How are you, really?
It's a question we find ourselves asking more and more – of clients, of colleagues and of ourselves...
And today feels like the right day to ask it, because it's #StressAwarenessDay.
Last autumn, Rachel wrote about the silent slide from stress to burnout, and how many of us have come to accept pressure as the price of ambition. A year on, we’re fairly sure that pressure hasn’t gone anywhere. Workloads keep growing. Priorities compete. Decisions carry more weight. And outside work, there's family, caring responsibilities and everything else that matters to us.
A certain amount of pressure can sharpen our focus. But when it builds without relief, it clouds our thinking, drains our energy and leaves us feeling as though we're carrying everything on our own.
How Coaching Can Help
Coaching isn't a quick fix – and it certainly isn't one more thing to add to an already overflowing to-do list. At its best, it offers something that's become increasingly rare at work: protected time and space to step back and think.
In a confidential coaching conversation, you can say what's really going on, look at your situation with fresh perspective, and choose your next step – rather than simply reacting to whatever lands in your inbox next.
In our experience, that shift from reacting to choosing is often where the pressure starts to ease.
Coaching Can Help Everyone
Stress shows up differently depending on your role, your stage of life and the challenges and opportunities you're facing. Coaching can provide valuable support in a range of different situations:
Senior Executive Coaching – for when it's lonely at the top
C-Suite and board leaders often have few people they can think out loud with. A confidential sounding board helps them step back, gain perspective and find clarity amid ambiguity, so they're not carrying every big decision alone.Leadership and Management Coaching – for when the workload keeps growing
Many managers lead a team while their own day job still beckons. Coaching helps them balance competing priorities, manage an ever-increasing workload and leave each session with clear actions they can use straight away.The importance of line manager coaching
Group Coaching – for when you need to know you're not the only one
A small, consistent group of peers offers a confidential space to share real challenges. Hearing "me too" from a colleague can make a problem feel less personal, and the community that forms keeps supporting each other long after the sessions end.Group coaching for new managers
Parental Transition Coaching – for when work and family pull in different directions
Becoming a parent can bring concern and internal conflict alongside the excitement. Coaching before, during and after parental leave helps working parents navigate the transition and return to work with confidence and clarity.
Being Kinder to Ourselves Along the Way
Earlier this year, Rachel wrote about the difference between self-care and self-compassion. Self-care is about the actions we take to support ourselves. Self-compassion is about how we treat ourselves when things don't go to plan – and on a demanding day, they often don't.
On Stress Awareness Day, both are worth remembering. Two questions can help:
What do I need right now?
How can I be kinder to myself in this moment?
The first invites self-care. The second invites self-compassion.
Knowing When to Reach Out
Coaching can be a powerful way to regain perspective and manage pressure, but it isn't a substitute for medical or mental health support. If stress is starting to affect your health, please don't wait – speak to your GP or a qualified healthcare professional. Seeking help sooner is a strength, not a weakness.
Let's Start a Conversation
At Motion Learning, we have spent twenty years helping leaders, managers and working parents navigate pressure with greater clarity and confidence. If you'd like to find out more about how coaching could support you or the people in your organisation, please contact us – we'd love to have that conversation.
Hear More
If you'd like to hear more about stress and how to counter it as individuals and organisations, a great place to start is series one of our podcast, Work Truths: Off the Record, which focused its attention on Burnout.