Vaiva’s international project management experience has taught her that no matter how good the methods you learn and apply are, the success of a project depends on your ability to work with people. Realising this, Vaiva began studying psychology, and after experiencing burnout at work, she tried cognitive behavioural hypnotherapy. Having spent more than ten years in the UK, Vaiva now applies this knowledge in her daily work in Lithuania, managing strategic programmes at the Danske Bank Centre of Competence, continuing to learn and share her experience with her colleagues.
  • When an individual comes into a group, he/she has to adapt by adapting his/her values. Meanwhile, the values already established in the group influence and the individual’s change.
  • Project management methodologies do not fully take into consideration the complexity of people, and the success of a project depends on your ability to manage it.
  • Project teams do not just implement new processes and systems; they also have to make sure that people understand and accept them, and that the projects they implement align with the company’s values and integrate with its culture.
  • The only constant thing in life is change, and in an environment of constant change, stress always lingers nearby, affecting mental well-being.
  • The employer’s attitude towards mental well-being is one of the key components that helps employees cope with stress at work and avoid burnout.

Success depends on the ability to work with people

“I have studied many different project management methodologies that teach methods to create a process, pursue your goals, and the like. However, after more than ten years of experience working on large projects in London, I realised that no matter how good the methods are, they do not fully take into consideration the complexity of people, and the success of a project depends on your ability to manage it,” Vaiva Adomaityte says. “

Group psychology, organisational psychology, which states that when an individual comes into a group, he/she has to adapt by adapting his/her values. Meanwhile, the values already established in the group influence the individual' change.

Vaiva graduated business psychology at the University of London. “Business psychology seeks to understand what motivates people to choose an organisation and how groups and preferences are formed. The knowledge and skills in business psychology that I gained during my studies have enabled me to manage projects even better. Now, I work on strategic projects, which means that project teams do not just implement new processes and systems; they also have to make sure that people understand and accept them and that the projects they implement align with the company’s values and integrate with its culture. Introducing new information technologies is not enough – you must ensure that people use them and see the added value they are getting.” 

The only constant thing in life is change.

The need to dive deeper into individual psychology came naturally as the desire to study business psychology. “Research shows that implementing changes an
d introducing new things can lead to increased levels of stress as our mind seeks to automate as many things as possible: you wake up in the morning, and you instinctively know where the coffee cup and coffee are, which route you are going to take, and in which spot you are going to park your car. By automating more actions, our consciousness requires less mental energy to assess risks,” Vaiva says. However, according to her, the only constant thing in life is change, and in an environment of constant change, stress always lingers nearby, affecting emotional well-being. This naturally led to Vaiva’s interest in individual psychology, especially cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy, which helped her when she experienced burnout while living in London– at that time, she realised that not only could she no longer think about work, but she could also not even get out of bed.

“Cognitive behaviour hypnotherapy is a form of therapy that combines cognitive behavioural therapy, hypnosis and mindfulness techniques to help manage emotional challenges such as stress, anxiety and panic attacks. During the hypnosis, the client is in the relaxed, heightened suggestibility state that allows to understand and accept positive suggestions from the therapist,” Vaiva explains, providing an example of when hypnotherapy is especially effective: “A lack of self-confidence can lead to anxiety, stress and phobias, such as the fear of public speaking. By listening to the pre-recorded scripts, such as ‘Every day I am getting more and more confident, self-aware and relaxed”, during the session and later at home, the person can change his/her inner voice.”

It starts and ends with our personal responsibility.

Vaiva has recently graduated from the Institute of Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy in the UK and obtained a diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy. She applies her knowledge in her work at the Danske Bank Lithuania, where, in addition to her main role as a Tech Strategy Execution Manager, she is also a Mental Well-being Buddy. 

My colleagues know that they can turn to me in a stressful situation, when they have to deal with challenges here and now. In such cases, I invite them to do a quick relaxation or breathing exercises, as well as sessions of hypnotherapy together.

As a member of the Mental Health Council, I also initiate various activities to introduce people to clinical hypnotherapy. According to Vaiva, the employer’s attitude towards emotional well-being is one of the key components in helping employees cope with stress at work and avoid burnout, but first, it is necessary to take personal responsibility – develop the skills to recognise stress, know what to do with the onset of stress and how to deal with it.

When you recognise stress, it is important not to ignore it. The easiest thing to do is to step away from the stressful place, such as your computer, and do something else – have a cup of coffee with your colleagues, play a board game or simply go for a walk. You can also do breathing exercises, mindfulness exercises or short sessions of hypnotherapy. To do this, you can use one of the many apps available for this purpose.
As from 14 September a mindfulness practice and ego-strengthening hypnosis recorded by Vaiva's will be available on Danske Bank Lithuania Spotify channel.