well.

SPEAKER_02 52:49

I was actually gonna ask you that as well, two or three things that people can take away just to regulate stress and protect their well-being in periods like this. So it's the back to those basics, which is look after you look after your body. Andy, I'm gonna bring you in two or three changes that teams or leaders can implement immediately, that you would make a noticeable difference to how work feels.

SPEAKER_03 53:11

So the first thing to note uh is it's awareness around this is so important and education for yourself and your team, um, that um everything that everyone is experiencing is completely normal and that they are not alone. And just normalizing and saying that to them, to each other is really important. All of these responses are physiological, they're deeply instinctive. We're gonna have them. But if you just being aware of that and sort of go, okay, fine, this stuff, you know, what I'm doing, you know, I'm not the only one, and and it is normal and it's gonna happen, um, is really important. Number one. Um, number two, control what you can control you and don't worry about the stuff that is uncontrollable. Um, if you want to, I don't have time to talk you through it now, but Stephen Covey's uh seven habits of highly affected people. There's one of the habits, which is the one of the things he mentions is the circles of control, influence, and concern. Um, and you you you can put things in the circle of concern, but can you move them into influence? And some of the things you can influence, can you move them into control? And the stuff you genuinely can't, you try don't waste mental energy worrying about it. It is out of your control. So doing that as a team, as an exercise together on your work situation as a as a you know, a discussion can be you know really important. That's what some of the work that I do. Um, and um the other thing is is getting it out from in here out outside, you know, taking it away from in sitting stuck inside your head and your body and your heart and talking about it and verbalizing it and doing you know these things like this, like the the circles. It just gets it out, and you can put it on paper, put some post-it notes and put them on the board. Um, and um, and you know, sort of calmer, more rational conversation around these things, sharing them is really important. There's another tool you can look at called a force field analysis. Look it up again. I don't have time to talk you through it, but it's a great way of, especially if you've got a big decision to make, like at home, should we buy that house? Should we put our kids in a different school? Should we move to another country? Or at work, you know, how do we cope with this? We we have a big decision to make about our business. And you can get so emotionally caught up in it. The force field analysis is a way of it's a weighting scoring system that provides you with um uh insight and information. It's not going to make the decision for you, but it will just might surprise you as how much weight one course of action carries over the other when you rationalize it and you and you you you know you kind of go into detail rather than just trying to kind of you know stick a finger in the air and go, oh, I don't know which way should we go, which way should we go? So a couple of tools there, look them up. Um maybe they'd be if you're in those situations, they might help.

SPEAKER_02 55:58

Thank you. Amazing. That's almost like a mic drop moment. But Dr. Valentina, I'm gonna give that to you. You've got a couple minutes left. Um, I I I loved what Andy was saying as well about um you're not alone, you know, and removing that sense of isolation because we know how damaging isolation can be. Um, just just give it give us some final thoughts to Rapable or or any useful pieces of advice that you're telling to the your community right now, particularly given the the time that we're in.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

I think not forgetting that we are navigating this as a collectivity. We are in this all together. And the way we accept the events or not accept the events is gonna have an impact on other people. I think for me personally, it has been very important that I went back to work and was in my clinic the Monday after the attacks, and I felt the sense of responsibility of welcoming people and welcoming people possibly with a with a smile and with a hug, and say, Come on in, my office is still here, we are still working, everything is somehow still here, you know. Or but I've heard small people, other people, you know, noticing small things like working in their community and noticing the beauty. I mean, uh let letting the nature and and the harmony that we are in get inside us. So really grounding into our reality and making it valuable. And for me, a great uh sense of purpose is always to be of service to other people, like to calm down other people, to support other people. That paradoxically helps me as well. And so it's reciprocally advantageous. And I think the service is one of the things that we should be doing as leaders, as members of the team, of any kind of team we are in, as members of the community. That really grounds us.

SPEAKER_02 57:56

Amazing. Um, and I love that sort of finishing on the note that doing things as a collective. So I wanted to thank you, the audience, for joining us today. Um, thank you to all the members of the Am Sham Abadabi Healthcare Committee. Thank you to Vatris for supporting these. Thank you all for being part of our community. Stay safe. The points I think today as well, uh, again, if we just circle back to that $200 billion uh cost to productivity, it shows you that the advice that Andy and Dr. Valentina have been giving us today really are useful for business. So um stay safe and um we'll be back with Workplace Harmonics next month as well, where we will be looking at neurodiversity as well. So thank you very much. Have a great day ahead.