Any organization’s most important asset—its staff—needs maintenance and attention just as urgently as its physical assets. Its workforce may be subjected to stress from external factors such as the pandemic with its concomitant social isolation, economic hardship, and health concerns, or internal factors such as interpersonal conflict. Stress increases absenteeism, turnover, and conflict, resulting in higher costs for the organization: the average industry turnover is 46% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Increasing team resilience, by contrast, leads to significant cost savings and results in a more efficiently-run organization able to meet its mission. Team members become more adaptable and decrease their reactivity through adjusting their perspective, understanding the brain’s response to stress, and learning strategies to lower adrenaline. Several strategies that have been successfully taught to public works professionals and emergency response teams will be demonstrated.
 
Learning Objectives

After attending this session, participants will be better able to:

  1. Recognize how stress impacts decision-making and problem-solving and demonstrate the ability to use trained techniques to quickly alter the outcome through a calmer, more rational response.
  2. Apply concepts of soothing and reconnecting the brain to build resilience through increased flexibility and spontaneity in thinking.
  3. Demonstrate techniques to use the brain in response to an adverse situation to reduce the effects of stress.

Contributor/Source

Cece Atkinson;Linda Warren

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