Two best strategies for wellbeing at work? Connection, conscious breathing

Dr Galia Bahava gets paid by international companies to create high-performance work environments that are "tough", but not "toxic".

When working with any employer or employee, the first thing she does is teach them to breathe - just as she did at RNZ, before getting on the microphone with Susie Ferguson.

"I sat in your lunchroom and I did some breathing, because it's not my usual place to do these kinds of interviews,” BaHava tells Saturday Morning. "Elongating your exhale, it just tells you it's safe. When people are in this fight-or-flight response, just taking some time throughout the day to do some breathing is a really simple exercise."

Another small and quick, but often underrated move to protect yourself from getting into a downward spiral is connecting with other people, BaHava says.

"In any workplace, there are people that you have a good relationship with, so savour in those moments where you're connecting with people who are like-minded, who make you smile. The banter, the laughter, that is actually a very important mental health strategy for wellbeing."

People sometimes think wellbeing and high-performance culture are mutually exclusive, but BaHava says people's wellbeing only suffers, when their work environment is "toxic" rather than "tough".

If you wake up in the morning with a sense of dread in your stomach about going to work, she says it might be because the environment is toxic.

"There's just unclarity. People don't know what's expected of them.

“They don't know what success looks like. They feel the sense of uncertainty, and that's part of how they feel, that they get into that downward spiral, because they don't know where they stand, and that is toxic."

In a "tough" high-performance environment, there are clear performance expectations and clear development discussions, and people know what's expected of them, BaHava says.

"They know what success looks like. They have open conversations and, in those environments, there's also psychological safety, where people have the ability to make mistakes, ask questions.

“There isn't a penalty, if you are challenging, but you're challenging in a healthy way."

People working in high-performance environments that are "tough" can become more resilient by understanding that there'll always be certain things that are annoying, but beyond their control, and these aren't worth wasting too much time thinking and obsessing about.

"Resilient people experience as much stress as anyone else, but what they also experience is a lot more positive emotions.

“It's almost like they're very disciplined at ensuring that they experience those positive emotions."