#49 How to Build Resiliency in Difficult Work Environments

Too often we chalk up our bad experiences at work to our environment. A negative culture, a bad boss, monotonous work, etc. Especially for women working in STEM fields, which are typically heavily male-dominated, they might add other items to the list like, "lack of respect, not taken seriously, and being left out of social gatherings."
In this episode, we dive into research that shows how to build resiliency so that the stress of these factors has less impact on your life and you can thrive despite your circumstances.
Story-editing is the theme of this episode, as well as the theme of this podcast season! Story-editing interventions work by replacing the narratives we use to explain our experiences. For example, if the story you use to describe your frustration at work was, "My job is stressful because my boss doesn't understand the work I do." A story-editing intervention might challenge you to reinterpret your experiences with the story, "Right now my job is stressful because our department is in a transition phase. I have a chance to step up as a leader to help things go as smoothly as possible."
As you can see, the first narrative abdicates responsibility. In other words, you become the victim of your circumstances. Feeling like you don't have control to change your situation is stressful.
But in some cases, a shift in perception may be all that's needed to improve your experience drastically.
In this episode, I share a study conducted at the University of Waterloo. The goal was to see how different story-editing interventions worked to improve women's experience in the Engineering program, which was heavily male-dominated.
I don't want to spoil the findings, but they found significant improvements in their achievement, sense of belonging and confidence.
I believe we can all benefit by learning to apply similar story-editing practices to our own experiences.
You can find the full show notes here: https://www.feminineforesight.com/podcast-feed/resiliency-for-women-in-male-dominated-workplaces