Values-driven action can thwart anxiety, brokers told

She explained that brokers may be susceptible to experiencing anxiety because they are empathetic beings and perfectionists and have an analytical mind, along with a desire to serve in their clients’ best interests.

“Anxiety is a broker’s protective instincts at play,” she told The Adviser ahead of her keynote session at the Better Business Summit 2024.

“They have this sense of wanting to make sure that they don’t miss any details or make mistakes.”

While this approach is praiseworthy, Dr Lowinger warned that when anxiety is driving the mind, it could lead to negative and “fear-driven” actions.

“At the root of anxiety is their core values of being caring, compassionate, and curious, being driven to continuously improve, having an attention to detail, and problem solving,” she said.

“Brokers should move out of those fear-driven actions and leverage their core values that underpin them. These are superpower values but they won’t lead to anxiety because they’re values-driven rather than fear-driven.”

At the Better Business Summit, Dr Lowinger will share tools for brokers to thrive in their business, especially during periods of uncertainty and change.

Adopt a high-performance mindset

Fearing imperfection or making a mistake could lead to suboptimal behaviours, “playing small”, and adopting a fixed mindset, which hinders progress.

To combat these behaviours, Dr Lowinger has created the mindset method, which comprises high-performance coaching pillars to help business owners and executives build strong businesses.

The first pillar, she outlined, encompasses creating a sound business strategy and embedding a high-performance culture and growth mindset in the business.

“This involves challenging the belief that you have to be perfect to succeed because that’s about psychological safety,” she said.

The second pillar requires brokers to become an effective leader who can assemble a team and build engagement and motivation and inculcate sustainable high-performance habits among them.

Building a culture of resilience is also critical for a brokerage to thrive, Dr Lowinger said.

“Resilience is normally about how to sit with the discomfort of uncertainty, and bounce back from challenging life experiences,” she said.

“But I like to broaden the definition. Resilience is about how one builds a high-performance business in times of uncertainty. To truly flourish, you need to understand how to kick your goals, and align yourself with things that give you purpose, fulfilment, and enjoyment.”

How to combat burnout

This mindset could also help brokers avoid burnout, but it requires an understanding of what leads to burnout.

Dr Lowinger said that humans respond to threats and “perceived threats” with the flight-or-fight nervous system, also called the sympathetic nervous system.

Brokers could be worried about failing to achieve their targets, the threats of artificial intelligence to their jobs, the impacts of economic headwinds on their business and their clients, and cash flow issues.

“Worrying about perceived threats leads to a physiological reaction like anxiety and negative stress,” Dr Lowinger said.

The sympathetic nervous signals the adrenal glands to release hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, which over time, could lead to the burnout of serotonin levels.

“Mindset and context are critical to combating burnout,” Dr Lowinger said.

“When we struggle with things that are out of our control (like COVID-19), it can lead to burnout. We want to move out of worrying about the things that are out of our control, and move into problem solving and empowered action around the things that are in our control. That’s an empowered action.”

In unison with this, looking after the mind and body is essential to building resilience and achieving sustainable high-performance over the long term.

This requires developing a wellbeing action plan around nutrition, sleep, exercise, relaxation, mindfulness, and meditation, Ms Lowinger concluded.

To hear Dr Jodie Lowinger’s keynote address about how brokers could build a high-performance brokerage, come along to the Better Business Summit 2024.

Better Business Summit 2024

The Better Business Summit and Awards 2024 will be held in the following locations:

• Thursday, 15 February at The Star, Sydney.
• Thursday, 22 February at the Convention Centre, Adelaide.
• Thursday, 29 February at Hyatt Regency, Perth.
• Thursday, 7 March at Sofitel Brisbane.
• Thursday, 14 March at The Crown Melbourne.

Click here to book your tickets and don’t miss out!

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For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.

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