Successfully fostering a healthy mental space at home or work is not a matter of chance but of intentionality. This deliberate approach empowers you, putting you in the driver’s seat to build and protect a personally and corporately beneficial environment. These remaining factors contribute to creating such a desirable inner environment, especially at the workplace.
Task burden: This is an element of mental space that we all need to be aware of to avoid anxiety, stress, burnout, emotional exhaustion, difficulty, and a sense of pressure. Although some people perform best under pressure because they are highly motivated, most don’t. Ironically, the ability to work under pressure is a desirable attribute recruiters seek in employees to meet both steep and strict deadlines as work demands.
However, what is essential is identifying which side of the divide you belong to for effective workload management. Regardless of your side, effective work pressure management puts you in control and on top of your activities without breaking a sweat, leading to positive outcomes and a sense of achievement.
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Engagement: This is a significant element that determines individual and organisational outcomes. Engagement enhances a person’s resilience, grit, confidence, aspirations, growth, and development. It also promotes wellbeing, job satisfaction, creativity, innovation, autonomy, accountability, productivity, meaningful work, and positive relationships.
Because engagement refers to your ability to be fully committed and involved cognitively and passionately at home, work, or anywhere else, there is a level of interdependency required for it to flourish. These external factors must be supportive, as their engagement level encourages more people’s involvement through positive influence.
Work culture: Deliberately develop work habits and practices that encourage creativity, foster collaboration, boost morale, enhance engagement, and allow open communication to create a sound psychological environment. Even though this should stem from organisational culture, it’s essential not to use a negative corporate culture as an excuse not to be the beacon of hope in such a scenario. This special element allows everyone to stand out, set a good example, and become a change agent where needed.
“Even though this should stem from organisational culture, it’s essential not to use a negative corporate culture as an excuse not to be the beacon of hope in such a scenario.”
Recognition and reward: The use of these elements to boost the psyche cannot be overemphasised. Recognition and reward strengthen motivation and drive, increase confidence and self-esteem, foster a sense of pride and accomplishment, and enhance engagement, involvement, and positive influence. Incorporating recognition and reward for a sound psychological environment can be achieved through positive feedback, commendation, verbal praise, awards, bonuses, promotions, benefits, perks, personal gestures, public acknowledgment, celebration, and appreciation. This is a powerful tool to make individuals feel appreciated and valued, enhancing their sense of worth and contribution.
Demand, protection, and social support: This set of elements directly impacts employees’s stress levels, wellbeing, and overall performance in diverse ways. Psychological demands, as an element of the psychological environment, must be effectively managed by you to maintain a safe and sound mental space. These demands include work pressure, workload, emotional labour, business interactions, timelines, work problems, and complexities. The key is to match these demands with individual capabilities for positive outcomes.
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Psychological protection is another element determined by the ability to speak up, suggest, contribute, or share an opinion or idea without retribution or blowback. This can be fostered by creating a culture of open communication and an appreciation for diverse perspectives. The last elements in this set, which are psychological and social support, are determined by the level of trust, connection, help, and assistance that exist or are made available at work, home, or anywhere you find yourself. This subset duo fosters a sense of security, wellbeing, and connection through empathy, resources, guidance, encouragement, and comfort. A supportive environment promotes teamwork, trust, openness, compassion, care, growth, development, and DEI.
Indeed, the components of a psychological environment are inexhaustive. They cannot all be covered or wholly addressed in an article or two. However, I hope I’ve created enough awareness to make you identify what works and doesn’t work for you. I also hope it has taught you a little about safeguarding your mental health by deliberately building and securing a sound and safe inner space.
Call to action:
As we all know, there is no health without mental health, since the intangible manifests the tangible. Even the WHO definition of health corroborates this as a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing. So, which psychological factors are you using to improve your quality of life or your employees’?
Olayinka Opaleye is a Wellbeing Specialist and Corporate Wellness Strategist. She can be reached at [email protected], +234 09091131150, or through www.linkedin.com/in/olayinkaopaleye.
