It is hard to find hope in these times of uncertainty.  What feels like an almost constant stream of bad news can cause anyone to have doubt about the future.  Or you may be a person who fears change even in the most stable of times.    If either of the statements sounds true, you may be suffering from learned helplessness.  The good news here is that there are tools for overcoming learned helplessness.  This blog entry will define learned helplessness. Future entries will give you tools for dealing with it.
Learned helplessness is the condition in which a person has learned to believe that they are helpless in a particular situation. They believe that they have no control and that whatever they do is futile. As a result, the person will stay passive in the face of an unpleasant, harmful or damaging situation, even when they actually have the power to change their circumstances.
Many people will suffer from learned helplessness at some time in their lives.  One example would be you have a talk with your manager where he or she appears angry at a trivial subject.    You are puzzled by the exchange, feeling there is nothing you can do about it.  Learned helplessness can occur in far more serious situations.  A study shows that most people in a disaster situation will do nothing until instructed to do so.  A person can learn to be helpless through the observation of another person encountering uncontrollable events even if the observer has not countered it themselves.
Learned helplessness can be a minor issue that occasionally keeps you from making decisions confidently.  Or it can be a significant problem that is keeping you from realizing your professional or personal potential.  So how does knowing about learned helplessness assist you?  The answer is found in the concept of your Explanatory style.  We will explore this concept in a future entry.

You can read about someone’s experience with Learned Helplessness by clicking here and visiting their blog.

This post was authored by Danny McCracken, a guide and trainer for Ascent Adventure Consultants.

I read a great posting today at the Create Learning Teambuilding Blog. The authors point is an excellent one. With today’s instability in business and with the uncertainty of jobs, it creates instability in business, and companies need teambuilding now more than ever. Here is his posting:

Most of today’s organizations function in a team setting. These may be cross

functional or functional internal teams, client service teams made from internal
and external service providers, or other member compositions. Stability is
an essential component to the success of these teams. Why? Because teams go
through many stages before they become high performing — namely: forming,
storming, norming and finally, performing. Stabilty makes teams more
efficient and effective at doing their jobs.

In today’s recessionary, lay-off laden environment, stability is simply not a
reality. Does this mean organizations are going to suffer from less efficient
and less effective teams? Most likely. Now, more than ever, organizational
leadership must prioritize team building amongst it’s highest goals or risk
suffering an even greater setback from the loss of team members and the
environment of uncertainty we are in.

-Teambuilding Western New York Blog

I would also like to add a few points to this:

1. Teambuilding can also boost morale and can increase employee commitment and confidence in their company. I believe that by managers and business owners making the decision to have teambuilding programs conducted for their teams, that employees will be able to renew confidence and commitment in these times of uncertainty, thereby increasing productivity and success.
2. Business never is successful when everyone is just out for their own gain. In this economic downturn, people tend to fend for themselves, which means businesses NEED to pull their teams together.
3. Teambuilding is FUN! If nothing else, companies should conduct teambuilding programs just to escape from the normal stresses of life!

Check out our teambuilding programs, at www.ascentadventure.com