Stage 1: Preparation phase

Actively live the energising elements of teamwork!

  • Give yourself more positive feedback as a team when things are going well
  • Concentrate more on your specific areas of responsibility or those of your team
  • Address negative dynamics in teams explicitly and swiftly - pay more attention to a fact-orientated and constructive way of working together
  • Try to maintain/strengthen your personal resources in your free time(e.g. physical exercise, social contacts via telephone/online media, music, etc.)
  • Think about possible positive thoughts, inner images, memories that can be "safe inner places" or energising motives for you in more stressful phases.
Stage 2: High stress phase

Deal with yourself and your colleagues in an objective and mindful way!

  • Make a clear distinction (within the team) between what you currently have influence over and what you do not - focus on these areas and processes that you can influence.
  • Deal with organisational challenges as pragmatically as possible.
  • Explicitly agree on break structures appropriate to the situation in the team - stick to them!
  • Actively use breaks for inner distraction - seek out your "safe inner places" (e.g. beautiful or energising memories, motives, thoughts, plans for the future) that help you to create inner distance from work.
  • Agree on suitable team time-out (TTO) rules for your area for situations with negative team dynamics. The aim: to reflect together on the essentials, return to a factual focus and identify organisational improvement impulses.
  • If you are experiencing serious signs of mental exhaustion, you can make use of the counselling/support services offered by the ZPG (see contact overleaf)
Stage 3: Extreme stress phase

Allow yourself and your colleagues a human dimension!

  • Please maintain an awareness of your excellent professional skills , both personally and as a team - explicitly show mutual appreciation even in extreme situations!
  • Recognise that some challenges during a pandemic clearly exceed the limits of what is professionally and humanly possible.
  • Avoid "all or nothing" thinking - the motto is: stick together and implement what is technically, organisationally and humanly possible in this specific shift.
  • Allow yourself and your colleagues to experience feelings such as despair, frustration, anger and sadness - these are human and natural reactions to extreme situations. Try to give space to these feelings outside the immediate work situation.
  • Make use of support services when psychological stress reactions occur