LISTEN:
I’ve now been working with my personal fitness coach for about nine weeks. I’m thrilled with the results, even though sometimes I spout a few expletives under my breath (or maybe even louder) during certain exercises.
Some of the types of exercises that are most rigorous are the ones where your muscles are in “time under tension.” Brett explains that when we do these exercises in a 30 or 40 second rep, the muscles that are under tension get stronger, plus other muscles groups are allowed to be more worked.
“Time Under Tension” works for exercising and building muscle and strength.
It doesn’t work in your business when it’s in crisis.
When an event occurs – and it can range from a distraction to a major calamity – businesses and the employees find themselves in “Time Under Tension.” Unlike exercise, the goal must be to get both back into “non-tension” as rapidly as possible.
The longer employees (and that includes the boss and leadership team) are under tension, the increased chance there is for three things – physical mistakes, poor decision-making, and mental stress.
Physical mistakes can be those things done in haste. It might be a vehicle collision while speeding to get somewhere. It could be an injury suffered on a piece of equipment that was not being used properly. It might even be an accident caused when housekeeping was eschewed for speed and someone was injured.
Poor decision-making happens when the decision is made with only “now” in mind. In times of crisis and chaos, it’s hard to look at the big picture. Too many times, one might lament that they wish they had considered the long-term consequences.
Mental stress is a killer. It weighs heavily on all humans in the organization. It leads to problems with morale and employee turnover. For the leaders, consequences can include depression, anxiety, and damage to life balance.
The best way to alleviate any “Time Under Tension” issues is to make sure there is a plan in place in advance. Creating a game plan to prevent, respond to, and recover from any type of crisis is critical. While the first two are important, planning to rapidly recover releases the “Time Under Tension” conundrum and gets everyone back to a high performing operation.
It will also keep you from spouting out expletives under your breath (or out loud)!
Quote of the Week:
“Any time you see a turtle up on top of a fence post, you know he had some help.”
~ Unknown (I always laugh at “unknown.” Someone had to know at some time!)
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