We live in a fast-paced world, constantly attending to one distraction after another while trying to get real work done. Trying to keep up can be exhausting. When we don’t pay attention to our energy levels and take the time to recharge, our productivity, health, and relationships suffer.

When I talk with people about managing their stress and energy, it is common to hear them say that they understand the benefits of taking breaks, but they can’t afford the time. They fear that if they take a break, their performance will suffer. In an effort to get the maximum ROI from their time, they bankrupt their energy and their performance suffers anyway, because we need both time and energy to be productive.

If that rings true for you, microbreaks could be the best solution. Microbreaks are periodic 30-second to five minute breaks that give you small boosts of energy. Much like plugging in your phone for 5 minutes gives it a small boost but not a full charge, microbreaks will replenish your energy enough to get through another 60-90 minutes. They don’t take the place of longer breaks like lunch, but throughout the day they provide a cumulative effect that will improve your energy, attention, and memory without the anxiety of feeling you’re falling behind.

It is important to remember that not all breaks are created equal. Spending time with people who drain your energy will not recharge you. Taking a break to scroll through social media could actually deplete your energy because you’re not getting a break from screen time. Don’t be fooled into thinking you are recharging just because you are doing something unrelated to work. If your brain is being taxed, you are still using energy.

If you truly want to have a positive impact on your energy level and mood, it is important to take breaks that will provide those benefits. The ideal microbreak involves physical activity and mentally disconnecting from work and technology.

Five easy microbreaks you can easily incorporate into your day:

1. Get Moving

   When we sit for long periods of time, everything – including our ability to think – slows down. Get up every hour and move. Movement gets blood flowing and improves both energy and mental clarity. This can be as simple as walking over to a colleague’s desk to talk rather than sending an email, taking the stairs, a walking meeting, stretching, squats or toe raises. Even five minutes each hour will get your blood flowing and increase your energy and productivity. Make a list of the things you can do given your specific work situation and choose something from that list every hour.

2. Unplug

   We spend the vast majority of our day in front of one screen or another. Whether it is a computer, TV, phone, or a tablet, it takes a physical, emotional, and psychological toll. We tend to fill even the tiniest window of time with a check of our technology. Although many see a chance to watch a video clip or scroll through social media as entertaining or even relaxing, research suggests it might actually be depleting our mental energy rather than recharging us. So what is the solution in a world where we need to be connected? Make time to unplug whenever you can and give your brain a rest so you can boost your energy. Resist the temptation to fill every spare minute you have and, instead, just be. The next time you’re waiting, don’t reach for your device, simply stay present. Focus on what’s going on around you. What do you see, hear, and smell? Maybe even strike up a conversation with someone else who’s waiting. Remember, every opportunity you have to unplug is an opportunity to allow your brain to rest and recharge.

3. Take a Mental break

   Meditation has gotten a lot of attention recently, and for good reason. In the short term, meditation can calm nerves and recenter focus. Over a longer term (6-8 weeks) regular meditation rewires the brain’s response to stress. It increases your self-awareness and enables you to respond more effectively to stress so you can use your energy in more productive ways.

   Meditation doesn’t have to be long or complicated. According to Mark Williams and Danny Penman in their book Mindfulness, even a 3-minute meditation will give you a meaningful mental break. We can all find time for that.

4. Go outside

   A short walk outside where you completely detach from technology combines all three of these strategies into one power microbreak.

5. Breathe

   In the event you’re stuck in a meeting or at your desk for prolonged periods, you can still reduce your stress and recharge. Taking deep, slow breaths can rapidly decrease stress and clear your mind. Just relax your belly, deepen your inhale, and exhale for a count of 5 or 6. The extended exhale sends your brain calming signals that dampen the fight-or-flight response.

One key to effective microbreaks is to take them before you need them. Schedule them throughout your day to get ahead of energy crashes and keep productivity high. To maximize the benefit of a microbreak, disconnect from work and technology and incorporate movement to get the blood flowing.

Recharging doesn’t happen naturally for most people anymore. We are constantly connected and reacting to one stimulus or another. That means we need to be more purposeful in how we recharge and manage our energy. The above strategies are proven ways for you to improve your focus and attention and to enhance your memory and learning. Pay attention to what works best for you and schedule regular microbreaks into your day.

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Dr. Heather Johnson is a nationally recognized speaker with extensive experience developing leaders.  With a doctorate in Psychology and over 20 years of business experience, she works with leaders to quickly identify individual and team performance obstacles and develops customized solutions that lead to rapid change and lasting results. Heather facilitates public and in-house workshops that deliver personalized, practical, and immediate results.  Some of her most requested topics are: Influence, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, Communication, and Strategic Planning. For more information call contact us here or call 651-322-7821.

Consider your top employee, that person you’d hate to see leave. What would the impact of losing that person have on productivity, customers, and revenue? While some people quit and leave a company, others quit and stay. In other words, they disengage.

According to Gallup, about 70% of American workers are disengaged. Can you prevent your top employees from joining that group?

Imagine 70% of your team or your company made up of some combination of these disengaged employees. Actively disengaged employees alone are estimated to cost US companies up to $500 billion annually.

That’s a lot of disengagement and a lot of money, but there is hope because 95% of turnover and disengagement avoidable. In addition, engaged workforces outperform others by 147% in earnings per share. The key to taking advantage of this opportunity is knowing why employees are disengaged and how to reengage them before it’s too late.

Let’s look at eight reasons employees disengage and even quit their job that you can do something about.

1. Their Boss

The single biggest factor leading to disengagement and turnover is an employee’s relationship with his or her boss. Spending 40-50 hours each week with someone you don’t like or respect is stressful and takes a toll. Eventually, people withdraw for self-preservation.

2. Disconnection from co-workers

Co-workers are another critical factor impacting employee engagement. They influence how an employee feels every day. Millennial workers value the social aspect of work even more than other generations. Their blending of personal and work lives mean that the relationships at work are more important than they’ve ever been.

Managers can influence this by providing opportunities for team members to get to know each other. This not only facilitates the connection they want, it also improves communication and teamwork, providing a nice return on the effort invested. This can be accomplished in small ways such as adding a bit of time for informal interaction at the beginning of a meeting, team development, occasional after hours gatherings, pot lucks, etc. There are a lot of little ways managers can do this, and, given the cost of disengaged workers, it is worth the effort.

3. Lack of developmental opportunities

In one survey, 80% of employees hadn’t had training in the previous five years. That is not only a disengagement risk, it is also a productivity risk. Development can come in many forms. Formal training is certainly one of them, and the one people think of most often. Some of the others include shadowing, mentoring, sharing best practices at team meetings, and coaching. One of the things that distinguishes Millennials from other generations is the amount of development they want. Are you providing it?

Managers can provide development easily and inexpensively by combining various approaches. Make sure that you encourage people to attend quality, relevant training. In addition to that, take advantage of daily informal opportunities through coaching, reading, leveraging internal mentors, sharing best practices, and so on.

For anyone concerned that if you invest in developing people, they’ll leave, keep this in mind from Richard Branson…

Train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

4. They aren’t challenged

No one wants to be bored and unchallenged by his or her work. Uninteresting work without the opportunity for growth can certainly lead to disengagement, especially for your most talented and motivated employees. Challenging employees doesn’t mean simply giving them more work; it means giving them new tasks that enable them to learn and grow.

Find out where employees’ interests lie, what skills they would like to develop, and find opportunities to challenge them in those areas. For example, you may have someone who wants to improve his ability to influence so you have him present at an all-hands meeting. The best managers challenge people to stretch themselves in a variety of ways. If you fail to challenge your employees, you risk boredom and disengagement.

5. Limited opportunities to pursue their passion

The opportunity to apply one’s unique strengths on the job is another important key to long-term engagement. When employees get a chance to do what they do best every day, they experience pride and a sense of accomplishment, which boosts self-confidence.

I worked as a supervisor in a group home for 3 years after college. I had a brief conversation with the president of that company as she visited the house and I mentioned that I enjoyed training. The following month, she asked me to be part of developing superviors in all 12 houses. It was a huge success and beneficial for both of us. She never would have had the opportunity to leverage that strength if she hadn’t taken the time to uncover my passion. It’s no surprise that this company has grown to 65 homes with over 1,000 employees and was rated the top workplace in MN for 2016.

Pursuing one’s passion energizes people and improves productivity and job satisfaction. Mangers must get to know the employees on a more personal, individual level to find opportunities to tap into an employee’s strengths and passions. Are you making the effort to do so?

6. Feeling overworked and overwhelmed

Doing more with less has become a common refrain in companies across the country and people are feeling the effects. Dr. Tiffany Sanders reports, “approximately 40% of all workers today feel overworked, pressured and squeezed to the point of anxiety, depression and disease.” Overworked employees who have a choice will leave. Those who don’t will quit and stay.

Companies that understand the cost of overworked employees are taking steps to help. What they cannot fix through increased efficiencies, they are creatively addressing by offering things like flex time, dry cleaning, gift cards for family dinners, etc. What are you doing to provide some relief for employees feeling overwhelmed?

7. They don’t see a purpose in their work

Employees today don’t just want a job, they want to feel connected to a worthwhile purpose. Those who don’t see a connection between their daily tasks and a greater purpose will disengage and soon look for different opportunities.

Help them feel connected by talking regularly about the company vision, mission, and values and how they impact the company’s strategic initiatives. What is clear to leadership may not be readily apparent a few levels down. Learn your company’s story and tell it passionately and frequently.

8. They don’t feel valued

Smart leaders make certain their managers know how to balance the business side of their job with the people side. Managers who only focus on the business side generally see short-term success because people will stay engaged only so long when they don’t feel valued. Managers who fail to really care will always have high turnover rates. There is little motivation to put in one’s best effort when that effort isn’t appreciated or valued.

One of the most effective things leaders can do is hire managers who understand how important it is to balance the business and people side of their job. These are approachable managers who are likely to make people feel valued and engaged. People need to hear that they are valued and appreciated. Are you telling them?

Disengagement is prevalent and costly. It is difficult to determine the exact cost to your company because it doesn’t show up as a line item on a balance sheet. With 70% of US workers disengaged, it is safe to assume you have some disengaged employees on your team. Each of these eight reasons people disengage is preventable. With actively disengaged employees costing US companies $500 billion per year and engaged workforces outperforming them by 147%, can you afford to do nothing?

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Dr. Heather Johnson is an internationally recognized speaker with extensive experience developing leaders.  With a doctorate in Psychology and over 20 years of business experience, she works with leaders to quickly identify individual and team performance obstacles and develops customized solutions that lead to rapid change and lasting results. Heather facilitates public and in-house workshops that deliver personalized, practical, and immediate results.  Some of her most requested topics are: Influence, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, Communication, and Strategic Planning. For more information call contact us here or call 651-210-6021.