Organizational Cortisol: No more stress management courses

No more stress management courses. Or rather, no more using stress management courses as the sole and exclusive tool to reduce people’s stress levels. Improving organizational well-being isn’t achieved through training alone: ​​it involves deeper changes in leadership, values, and mindset.

But what can we do? First, let’s understand more about stress.

ORGANIZATIONS AS A SOURCE OF CORTISOL

Let’s think about what causes stress in organizations? Deadlines, pressure for results, having to do things differently, the need to innovate, the need for speed, competition… but if we analyze them carefully, all these factors have something in common: they represent changes, whether real or imagined, in the face of VUCA or BANI environments. And every time our body perceives a stressor, it generates cortisol, and excess cortisol has a counterproductive effect: it blocks our ability to listen, puts us in “defense” mode, and with it, our ability to be flexible and adaptable. If we think about it, organizations could be a significant source of cortisol. It’s not something intentional (I don’t think anyone, rationally and deliberately, wants to “stress” others), but it does happen, especially during transformations.

You might think that reducing cortisol is only linked to well-being and a positive environment, aspects typically associated with people (and HR). However, organizational cortisol has an impact on other important aspects beyond people and their mental well-being:

• Innovation: With high stress levels, people can’t fully utilize their creativity and develop their full potential.
• Results and productivity: When cortisol is in charge, work quality is likely to be compromised, as well as a lack of focus and effectiveness.
• Resistance to change and lack of adaptability.
• Predominance of a fixed mindset rather than a growth mindset.

HOW TO DECREASE ORGANIZATIONAL CORTISOL

No, offering stress management courses isn’t the solution. These trainings (which I personally love to facilitate) can be highly valuable, but only when combined with a systemic approach to the organization. It’s good to provide tools for managing emotions, learning to breathe, and being present (it helps a lot), but that’s not enough. Organizational cortisol is a cultural factor, not exclusively a personal one, so it must be addressed systemically. What can we do beyond providing mindfulness tools?

• Psychological safety: Creating a safe environment where people can think out loud (with respect) and express themselves genuinely creates good conditions for combating stress. Making people feel included, openly discussing mistakes, active listening, etc. It’s essential that leaders actively work on this through their attitudes and language.
  
• Pauses: forcing ourselves to have retrospectives of our work and our team, as well as taking breaks to explore better ways of doing things. Improvement, and with it, transformation, lies in the pause.
  
• Minimum Viable Products: Having essential solutions that we can then refine allows us to work with greater focus. At the same time, our mindset shifts into “experimentation” mode, which can be absolutely rewarding and liberating.
  
• Feedforward: We hear a lot about feedback, but what about focusing conversations on the future? These conversations prepare us for uncertainty and help us explore a wealth of possibilities.
  
• Prioritize: Running around like headless chickens doesn’t help anyone. In this regard, Agile provides us with very useful techniques for prioritizing and working with greater focus. It’s not about working more, but about working better.
  
• Techniques like OKRs for goal setting can help you feel more calm, organized, and focused.
  
• Kanban: Yes, using methods like Kanban to visualize work can help you feel more in control of your own work. It will also encourage more constructive conversations. Do we see ourselves with too much work and bottlenecks? Conversations will tend to move toward solutions, and with it, less stress.
  
• Recognize and celebrate: acknowledge our peers, celebrate successes and learning, connect with others. Social connection helps generate oxytocin, which is the opposite of cortisol.
  
• Serious play: dynamics, games, and engaging ways to learn and communicate in a fun way help us relax. Humor is also an incredible medicine.
  
• Choose metrics and success indicators that reflect results AND behaviors. Achieving certain metrics can be stressful (and sometimes beyond our reach), but if we begin to value behaviors and attitudes, we can generate a greater sense of certainty and well-being.
  
• Of course, all the wellness initiatives we already know (but in practice they still have a long way to go): respecting breaks, encouraging physical activity and good nutrition, flexible work policies, etc.

Do I have to do all of this? No. What I’m inviting you to do is try out the initiatives that are relevant to your organization’s reality. This isn’t about doing everything, but rather creating an impact and facilitating a better work environment. If you have some initiatives that aren’t mentioned here: go for it! The important thing is not to settle for the same old thing.

Ultimately, this isn’t just an HR job: it’s everyone’s responsibility, especially leaders’. Collective stress requires a cultural shift, with leaders playing a key role.

Now, if you still want to benefit from your stress management training (I’m not advocating for you to throw it away either), I invite you to work with people to discover what their key stressors are and, with that, seek concrete solutions. Then, I invite you to look for changes beyond the individual. It won’t happen overnight, but small solutions can make a big difference.

And you, what actions would you add to minimize organizational cortisol?

Claudia Salas