Syncing Success: How Hormone Cycles Shape Workplace Performance

Wow! What a reaction to Syncing Success: How Hormone Cycles Shape Workplace Performance, the topic of a workshop I gave for the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Japan.

The mixed gender, multinational attendees were wonderfully open to new ideas, eager to ask questions, and willing to share their personal experiences.

We talked about periods, peri and menopause, plus period loss due to stress and undereating.

While some swore by fasting until late morning for better performance, others (like me) experienced that a good breakfast is a must.

Some were up with the lark while others were happy night owls.

Bottom line: What works for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another. 

So it’s tremendously powerful to understand how our hormones and other factors impact us personally and take into account that our colleagues’ experiences may be very different.

Thank you, Ed Chynoweth, Eric Brachwitz, Helen Rivero, Justyna Kozak, and the CCIFJ for writing 4 posts and an article on LinkedIn (did I miss anyone?), as well as everyone who’s already commented on those posts. 

I hope this will help to keep the conversation going and raise awareness of this little-known approach to less effort and more impact.

Five key takeaways that you may like to consider:

1. The male hormonal cycle is 24 hours (suited to traditional expectations around daily productivity) whereas the female hormonal cycle is typically around 28 days (so we may feel GREAT one week and want to curl up on the sofa the next)
2. Regardless of gender, we’re more suited to certain tasks and activities in some phases of our hormonal cycle than others (with awareness, we can use this to our advantage)
3. Other factors that can impact performance (and hormones) are our circadian rhythm, sleep/rest, nutrition, relationships, perceived workload, and more…
4. For women, around ovulation is the ideal time for presentations, negotiations, difficult conversations, and networking – because we’re naturally at our most attractive at this time!
5. If you’re a manager, the best time for you to schedule an important meeting may not be the best time (or week!) for your colleagues

Interested to learn more? Listen to Episode 206 of the Sasuga! Podcast here.