A thesis about stress in the workplace.
Here it is:
Many, if not most, companies do nothing, or virtually nothing, to improve their workers’ reactions to stress. Given that stress impedes productivity, this is a huge missed opportunity.
Your thoughts?
(If you’re curious, this isn’t about me — no unusual work stress for me these days.)
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Related:
- Stress kills.
- Stress kills, redux: the best short piece I’ve read about stress.
- Give yourself the gift of calm.
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Photo credits.
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13 Comments so far
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Especially with knowledge workers. In particular, since our ability to express or apply our knowledge is dependent on things that stress impedes – like thinking/communicating clearly… Not only is the quantity of productivity hurt by stress, but the quality is as well.
Great thought leadership!
Thanks for the kind words, Glenn — I agree with the points you make. I would even go one step further and say that in many cases the quantity of productivity isn’t as important as the quality . . . but too much stress/distraction/interruption renders too many of us incapable of real quality effort, so we don’t even know what it looks like.
Huge opportunity is an understatement. Not only does personal productivity and quality of decisions improve when people are taught real, in-the-moment ways of managing stressful feelings, also the climate and culture improve which impacts retention, loyalty, trust and customer satisfaction.
The main reason stress is not effectively addressed in my opinion is that emotions, specifically negative ones, cause stress and men shy away from emotions. If you want to see the positive impact of developing Emotional Intelligence skills, visit my website and look at the results section.
Pulling back one step, a lot of stress could be managed preemptively. A significant portion of stress is derived from a perceived lack of control. If you have good management, you may feel under water, but not be nearly as stressed, because they have enabled you to take control of what you need, or you know that they will help you control the aspects that are daunting.
It’s really hard to help every type of personality react to stress, so if we can help our employees and colleagues feel like they control their projects, their environments and their goals, we’d all be in a better place.
“… stress is derived from a perceived lack of control. If you have good management, you may feel under water, but not be nearly as stressed, because they have enabled you to take control of what you need …”
Insightful, Alex!
Thanks Glenn! I have my moments. :)
Alex — Very good points about perceived lack of control. I’ve read that the worst stress comes when you’re given responsibility (and therefore potentially blame) for something, *without* being given control over the outcome of it. (Classic example I’ve seen used: the young child of an alcoholic, who somehow is held to account for the parent’s anger/dissatisfaction, but without having any power to do anything about the situation.)
And you’re right: we have to help people react well regardless of their own personalities. Openness and clear responsibilities helps.
I think observations of employee and team stress can tell a lot about a corporate culture. Unusually high levels of stress typically indicate lack of open communication and sometimes overly directive management. Companies and managers that manage change well and have open communication can reduce unnecessary stress in the system.
Some stress is useful: the pressure to win against a competitor, or winning on time-to-market for example. The bad news is that many leaders allow unnecessary and unhealthy stress to leak in. Sometimes this is just by not introducing and helping to manage change well. The worst behaviors introduce additional stresses through closed communication, heavy-handedness and sometimes outright hostility.
Good points, Paul, especially about good stress (which psychologists call “eustress”). We can feel a creative sort of tension that leads us to higher performance. Unfortunately, that’s not the sort of stress most people experience when they face down an overloaded inbox.
The majority of my clients are dealing with incredible amounts of stress in the workplace. I believe this is a real social problem that will continue to grow unless it is addressed. I’m afraid it will lead to significant health problems (if it hasn’t already)
Leaders need to stop for a minute and rethink their approach. It’s quite simple, really. Leaders need to listen and communicate a great deal more than they are. Better to over communicate than leave employees hanging in mid air not knowing what’s coming next or wondering why unrealistic expectations are being placed on their shoulders.
I also agree with @Baldman – a big part of the problem is lack of control (perceived or real, it doesn’t matter)
Good thoughts, Terry. We could compare operating under stress to running an engine without adequate lubrication: it may keep running, even for a long time, but meanwhile its very operation is damaging its own structure.
Our parent company D&B — like many other forward-thinking employers — has a variety of “wellness” programs in place, e.g. to encourage employees to quit smoking, maintain healthy weight, learn and manage cholesterol numbers, seek mental-health care when necessary, et cetera. It’s a good program, but I don’t know if many (or any?) corporate programs adequately address the unnecessary day-to-day stresses we put ourselves under. And anyway, dealing with the problems you talk about can’t just come from an HR/benefits department — they must be pervasive across the management structure.
How many companies do that?
One of the techniques that I think is very useful is to use technology to open up “safe” communication. I have seen this in the form of blogs about workplace situations, and anonymous Q&A inboxes that get routed for response by the appropriate person. This at least gives people a voice when they feel other avenues are closed.
I agree with Terry. The biggest problem is poor communication, which leads to feelings of lack of control. The best tool is constant diligence toward good communication: teach it, model it, evaluate leaders on it.
I really like Paul’s (@paulbAustin)ideas about using technology. The only concern is anonymity. Because stressed employees are even more concerned about being seen as “troublemakers” they are less inclined to speak out for fear of losing their jobs. How, in fact, do we REALLY keep electronic communications ’safe’? I’m not sure.
I also wanted to say that during these times, leaders might seriously consider utilizing outside help to garner honest feedback. It could be well worth the small investment.
I also agree with Tim Walker – that these issues need to be addressed from management across the organization. Indeed, many of these managers feel ill-equipped to do so. Development in this area for these people would add great value to their capabilities for the future.
Thanks to all for the dialog. I personally think that this issue is much bigger than anyone usually acknowledges.