The Key to Resilient Teams is Recovery

Does this sound familiar?

I can’t believe we are only in April; it feels like October with the amount of work we have delivered!

I’m fatigued! The team is fatigued! And the work shows no signs of slowing.

I don’t know what else I can do to help my team, the expectations and pressure to deliver are as high as they have ever been.

These statements and more I hear daily from the leaders I work with. Not only are they concerned for the impact on the quality of work, but also for the health of their people. And if we are honest, this type of pressure is going to continue, change will continue to create more change, companies will continue to be more accountable to shareholders, and the pressure on our people will rise.

The first thing I ask leaders is …

“What are you doing to build recovery into yours and your team’s rituals?”

This is usually followed by silence, then shortly after with the question “What do you mean recovery?”

What is Recovery?

Take a moment to think about the football game you watched on the weekend, or any other form of elite sports. Elite athletes who push their bodies and minds to the edge every day! If you spoke to any one of these athletes or their coaches and asked, “how do you back it up game after game after game?”. Their answer would be their recovery process. A series of strategies that allow the body and mind to recover and recharge. Common techniques physically are massage, hydrotherapy, stretching and low intensity exercise, as well as sleep, nutrition and hydration which are equally important.

“Recovery is the re-establishment of the initial state – it allows the restoration of physiological and psychological processes, so that you can compete or train again at a similar level.” - Dr Andrea Furst 

Elite athletes and coaches alike would tell you recovery is the most important part of an athlete’s program. Studies show it allows for improved performance and it permits time for the body and mind to heal itself in preparation for the next load. In fact, recovery not only focusses on the physiological, but also the psychological, both reducing fatigue and enhancing performance. So, it only makes sense to incorporate recovery into our team’s rituals. Right?

There are many parallels in the “load” of our elite athletes and that of our people, perhaps not physically, but what they are not exerting physically, they make up for mentally; our ‘always accessible’ culture through technology, the continued blurred lines between work and home, the consistency of change from all directions, increased expectations on quality and quantity, expectations to deliver changes faster than competitors, continuing to deliver more with less … our people are fatigued, overloaded and mentally exhausted.

Applying sports recovery techniques at work

Sport recovery not only utilises physiological strategies, but also psychological recovery strategies which are an important part in the emotional recovery. They are aimed to disengage, or detached, our people from their mental load. Studies show when people are constantly under pressure to deliver and to perform that, eventually, they will suffer from low concentration, lack of motivation and, more importantly, increased levels of anxiety; all of which are detrimental to high performing and functioning teams. Recovery strategies are needed to ensure your teams can continue performing at optimal and functioning levels.

"Psychological recovery involves feelings of relaxation and reestablishing a sense of wellbeing and positive mood." - Dr Andrea Furst 

So, if like, elite athletes, you and your team are experiencing the weight of mental overload, what are some of the things you can do to help them disengage mentally from that high-pressure environment?

How can you integrate recovery into your team rituals?

Introduce the 4 R's; Retrospective, Rest, Relaxation and Revel.

1. Retrospective – Or reflection, with the purpose of learning, gives your mind an opportunity the pause amongst the craziness and make observations of experiences and helps create meaning of events. And through this very practice, reflection allows you to let go of unhelpful thoughts. Research shows that people who spend 15 minutes at the end of each day reflecting, perform 23% better after completing the activity for 10 days consecutively, than those who don’t participate in reflection at all. And what makes reflection even more beneficial, is it can be performed individually and then shared as a team, allowing for greater team connection.
2. Rest – not the sleeping type of rest, but the type of rest that allows you to refocus your attention; doing something that mentally takes your mind off the task and stress at hand and focus on something fun and enjoyable, perhaps reading, a puzzle or a game. Just 5 – 10 minutes of rest can allow you to return to work with renewed focus and a fresh perspective. Be creative, you can easily incorporate 5-10 minutes of rest to ‘check-out’ either as individuals or as a team activity.
3. Relaxation - relaxation techniques reduce the levels of tension and mental activity in your mind; they also energise you. Relaxation techniques that are widely known include mindfulness, meditation, visualisation and deep breathing. Again, this is an opportunity for leaders to be creative and incorporate relaxation into your team’s existing rituals like starting each meeting with 5 minutes of mindfulness. Or maybe a yoga class or meditation class at lunchtime once a week, even with working from home this can be done virtually, so there are no excuses.
4. Revel – the act of play; finding activities and interests that not only give your mind a break from your current work focus, but also ignite different parts of the brain. Play at work doesn’t sound logical or even right! But the studies show that play relieves stress, improves brain function, stimulates the mind, and improves relationships and connection. As Dr Stuart Brown states, “the opposite of play is not work, it’s depression”. Simple, quick, activities of ‘play’ can be easily incorporated into meetings, morning teas, team presentations, lunches, and the like.

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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Kathryn is a Leadership expert, specialising in Conscious Leadership, Confidence Resilience and Transformational Change, in particular for professional women leaders and their teams. Her combined passion for people and leadership has led her to helping executives and their teams reach their full potential.

Kathryn has 20+ years experience working with individuals, leaders and teams as a mentor, coach and corporate facilitator; generating conversations that create sustainable change through connection, clarity, confidence and creating a new path toward success.

Kathryn brings a different dynamic to the world of mentoring and facilitation through a balance of raw honesty and humour and the ability to find creative solutions through her energetic personality, persistent curiosity and process. She prides herself in obtaining results through tailoring an approach to the individuals, leaders, and teams she partners with.