A client checking in with me for a coaching call described his morning’s activities as follows: “I started my day by firing a long-standing employee for an ethical violation. Then I made a final decision on a strategic hire for our sales team. After extending the offer, I met with the senior management group and convinced them to fund new strategic investments and put a dagger in the heart of a major legacy product category. And then I grabbed my second cup of coffee.”
This type of morning might be mentally and emotionally exhausting for many of us. For my client, it was a good and productive morning. He does a great job translating stressful situations into challenges in need of conquering. For him, stress serves as a productivity enhancer.
Stress and leadership go together hand-in-hand. From difficult decisions about people to vexing choices on direction and investment, every individual who serves in a leadership capacity has effectively signed on to own the issues no one else will touch.
The pressure can range from exhilarating to mentally and physically debilitating for others.
While organizations that regularly appear on lists of “Best Companies to Work For” are known to take managing workplace stress seriously, offering such perks as mindfulness coaching, yoga courses, on-site fitness facilities, and even massage therapy, the majority of us are on our own for managing this phenomenon. Here are 7 ideas to help you corral the stress in your work life and translate it into better performance and productivity.
Keep It in Perspective, Part 1
In general, the most difficult issues in our professional lives pale in comparison to those we navigate as part of the human condition. Yes, your decisions impact lives and livelihoods and you should take them seriously; however, on your worst day in most organizations, you are not navigating life or death situations. Keep the issues in perspective. A wise mentor once offered to me, “The only things that count are family, faith, health, and country. Everything else is just politics and money.”
Keep It in Perspective, Part 2
Regularly remind yourself that your role as a leader affords you a unique opportunity to serve for the greater good. When facing a difficult call, remember that your colleagues and their families are depending upon you to make a good decision. This humbling reminder helps you reframe the stressful issue and focus on pursuing the path with the best possible outcome for the broader population.
Burn the Stress Off by Moving Your Body
There are very few prescriptions for managing your stress levels better than moving your body, ideally in the form of a strenuous workout. The physiological benefits of exercise are well-established, and most organizations encourage and even offer incentives for employees to exercise more. While it’s ideal if you have access to nearby facilities for a lunch hour workout, if access is limited, hit the stairs or head outside for a vigorous walk.
If you can’t wait for lunch or the end of the workday, cancel one of the endless status meetings on your calendar and use the time to exercise. One manager I worked with would hit the stairwell in-between meetings or calls. It caught on and a friendly competition emerged of who could climb the most stairs every month. It helped us burn calories and blow off steam.
Rewire Your Thinking about Stress
Our typical reaction to stress created by uncertainty or sudden change is fear followed by the fight or flight response. Instead of reacting in this manner, work to calm yourself and shift your thinking to view unanticipated events and stressors as important challenges.
While the words are easy and the work is difficult when presented with tough situations, repeat an internal mantra, “This is a great challenge and I am here now to help with and learn from this.” The better you become at shifting from the fear response to the challenge-response, the more effective you will be in channeling the stress for performance improvement. Model this behavior openly and work on teaching your team members to respond to stressful events in the same manner.
Engage and Involve Your Team Members
Too many leaders bottle-up their stress, wrongly believing they must shoulder the burden all by themselves. While there are some decisions that only you as the leader can make, many stress-inducing situations will become easier to navigate if you explain the issue and involve your team members in developing solutions. Resist the urge to go silent on the tough issues.
Fine-Tune Your Signal-to-Noise Ratio
When faced with less-than-ideal circumstances, it’s easy to lose track of where you should focus. If the fear-receptors have triggered fight or flight, you may very well flail and not focus on finding a solution. Hit the pause button and review your activities to separate out those issues that are core to the situation versus those that are extraneous noise. Focus solely on the core topics until the situation is resolved.
Draw Strength from Historical Examples
Some people I know look to great examples in history for perspective or guidance. While a pending layoff or a major new competitor taking a bite out of your market share are serious issues, they pale in comparison to Lincoln’s burden to preserve the country or Churchill’s challenge to rally a nation and gain broader support in the face of almost certain defeat. Check your perspective, and draw strength from those that have achieved what first appeared as impossible.
The Bottom-Line for Now
Stress is and always will be a part of leading. Your challenge is to identify techniques for channeling stress to bring out the best in yourself and your team. While no one heads to work hoping for a stressful day, you are encouraged to smile at the thought of the difficult issues and remind yourself that you are in a unique position at the right point in time to navigate these issues. And then go at them with a vengeance.
Alissa Zucker is an essay writer working for Mcessay. She is interested in reading classic and psychological books which give her inspiration to write her own articles and short stories.
