Giving meaning to work - Case of Alexandre
Alexandre is a digital project manager; he designs consumer IT projects and
manages them with several teams. He is appreciated and recognized for his skills. It is
a demanding employee.
One day, he complains about the too high level of requirement he undergoes. He has meanwhile been
many times out of work.
He then meets the mobility manager at the HRD, tells him of his discomfort and
expresses the wish to leave his post, arguing that he has less energy, with this
looks like it won't last long. However, he does not know whether he has a
alternative project in mind.
It is at this time that our Cabinet supports it.
What he tells us:
"I have lost the taste and sense of my profession, I have difficulty composing in and with the
time and I no longer see my contribution to the project I am leading." He actually
fear of not "being up to it" during the progress meetings that he has to organize and
orchestrate and it is for him a significant source of fear.
His attempts at a solution:
- He seeks to control this fear and implements actions to do so.
"perfect"; let us remember, he wants to be irreproachable. He is increasingly involved in
his project, controls his behavior for fear of being judged fallible.
- He will avoid the support that his colleagues and his superiors propose to bring him;
he will carry "this burden" alone
- And to be perfect by itself, it will implement the following strategy:
prepare meetings, be in interaction with the teams, which connects him to
a terrible fear even if he doesn't put it that way.
Each time he gets into action, he gives himself the illusion that he can be perfect through him.
even and, of course, each time he confronts the reality of his limits.
He exhausts himself in this loop, gets lost, no longer sees his contribution to the project, continues
nevertheless the plans and realizes that he must give up.
The strategies we have put in place
- We focused first of all on reframing his perfectionism in us
pressing image of someone trying to swim touching the horizon
(quest not possible).
- We then worked in a paradoxical mode. The trap in which
finds Alexandre is that of a very strong fear of collapsing but without him
has ever gone to touch what is called "the half-hour of the worst" which makes it possible to
discover that his ghosts can be less terrifying if viewed in
face. This action makes it possible to requalify the situation which, instead of transforming itself
in panic turns into courage.
- Give meaning to what he lives by leading him to do a little less to satisfy himself
but a little more to take small relational risks.
- Make him discover through actions his centers of interest.
Today, Alexandre says that all his symptoms of anxiety have disappeared:
"I apprehend but I observe that my fear subsides". He manages to regulate himself.
He knows the difference between perfect and perfectible. He reframed himself.
On the other hand, he does not know if he will continue in this profession, but he agrees to take
time to think about it calmly.