THRIVE - How to regain your sense of agency within your workplace.
Feeling ‘stuck’ or disempowered at work is uncomfortable but it is also reversable by regaining your sense of agency.
“Agency : The ability to take action or to choose what action to take:
For example - The protest gave us a sense of agency, a sense of our own power to make a difference.”
OK, let me be specific about what this article is about…
When I talk about being stuck and disempowered I am referring to the context of when we self-sabotage ourselves in a way that directly impacts on our ability to be engaged, effective and productive at work.
There are situations when others within our teams act unprofessionally and without psychological safety in mind and their behaviour may be directed at you, thus preventing certain things from occurring that may impact negatively on your career. In that context, if we do nothing to address that situation then we will be stuck in an unpleasant place. Even in this situation, however, we still have a choice in what to do next even if we feel that we don’t.
If we feel like we have lost choice in our day to day activities, the freedom to make a judgement call with a resultant and appropriate action, then we have lost hope and we end up simply coping and reacting to the demands placed upon us, regardless of what those demands are. Very quickly this will lead to feeling less engaged, anxious and potentially lead to burnout. From this place it will be difficult to think creatively or utilise problem solving skills or deepen work relationships (trust).
How could you possible boost your career from that place?
Regaining agency starts with you.
If you are resonating with what I have written above then it is time to take a moment to reflect on what has gotten you to this place of feeling like you have no sense of agency.
The quotation above defining agency, implies having a belief that we can choose to do something that makes a difference to the situation that we want to change. With that belief, comes an emotional response and with the emotional response comes action.
The Cognitive Behavioural Model (see below) is a useful tool for checking in with ourselves often by working backwards. If my behaviour is to procrastinate, then what am I feeling when I procrastinate, and what am I thinking that has lead me to putting off that important piece of work?
The Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Model.
Understanding and managing difficult thoughts can lead to positive change. If we don’t have hope or a belief in ourselves then that will only serve to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If we believe that we have a choice in being able to create a positive change then we start to find ways around difficult problems regardless of the type of problem.
So in order to bring about positive outcomes within our work, our relationships and ultimately our careers, we need to work on our self-awareness, a key element of emotional intelligence.
Self-awareness is more than just feeling emotions, in the context of this article I am thinking about fear and overwhelm, it is about being able to recognise our emotions in the face of stimulus and being able to understand why we are feeling those emotions (aka how we are interpreting the situation we are feeling emotions about) and then make a choice on how we want to behave next rather than automatically react and potentially miss out on opportunities for growth and positive outcomes. It is having the ability to feel in a way that is useful to us rather than be sabotaged by our emotions.
For example:
“I am feeling quite defensive right now, why is that? What do I need in this situation in order to get to the best outcome?”
“My colleague never listens to me and that upsets me but I wonder what I can do to get that colleague to listen? Who could I ask advice from?”
“I don’t like meetings with colleagues because I feel like I am simply clamming up and I then can’t seem to contribute ideas. I wonder why I am feeling like that. What can I do about that?”
We do have a choice for change.
We may not feel that we have a choice to choose our response in difficult situations but we do and it is possible to think quickly enough to be able to change our automatic response to one that we feel is going to bring about the best outcomes.
So my challenge to you is to start to tune into how you are responding to situations and ask yourself why you are responding like you are and what outcome you would like to bring about rather than reacting and hoping for the best. This is a discipline that takes time to develop so be kind to yourself but keep the focus and it will get easier and your will regain your sense of agency.
Let me give you something that will help you to be more successful with relationships at work (and any other relationship too).
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About John Hicks.
Since 2012, after a career in science and technology starting as a bench chemist then moving into sales and marketing and ultimately senior management, I decided to start my own company to help clients to see the truth in their abilities rather than fall for the deceitful thoughts that come with having a low self-esteem.
I realised that individuals at all levels of organisations can experience overwhelm, self-doubt and be de-railed by their automatic reactions to problems rather than have choice and control in bringing about the best outcomes.
If you want to find out more about my work then feel free to look around my website by clicking here.