I have a client that recently said to me, "We are so stressed out here. We wonder if we have to "crash and burn" before anyone in management notices...or cares."
It's our Do More With Less operating culture at work, a recipe for disaster. According to news reports on the U.S. economy, hiring is still crawling at a snail's pace, and many employers are planning further headcount cuts. Workloads, however, are likely to keep going up. "Doing more with less" will continue.
As so will stress.
As so will stress.
When you combine workloads, pressure, and time shortages, with uncertainty and chaos, much of it due to organizational change, watch out: stress will escalate. As decades of stress research has taught us, the more stress, the greater the negative effects.
What are you doing to manage the stress in your organization? Do you even know how stressed out people are, yourself included?
Most of the organizations I work with are experiencing high levels of change. There was a time when change projects were "neat," having a beginning, middle, and ending. Forget about that now. These days, change is like a roaring flood. With no end in sight.
Some management pundits preach the gospel of change. Jack Welch once said "Change before you have to." He was ahead of his time. Now change is a fact of organizational life. And Welch's words are an imperative.
Should managers care? In short, Yes. Stress takes a big toll on employee engagement, on performance, and on health. In today's whitewater working environment, managers need to develop leadership capabilities for resilience in themselves and others.
Most of the organizations I work with are experiencing high levels of change. There was a time when change projects were "neat," having a beginning, middle, and ending. Forget about that now. These days, change is like a roaring flood. With no end in sight.
Some management pundits preach the gospel of change. Jack Welch once said "Change before you have to." He was ahead of his time. Now change is a fact of organizational life. And Welch's words are an imperative.
Should managers care? In short, Yes. Stress takes a big toll on employee engagement, on performance, and on health. In today's whitewater working environment, managers need to develop leadership capabilities for resilience in themselves and others.
If you are a Manager right now, ask yourself, What example am I setting for my team? To start with some fundamentals, consider the following checklist:
Breathe: Learning to breathe deeply and slowly and with mindful attention is now widely seen as a basic element in healthy stress management.
Slow down: Get off the treadmill every day and give yourself time to breathe. To think. To plan. To enjoy life.
Get outdoors: Get some sun and some fresh air. Take time to look at the gifts that nature offers us in abundance.
Take breaks: You can't work continuously and expect to be productive. Breaks are a necessity. Breaks help in many ways. They help you clear your head. And they help you avoid over-sitting.
Work out: Exercise of any kind, from walking to frisbee throwing, helps the body become more resilient.
Perspective: Put your priorities in order and be reasonable and flexible with yourself and with others. What is most important in Life?
Recharge: Just as your phone needs time to replenish its battery, so too do you need time to recharge. Get a good night's sleep. Eat right. Work out.
Support: Be there for others and they will be there for you.
Dr Elana Miller of Zen Psychiatry offers this wisdom:
"The ocean doesn't care about you. It is a force of nature that existed long before you were born and that will be around long after you. We operate under the illusion of control when so many of the most important things in life aren't even close to the realm of our control. When you release yourself from the illusion of control, you can relax. You can put in your best effort but let things turn out how they'll turn out. You can find moments of joy in the most simple things. So don't fight forces of nature. Ride them."
"The ocean doesn't care about you. It is a force of nature that existed long before you were born and that will be around long after you. We operate under the illusion of control when so many of the most important things in life aren't even close to the realm of our control. When you release yourself from the illusion of control, you can relax. You can put in your best effort but let things turn out how they'll turn out. You can find moments of joy in the most simple things. So don't fight forces of nature. Ride them."
The answer is to become a surfer of change. Surfers of big waves do something that most of us will never do. But there are lessons we can adapt.
What do you resolve to work on to help your team cope with the stress?
Terrence Seamon has over thirty years of business experience in leadership development, management training, team building, and organizational change, in both internal as well as external consulting roles. Terry has a Master’s degree in Education from Rutgers Graduate School of Education, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Human Communication from Rutgers. His main interest areas these days are change and transition, job search coaching, stress and wellness, employee engagement, and leadership development. You can find him on twitter at tseamonand on facebook at Facilitation Solutions.
For more guidance on Leadership, read Terry's book Lead the Way
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