At the heart of all our work is the knowledge that pressure is a constant in modern life​ and that this pressure can catalyse engagement and performance just as readily as it can stress and burnout.

Modern leadership ask a lot of the people who work for them - to be fully present at all times, deliver continuous improvement, show high commitment, loyalty and creativity. There are usually additional demands beyond work too - in our new Covid world people also juggling their employment with family roles and responsibilities as well as other outside commitments. Pressure comes 24/7 from multiple sources.

Our approach is to help individuals, teams and leaders uncover the root sources of their pressure and develop personal and team strategies they can take responsibility for - increasing the likelihood that pressure drives positive growth, engagement and sustainable high performance, instead of progressive disengagement, stress and burnout.

Pressure itself is not inherently ‘bad’. In fact, so long as pressure remains equal to the coping strategies individuals have developed to get through life’s challenges, it can be a driver for personal growth and satisfaction. When people push their boundaries and survive to tell the tale (as they usually do), they generally feel energised and good about themselves. They will have ‘grown’ a little too.

It’s when pressure goes beyond ability to cope that problems arise, and when this happens the outcomes are not so positive. When perceived pressure outstrips perceived ability to cope, the negative outcome of stress is often the result, and this has both health and performance consequences.

Upskilling your people to develop team and personal resilience through greater self awareness, more intentional management of energy resources and the practice of emotional regulation will enable them to stay sustainably behind the ‘pressure felt as stress’ threshold and adapt to the challenges of our post COVID world with confidence and full engagement.

Pressure - Loss or Gain?

Pressure and performance are highly correlated, which presents both potential problems but also positive opportunities.

When pressure is felt at a level equal to, or just ahead of, current coping capacity, individual performance is positively impacted. This is the stretch zone and when here employees are at their most engaged, innovative and productive and, so long as they are not permanently stretched in one single direction, usually highly satisfied and motivated.

Most organisations understand this part of the dynamic, but it is not easy to see when teams have slid into the strain zone where performance, contribution, satisfaction, engagement and psychosocial health are likely to start deteriorating. . ​

Often employers are not aware that there is a problem until pressure has increased to a level where one or more employees feel overwhelmed, or team performance has declined generally, by which time the situation is observable but unfortunately harder to recover.

How can WorkingWell help?

We enable our clients to quantify where their employees are on this Pressure - Performance curve, where they feel their work pressures stem from and critically, how to either moderate the pressure at source or adapt the response in order to achieve a positive outcome.. ​

The relationship between the variables in the Pressure - dynamic is easily demonstrated in this simple model.

The amount of pressure perceived by an individual (or whole team) is counterbalanced by individual (or collective) coping behaviours. The end of the black pointer see-saw can move up or down, depending on the relative weights of the coping and pressure boxes. and how psychologically safe people feel around each other. These variables interact dynamically to to produce positive growth/high performance or negative stress/low performance outcomes accordingly.

The see-saw sits on the fulcrum point of a personality triangle, illustrating that differing personality types amplify or moderate response to pressure. This variability not only influences the balancing effect of the two factors above the see saw but also how people assess the ‘interpersonal risks’ they face in their collaborations with others.

This is why no one person or workgroup will ever react to life and work demands in an identical way - which is what ultimately makes managing pressure at work challenging without the right tools.

How our tools help

Our tools and approaches enable managers to measure the different elements in the Pressure - Performance dynamic in order to answers to the following:

The Management Of Pressure

Why bother?

Employees who feel in control of their workload and who are engaged and energised by it, can contribute at a higher level and for longer than those who feel overwhelmed by the demands they perceive are being made on them.

Understanding the sources of pressure, taking individual and team responsibility for the response and knowing how to access support are the keys to getting in control and using pressure as a catalyst for growth and improved wellbeing.

There is more than one stakeholder in the management of pressure. Senior leadership have specific roles and responsibilities, but so do individual employees, workgroups and line managers. Different stakeholders have separate but conjoined responsibilities and as a result we offer each of the groups tailored but linked interventions:

Please contact us to discuss your specific requirements and find out how WorkingWell can help you.