In case you missed it, my take on workplace stress from Entrepreneur UK

I contributed to a piece published in Entrepreneur UK a few weeks back on workplace stress, right in the middle of the summer, when most of us were focussing on keeping cool during a heatwave rather than reading about it.

So, in case you missed it, here it is now.

Back in 2021, my TEDx talk landed on an idea that's stuck with me ever since: stress deserves diagnosis. Since then, that thinking's had more than a smidge of polishing, and this article captures where I've got to and how it underpins how I work with stressed teams.

The core of it is that most workplace stress interventions are built to soothe, not to solve. We hand out breathing techniques and communication workshops as if they'll fix problems that are really about disengagement, poor role design, or conflict that simply hasn't been dealt with properly. As I said in the piece, "one size fits nobody."

Read the full article here.

If you want the TL;DR takeaway, here it is: before you reach for another training intervention or team away day, ask what you're treating. Is it the symptom, or the cause?

Johanna Hooper on workplace stress, Entrepreneur UK feature