It’s all about breath.
Athletes and actors both know this
Participants in the superb RADA for business executive presence for women course are taught four breaths to change your state, reputedly recommended for statesmen and presidents before they speak to their nation. (Techniques of course learnt by RADA alumni like Tom Hiddleston, Ken Branagh, Ben Whishaw and Nazanin Boniadi.)
Breathing is also crucial for allyship at work.
It’s almost impossible to bring your best effort into the workplace when you feel that you are not included for whatever reason. It might be because of your skin colour, race, sexuality, age or any of the protected characteristics. It might be because of your personality. If you like a public debate for instance when the consensus is, well just that, consensus.
If you’re anxious that you may be left feeling stupid when you need to ask a question for clarification then it’s hard to get on with the task in hand ( if you don’t understand it how are you going to achieve it well?).
And if you want to be a good ally for a colleague who is on the receiving end of classic media land banter then each interaction could be loaded with tension.
The excellent Ad Association cross industry All In Action Plan which launched in January 22 lays out a programme of initiatives to tackle improvements in the experiences of women, Asian and older talent. The initiatives came about as a result of the latest data showed a disparity in gender experiences especially for working mothers; a shocking statistic that 27% of Asian respondents states they were likely to leave the industry because of lack of inclusion or discrimination; and because of an entirely missing generation: only 4% respondents were aged 55-64 (versus 17% of the population). How many businesses in our sector can claim their age profile matches that of the city in which they are based?
Latest research for my book Belonging, the key to diversity, equality and inclusion at work, with co-authors Kathryn Jacob and Mark Edwards, gives a bleak view of many people’s experiences at work in our sector. In an update for the paperback which is out in May, we’ve seen experiences of bias, harassment and inappropriate behaviour increase in the broad sector of marketing, advertising and pr.
We’re returning to real offices and in person encounters and we know from the Time To survey that there are many who fear a “pent up demand” in terms of physical sexual harassment.
Our industry prides itself on a culture of fun, hard work and hard playtime. We must transform this culture in to one of zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour and where inclusion is paramount.
Everyone of us must take personal responsibility for this, and this is where breathing like an actor or an athlete comes in.
Breathing can change your state and give you the equanimity to speak up for a colleague even if the person who you’re challenging is your boss or about to fill in your peer review.
As we write in Belonging: “The simplest way to stop yourself from being triggered or to pull yourself back after you’ve been triggered is via the breath. It sounds too simple to be true, but it does work.
We’ve all either told someone or been told ourselves to take a deep breath. It’s great advice, but you have to know how to take a deep breath effectively. If you simply gasp a deep lung-full of air, you’re making things worse for yourself. A rapid in-breath maintains or exacerbates your fight or flight mode. What you need to do is focus on your out-breath. A slow prolonged out-breath is a powerful biological signal to your body that the threat is over and that it’s okay to relax.”
The impact of breathing is even more relevant after a bout of COVID. But whatever challenges you face in the workplace a few breaths can change your ability to navigate stormy waters and face your fears.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 at 1:25 pm and is filed under MediaComment.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Take a breath.
Athletes and actors both know this
Participants in the superb RADA for business executive presence for women course are taught four breaths to change your state, reputedly recommended for statesmen and presidents before they speak to their nation. (Techniques of course learnt by RADA alumni like Tom Hiddleston, Ken Branagh, Ben Whishaw and Nazanin Boniadi.)
Breathing is also crucial for allyship at work.
It’s almost impossible to bring your best effort into the workplace when you feel that you are not included for whatever reason. It might be because of your skin colour, race, sexuality, age or any of the protected characteristics. It might be because of your personality. If you like a public debate for instance when the consensus is, well just that, consensus.
If you’re anxious that you may be left feeling stupid when you need to ask a question for clarification then it’s hard to get on with the task in hand ( if you don’t understand it how are you going to achieve it well?).
And if you want to be a good ally for a colleague who is on the receiving end of classic media land banter then each interaction could be loaded with tension.
The excellent Ad Association cross industry All In Action Plan which launched in January 22 lays out a programme of initiatives to tackle improvements in the experiences of women, Asian and older talent. The initiatives came about as a result of the latest data showed a disparity in gender experiences especially for working mothers; a shocking statistic that 27% of Asian respondents states they were likely to leave the industry because of lack of inclusion or discrimination; and because of an entirely missing generation: only 4% respondents were aged 55-64 (versus 17% of the population). How many businesses in our sector can claim their age profile matches that of the city in which they are based?
Latest research for my book Belonging, the key to diversity, equality and inclusion at work, with co-authors Kathryn Jacob and Mark Edwards, gives a bleak view of many people’s experiences at work in our sector. In an update for the paperback which is out in May, we’ve seen experiences of bias, harassment and inappropriate behaviour increase in the broad sector of marketing, advertising and pr.
We’re returning to real offices and in person encounters and we know from the Time To survey that there are many who fear a “pent up demand” in terms of physical sexual harassment.
Our industry prides itself on a culture of fun, hard work and hard playtime. We must transform this culture in to one of zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour and where inclusion is paramount.
Everyone of us must take personal responsibility for this, and this is where breathing like an actor or an athlete comes in.
Breathing can change your state and give you the equanimity to speak up for a colleague even if the person who you’re challenging is your boss or about to fill in your peer review.
As we write in Belonging: “The simplest way to stop yourself from being triggered or to pull yourself back after you’ve been triggered is via the breath. It sounds too simple to be true, but it does work.
We’ve all either told someone or been told ourselves to take a deep breath. It’s great advice, but you have to know how to take a deep breath effectively. If you simply gasp a deep lung-full of air, you’re making things worse for yourself. A rapid in-breath maintains or exacerbates your fight or flight mode. What you need to do is focus on your out-breath. A slow prolonged out-breath is a powerful biological signal to your body that the threat is over and that it’s okay to relax.”
The impact of breathing is even more relevant after a bout of COVID. But whatever challenges you face in the workplace a few breaths can change your ability to navigate stormy waters and face your fears.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 8th, 2022 at 1:25 pm and is filed under MediaComment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.