Working in HR often means being in the middle of conversations that generate tension.
I’m Nara, the mascot of HR professionals, and today I want to talk to you about something I see very often when I go with Berta to meetings, training sessions and conversations with teams.
The kind of tiredness that doesn’t come only from the volume of work.
The human brain works largely through interpretation.
And when it perceives tension around it, it activates internal alert mechanisms even when the situation has nothing directly to do with you.
That’s why some conversations end, but the body takes quite a bit longer to come out of them.
Over time, that sustained tension ends up creating mental exhaustion or a feeling of moving too fast all day long.
There are two skills that help a lot to manage this better in daily work.
Skill 1
How not to emotionally absorb everything happening around you
Many people in HR believe that supporting someone well means getting emotionally involved to the maximum.
And in reality, when a person absorbs all the emotional tension of a conversation, they lose clarity.
The brain needs a certain sense of calm to think well and make balanced decisions.
That’s why, before entering a difficult conversation, it’s important to do something very simple: breathe more slowly for a few seconds, or consciously release the tension in your jaw and shoulders.
That small gesture sends a direct signal to the nervous system.
The brain interprets that it isn’t in danger and automatically starts working from a much more stable place.
After the conversation it’s also important to make a small closure before moving on to another task.
The brain needs to notice that the conversation is over.
When that closure doesn’t happen, tension accumulates even after the workday ends.
Skill 2
How to hold difficult conversations without carrying the whole weight
There are conversations the mind keeps replaying for hours.
This happens because the human brain has a natural tendency to try to internally close situations it perceives as emotionally important.
That’s why many people leave a meeting and keep thinking afterwards about whether they said the right thing or could have done it better.
The conversation ends on the outside, but internally it stays open.
Holding difficult conversations doesn’t mean carrying, emotionally, everything that happens within them; it means being present without taking the full weight with you afterwards.
Supporting someone doesn’t mean becoming emotionally responsible for everything that person feels.
When that difference is well understood, it changes a lot how certain conversations are experienced in HR.
Humántica®
At Imantia we work on these tools because we know that your internal state directly influences how a person holds up their daily work.
When the body stays in tension for too long, the mind loses clarity.
When emotional load builds up, conversations start to wear you down more than usual.
That’s why we created the C.A.R.E.® method.
Not only so that the learning experiences work well within teams, but also to reduce the mental and emotional load of HR teams.
Perhaps that’s why many clients who have worked with us for years say they don’t feel we work as an external supplier.
They feel they work with a team that truly understands everything behind their day to day.
I’ll still be around here, watching closely how you work… and learning too from everything you hold up each day.
And who knows, maybe at some point we’ll cross paths at the office — I almost always go with Berta to her meetings with HR.
— Nara
P.S.: Does it happen to you that some work conversations end, but internally you take a while to come out of them?
