Some weeks it’s all about lemons! We have all had days and weeks where it feels never ending, the stress levels rise, and you live for the weekend. This can put additional pressure on you, your team and business – testing relationships to their limits.
So how can you maintain a cohesive, productive team whilst under pressure and the stress levels are about to burst?
Understanding your own and your colleagues stress factors is invaluable in coping, understanding and supporting healthy team behaviours.
Here at ‘The Wellbeing Collective’ we actively draw, learn from and refer back to our MBTI types when we’re facing stressful situations. Understanding our personality prefences is worth its weight in gold in order to maintain a unified and encouraging environment. Together we can support each other and work in ways that best meets a variety of individual needs, especially when under pressure.
Everyone reacts and deals with stress in completely different ways. For example, I am an ISFJ, this personality type finds things like overexerting ourselves, conflict or criticism and environments filled with tension extremely stressful. When we are stressed, we become disheartened, we are no longer as productive as we like to be and therefore may feel a strong sense of inadequacy and see the world as a ‘glass half empty’. Drawing from MBTI insights on personality types, chronic stress can lead our natural introverted sensing to be overtaken by our inferior function, extraverted intuition. At this point we will act out of character, imagine a Private Frazer from Dad’s Army… ‘We’re DOOMED’!!!
In comparison, the direct opposite to my type is an ENTP. They will become stressed when things like rules are rigidly enforced, are micromanaged and not having their visions appreciated. When an ENTP is stressed, they can also become unproductive, losing their signature ‘can do’ attitude, becoming anxious and needing to escape. As an opposite and similarity to ISFJ, they will also fall to their inferior function, in this case, replacing their extraverted intuition for introverted sensing. The same result occurs, acting out of character, low and feeling they have failed.
Essentially, your team cannot function to its full potential when stressed.
It is at these times that a cohesive supportive team who understands personality differences is priceless. So, what can you do when life, or your week, has given you lemons?
- Understand yours and your teams stress factors and how you can support each other.
- Remember it’s ok to fail and it’s ok to be stressed because something didn’t go how you envisaged or planned.
- Encourage each other, support each other, play to each other’s strengths.
Together, you can make it through to Friday and enjoy eating that delicious lemon cake!
If you would like to undertake MBTI or would like to understand how we can help support your team in this scenario, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Becca Godfrey – Business Development Manager, The Wellbeing Collective.
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The Wellbeing Collective Ltd 