We all face difficult and challenging experiences in life at times, whether they are professional or personal, and sometimes it’s a highly stressful combination of both.
For leaders, this combination of personal and professional pressures can negatively affect their ability to manage the inescapable changes, and all the obstacles and stressors that accompany them.
In today’s uncertain and complex environment, leaders are confronted with potentially stressful situations every day so how can they best manage stress?
While there is no one magical formula for everyone, the most successful leaders use certain strategies to help them handle and manage stress, so it does not negatively impact their relationships with others, or the results they are seeking to obtain.
Everyone is different, and reacts to stress differently; still, there are some universal helpful techniques and practices for dealing with stress.
The first step is to become aware of the stress and mindful of its impact. The concept of mindfulness, and the notion that our state of mind and how we feel is more important than, for instance, how much we get done, can sustain us in the most trying times.
Viewing stressful situations from a different, more positive angle, and looking at the big picture can help us keep stressful situations in perspective. We always have a choice – we can positively influence the reality around us, we can change our own expectations, or we can change the way we look at things.
There certainly are situations where it’s possible to change reality. For instance, if we are frustrated with the performance of certain members of our team, as leaders, we could try to help them improve their competences; if that doesn’t work, we could look for other alternatives.
Often, however, the reality around us is more difficult to alter, and it requires us to change our expectations. Changing our expectations is not an easy task for many, which is another reason why we want to practice getting some perspective on the issue or situation at hand.
Sometimes we get stressed by things that don’t really matter in the overall scheme of things. The fact is, we can actually and substantially reduce our stress by recognizing that in so many situations we are clearly wrapped up in our own world, such as building and growing our companies, or managing large teams, that we tend to forget that what happens on a daily basis in this process is often of minor consequence.
If we take on a practice of imagining a stressful situation on a scale from 1-10, with 10 being the worst reality we can imagine, we’ll soon realize that many of our daily issues, hindrances, and challenges do not deserve more than a 1-3. We may have become perfectionists or want to control things in realms where it is not necessary, realistic, or even useful; our expectations may be too high or we may be making too many assumptions; or, our point of view has become unnecessarily negative or pessimistic.
Whenever possible, delegate, and ask for help – no matter how smart, driven and visionary you may be. The best leaders offer guidance, support and inspiration, so by not delegating, we place a heavy burden on ourselves, increase our stressors, and limit our team’s growth. A crucial trait that sets the most successful leaders apart from others is that they see the path to success as a team effort rather than a personal one, and they recognize when they need help and are not afraid to ask for it.
To help reduce stress, it’s also highly important to take care of our well-being. There are many ways to do that, but even 20 minutes of self-care can be helpful in taking a break from a stressor. For many leaders, it may feel impossible to step away from a big project, or back-to-back meetings, yet when we give ourselves permission to step away we can gain renewed perspective and feel less overwhelmed. When we pause to take deep breaths, meditate, stretch, or go for walks, we allow our mind to sort through the chatter of negative thoughts in our mind, and it can provide us with altitude and appropriate distance from our emotions.
In my work of executive and leadership coaching, I witness daily how leaders can benefit from these and other stress management strategies.
Leadership coaching can provide not only immediate relief, but more importantly can help leaders increase their long-term capacity for resilience in dealing with future setbacks, and learn to adjust in order to fearlessly and authentically lead through change and difficult times. As a result, leaders can experience reduced stress and pressure, deepen their leadership and personal capacity, and create a healthy work-life balance.
Can you identify what your biggest stressors are right now? How do you handle them?
If you are a leader looking for an executive coach to support you in experiencing leadership and personal growth and improving personal and leadership resilience,
I invite you to contact me today.