As humans we thrive on challenge and stimulation. That’s why we set goals for ourselves, make New Year’s resolutions, sign up for sponsored walks and embark on training courses and self-development programmes.
When we complete a challenge, hit a goal or finish a course we get a dopamine hit and feel good. There’s a real sense of achievement and our confidence levels increase.
But getting the degree of challenge right in any area of our lives can be really difficult.
If there is too much challenge we can easily get stressed and demotivated. We may start to think ‘what’s the point? I’ll never do it.’ And just give up, perhaps even feeling like a failure.
If there is not enough challenge we can become bored and demotivated. We may start to think ‘what’s the point? It’s too easy. I’ll go and do something else.’ And that can lead to complacency, or even mischief as we try to relieve the boredom.
We also need to pay attention to what’s going on elsewhere in our lives. If we’re tired, ill, grieving, worried about something or even just really busy our ability to cope with challenge will be impacted. We won’t be able to take on as much as when things are going well. In my work, clients will say they don’t understand what’s up, they can usually do so much more. When I dig into it there’s usually something draining their energy and resources in a different area of their lives.
So if you manage people you also need to pay attention to their skills, energy and resources when asking them to do things. Over and over again I see managers expecting too much of their teams and failing to provide adequate training, support and other resources. It’s OK to push people out of their comfort zones but if they’re really floundering, stressed, having outbursts or meltdowns, taking time off sick or just not performing then you need to look at why. Nobody goes to work wanting to do a bad job so ask yourself (and them):
• Is the degree of challenge too much for where they are right now? This might be in terms of knowledge, expertise, experience or something else.
• What can you do to better support them. NB the support has to be meaningful and appropriate for the individual not tokenistic or just a tick box exercise. Hint: sending people for coaching without putting other measures in place is not supporting them.
• Where do you need to adjust your expectations?
The good news is that even small challenges can have a beneficial effect. Just take care to make sure that they’re stretching but still achievable.
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