Manage Ambiguity And Change.
We all have different ‘zones’ at work.
Knowing what ‘zone’ we are in at work, can help us understand how we manage stress. Understanding how to work within that is a game-changer.
Ever heard of phrase ‘focus your Locus’?
It’s from a theory called the Locus of Control, established in 1954 by psychologist Julian Rotter. It’s the idea that our relationship with things we believe we can control have a direct correlation to how well we problem solve or feel in ‘control’ during times of extreme stress. Let’s look at how it works.
Someone with an internal Locus of Control focuses on what they can control. By doing so, they’re able to manage their emotions more effectively during the day. Examples at work might include, instead of getting flustered at the to do list, or office drama, they might think, ‘these are my priorities for the day and those other things are not mine to own’, or ‘this needs to happen today so I’m going to focus on getting that done’.
If someone has an external Locus of Control they’re more likely to feel things outside of their control and feel powerless to focus on important stuff. So let’s say a project gets off track, or someone misses a deadline, or things generally fall off the wagon, they are more likely to accept that everything is out of their control and therefore exude less effort focussing on fixing it. At work, examples might include blaming others, feeling disengaged or waiting for someone else to solve a problem that’s 100% within their control.
At Happiness Concierge, we often encourage people to ‘focus their Locus’ when they experience feelings of overwhelm and uncertainty by reminding themselves of two things:
There are things I can control and can’t control.
What are three things within my control I can influence today?
Now we’ve focused our Locus, we can look at what zone we show up in, at work and in life.
What ‘zone’ are you in?
This is a powerful tool we teach in so many of our classes. If you are experiencing feelings of overwhelm, anxiety or uncertainty, you might like to take this concept into our Traffic Light Framework. Let’s take a look.
When we are in our ‘green’ zone, we feel great! We are operating and communicating at our best. A great time to be at work and contributing positively.
When we are in our ‘yellow’ zone, we feel out of sorts. We are experiencing a loss of control, or uncertainty. Typically we show up as irritable, frustrated and pass that feeling onto others around us.
When we are in our ‘red’ zone, we need a time out! We may feel out of control, or at a loss of where to start. As a result, we’re likely to communicate unhelpfully, and certainly not as our best selves! Others may avoid us or just tell us ‘what we want to hear’, as a result.
The only way to take control of how you respond is to become aware of what the circumstances are that are causing us to feel ‘green’, ‘yellow’ or ‘red’. Once this is clear, we can create a plan.
For example, you might reflect on what is causing you to experience a ‘green’, ‘yellow’ or ‘red’ moment. Here are examples from our clients:
“I am in my green zone when I have lots of time to get a task done. I love being able to think of the best possible result as a result I know I’m adding value.”
“I work autonomously when I’m in my green zone, left to my own priority list. As a result, I typically deliver things ahead of schedule. It feels good to be me in green!”
“I am in my yellow zone when I am uncertain of my priorities or I don’t understand an instruction and am too afraid to ask for clarity. As a result I go ‘underwater’ and attempt to do it but mainly I freak out and lose sleep and deliver something I don’t entirely understand.”
“I am in my yellow zone when I’m under the pump. I start to blame others because I’m frustrated.”
“I am in my red zone when I feel overwhelmed and under pressure to get something right.”
“I am in my red zone when my team miss deadlines and I feel incredibly overwhelmed and as a result lose my cool.”
As you can see, so many variables and every single zone influences how we show up at work.
Going through the list of zones and writing down as many circumstances as you can for each is incredibly cathartic, too. It also helps bring your awareness to how you experience different moments of your working life. For example, we have found people have realised that while their job mightn’t be stressful, there are certain circumstances which cause them to go into the ‘red’ every day.
We have taught this framework now for six years and have discovered every single audience has a different response. For example, some people find one person's green zone is their red zone, and others discover they are permanently in their yellow zone at work. No wrong answers here.
Get from each zone with a circuit breaker.
A circuit breaker is simply an action that causes us to mentally separate ourselves from the task at hand. Circuit breakers can help us take a moment in between our zones and help us come back to our better selves, when we just need a minute. How to choose a circuit breaker? When we are in the red zone, we need to pause and remove ourselves from the scenario. When we are in our yellow zone, we need to take positive action. Let’s look at a few examples.
A circuit breaker could be stopping to breathe and plant our feet on the ground in between emails. It could be taking a break and having a snack between meetings. It could be putting our ‘offline’ status up while we take an extended lunch break. It could be refusing to check work emails on the weekends (if you know, you know!)
Here are a few examples we’ve heard from our clients:
“When I feel myself getting red, I become a keyboard warrior. I’ve now put a post it not on my computer saying ‘step away from the keyboard’ and I now take 5 mins to breathe, take off my shoes and pause.”
“When I’m red, I don’t always realise it but I feel completely out of control and very frustrated. What this exercise has taught me is when I feel red, I can create an excuse to go offline for 15 minutes and walk around the block. I don’t have to understand it but I can take 15 minutes to cool myself down and come back to it.”
“When I’m yellow, I feel nervous and anxious, and I think it could be because I don’t always know what’s expected of me. What I think I’ll do is write a list of what I think my priorities are, and schedule a 15 minute chat with my manager each morning and ask them to confirm these are the correct priorities.”
“When I’m yellow, I feel overwhelmed. My circuit breaker is going to be, in the morning, declining non essential meetings and asking for a recording or notes instead so I can come back to it later.”
“When I’m yellow, I’m just really tired. I realised I need to take some leave to ‘reboot’ myself. I’m going to do that next week!”
“When I’m green, I’m going to use that opportunity to make sure I’m topping up my tank to handle those yellow and red moments. “
The neat thing about circuit breakers is that they are just as unique as you are. We’ve heard people blasting heavy metal as their circuit breakers between zone’s. We’ve heard people doing yoga in the middle of the day to create space between zones. Some people phone a friend to break up the day or breathe.
There is no wrong way to create space for yourself. The most important thing is that it is yours to own. What might your circuit breakers look like?
Bringing it all together.
Now that we know what we can control and what we cant, and we are aware of the different ‘zones’ we find ourselves in, we’ve designed circuit breakers unique to our personality, we have a brilliant emotional regulation toolkit to support us during the day.
Here are reflection questions as you create your own practice:
How can I bring my awareness to what ‘zone’ I’m in on any given day? For example, if I were to keep a mental diary of my day, or week, what do I notice about my morning ‘zone’? Is it green or red? How about my afternoon zone? Is it yellow? Now my evening zone: is it green, ready to rejuvenate for another day, or is it still lingering yellow?
Now that I am aware of what ‘zone’ I am in, what circuit breakers could be useful to keep in mind to help me transfer between zones. For example, if I’ve discovered that stepping away from the keyboard helps me move from yellow to green, could I engineer a ‘break’ for 15 minutes in my afternoon? If I find it’s tricky to switch off after the adrenaline of the day, could I make dinner, instead of ordering it, to slow down my nervous system?
And finally: when do I give myself a chance to breathe ‘out’ each day? It sounds a bit naff, but when we ask this question, we do find the majority of people (including ourselves) realise, we’ve been holding our breath during busy times of the day. Making time for moments of light relief, laughter, being silly, dancing if we need to (or want to) and connecting with those we love can really be hugely beneficial not only to our mental health but those around us.
In our Leadership Programmes, we teach these lessons.
Managing emotional wellbeing is an essential leadership skill.
When leaders don’t have a toolkit to manage their frustrations, it can create a culture of fear and lower psychological safety.
The result is that leaders have practical tools to lead.
Future leaders can communicate with authority. First time leaders can manage performance. Established leaders can lead their culture.
What could your leaders achieve at work if they had the tools to confidently lead teams for results?
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