- Geekmaster
- 2021-01-12 12:04:58
- 15 minute(s)
How Efficient Leaders Cope Incredibly Well With Extreme Stress Levels
How do efficient leaders cope with extreme stress levels? Leaders face pressure on a regular basis, and COVID-19 has intensified the stress surrounding them. Being a leader isn’t just about knowing how to manage a team, it’s about knowing how to manage your stress level when faced with a great deal of responsibility.
It’s not uncommon for leaders to experience stress.
After all, it can often feel as though the success of the office and those around you lies in your hands. Unfortunately, too much built up stress can take a toll on your ability to lead.
Stress and the urgency of a crisis can overwhelm people to the point where they cannot function.
New leaders are often surprised at the constant demands and daily crises they face. There are immediate fires to extinguish and important decisions that need attention now. Top, skilled, and experienced leaders make managing the stress that comes with repeated crises look easy.
Leadership is stressful even in the best of times.
Stress creates many complications. It can affect your health in dangerous ways. It is most often a negative force. And leading through a time of crisis elevates that stress levels that often feel unmanageable. That’s why every leader needs to know how to strategically and effectively cope with extreme stress levels.
Being a leader is an honor. Leaders are entrusted with guiding a group of people to success.
Nonetheless, leaders typically suffer in silence when it comes to the stress of the position, not wanting to appear unsure of their ability to lead. The reality is that they often do not take the proper steps to alleviate stressors and end up taking it out on employees, families or themselves.
With a few simple steps, leaders can learn to cope with extreme stress levels and improve their ability to lead others.
Subsequently, it’s imperative that leaders find efficient ways to cope with stress. Below are seven helpful tips. If you are one of the millions of leaders suffering from job stress, this article is for you. We’re going to look at how to deal with extreme stress levels.
Tip #1: Learn to Delegate
Sometimes the reason why leaders feel a lot of stress is because they need to delegate instead of trying to do everything on their own. By delegating, you give others a chance to increase their capabilities and advance professionally.
Many leaders have a hard time with delegation, and you may be tempted to just do the work yourself. Resist this natural urge.
As a leader, it’s up to you to model delegation. Keep what you must do yourself, but hand other responsibilities to team members. You’ll not only relieve your own stress, but you’ll empower them by trusting them to do the work.
We live in a world where people think leaders need to do and know everything themselves.Â
But asking for help — whether it’s in long-term planning, adapting a complex project to reflect new realities, or just getting through the stresses of the day — doesn’t make you weak. If anything, it makes you stronger and more human in your vulnerability.
Accept that you can’t do it all.
Rather than micro-managing, pay special attention to delegating responsibility to employees and leaving them alone to do the job. Sharing the load can relieve stress.
The key to proper delegation is finding the right people to take on certain tasks.
By establishing a strong rapport with your team, you can determine their individual strengths, which will allow you to trust the person you charge with a given task. You can always assess their performance after the fact and determine whether changes need to be made. Delegating tasks to your team members also grants them the opportunity to learn new skills and grow into leaders themselves.
Tip #2: Acknowledge Stress
One of the most essential thing you’ll need to do is identify and understand signs of stress. For instance, heart palpitations is a common sign that you’re experiencing a significant amount of stress. Sometimes there is also a level of nervousness that accompanies stress.
Recognize the physical warning signs of stress is the 1st step to cope with it.
Everyone has different physical reactions to stress, such as stiff muscles, a headache, teeth grinding, and stomachaches. Pay attention to the physical symptoms to recognize stress. The physical signs are reminders to take time out for self-care.
Efficient leaders pay attention to their body’s stress signals.
Typical signals of stress include sweating and an increased heart rate. It’s important to recognize these signals and get them under control. Whether it’s going for a run or practicing yoga, you’ll need to find ways to deal with stress when it occurs.
There are unexpected twists and turns to any big change in company operations.Â
You will have to adjust to new processes — sometimes after having done things the same way for many years. This learning curve can understandably cause panic. You can even be resistant to learning how to make it work to your advantage. Start with acknowledging the emotional side of change, then develop a plan in order to deal with it.
As a busy leader, preventing stress does sound like a daunting task, and it’s not always possible.
But, with proper planning, you can prevent some of it. For example, when going into a stressful meeting, plan for the unexpected and make notes of possible solutions. Be prepared for the meeting to go in several ways and be prepared to rebound.
Tip #3: Self-care Is Not Selfish
Getting 30 minutes of rigorous exercise at least three times a week can help you reduce stress. Good eating habits such as including more fruits and vegetables in your diet can give you more energy and help you handle stress better.
To perform at their best for an extended time, leaders need to recharge, recover, and stay fueled.
Leaders should prioritize restorative activities such as exercise, outdoor recreation, talking to friends and family, mediation or prayer, practicing deep breathing, supporting household activities like homework and meal preparation, and maintaining a proper diet.
It’s been proven that there is a direct link between exercise and stress reduction.
Some healthcare professionals recommend developing an exercise routine to minimize the amount of stress felt when difficult situations arise. A healthy sensory pursuit, exercise helps leaders reduce their anxiety, improve their sleep, and boost their immunity from colds and the flu.
In addition, lack of sleep affects people physically and mentally, making it difficult to perform at their best.
Research shows that people who are sleep deprived are less cooperative and more selfish. They may also be less aware of how their lack of sleep is affecting their behavior toward others, unwittingly reducing confidence and damaging relationships.
Going on vacation can give your mind and body a chance to relax too.
This can have a positive impact on your mental and emotional health. It’s necessary to ensure you always have balance in life. Just taking a long weekend can often be a good solution. Despite being in a leadership role, you’re still a human being and there’s only so much that one person can handle. It’s important to both schedule time off and make sure you actually take it.
Tip #4: Wield The Power of No
It’s important to be able to say no, regardless of the great opportunities that may cross your path. Ditch the fear of missing out, and stay focused on your top priorities. This will help you to manage your workload, and free up some time.
To be a leader is to have a target on your back . People will constantly reach out to you, ask you questions, seek advice, and so on.
While it’s important to maintain strong communication with everyone in your circle, it’s also okay to back away and take some time to yourself. You don’t need to attend every single meeting, hop on every phone call, handle every sudden task that crops up, etc. Sometimes you just need to say NO for your own good and, ultimately, the good of your organization.
Setting manageable priorities is important at any time, but in times of crisis it’s more important than ever.
Think about the activities and projects that are absolutely central to your organization’s mission, and turn down the rest. Upholding clear priorities keeps your work sustainable and protects you and your team from burnout.
Saying no is a freedom rarely explored. As humans, we have an innate desire to hear yes to everything we feel important.
Failing to deliver on our promises by not saying no at the right time can hurt others who were counting on us, shatter their trust and leave us feeling demotivated. It’s only by saying NO that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.
Leadership is all about focusing energy on achieving an important goal.
In achieving focus, leadership is implicitly saying NO to all the other less-important things that might be attempted at this time. In this sense, saying no to trivia and distractions is the essence of leadership.
Tip #5: Over-communicate
Collaborating with others to achieve organizational goals can be rewarding and can also reduce the impact of stress on health and well-being. The key components to teamwork are offering support to others, encouraging cooperation and soliciting others’ input.
Stress is sure to arise when there is a failure to communicate with the team. Leaders need to know what everyone is working on, what the goals are and if help is needed.
Employees and team members respect a leader they can talk to about anything without fear of being reprimanded or looked down upon. Being open to verbal and electronic communication at all times during the workday is essential to be a strong and impactful leader.
Talking to others about issues can help you find solutions to deal with challenges.Â
You can also network with other people in your industry to see how they are handling similar issues. What leaders don’t realize is that much of the stress can be managed by learning to share the burden, becoming more transparent and having a support system.
As a great manager, you can reduce stress in the workplace by creating a healthy workplace environment.
A healthy workplace environment is ideal when it comes to maintaining a positive outcome in a stressful atmosphere. You need to reassure your team members that you are aware of their stress level and share with them on how to reduce stress in the workplace. Remember that employees don’t have to sacrifice their health or happiness over things happening at work.
Remember that good teamwork can reduce stress when responsibilities are shared.
Sharing successes can be energizing for any team. Acknowledging the success of others is also powerful. True leadership is all about sharing success and failure.
Tip #6: Life Is not Perfect
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get things done right, but focusing too much on perfection can paralyze your decision-making, slow down your operations, and result in worse outcomes in the long run. You can reduce a lot of stress and work more efficiently by instead focusing on getting things done and smoothing out any rough edges afterward.
Leaders facing a crisis and feeling stressed may fixate on the negative aspect.
But even in challenging situations, there are markers of success. Acknowledge and celebrate small wins and how leadership is making a difference. Recognizing the positive can boost mood, which can help leaders improve their flexibility, open-mindedness, and creativity.
Keeping it simple doesn’t mean you’re stupid.
Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple. By keeping things simple and not overcomplicating them, you can deal with the stress of being a team leader. Work on the things that count in the moment, and worry about the rest later!
When it comes to leadership, great is the enemy of good.
Regarding leaders, their own striving for perfection can interfere with learning, authenticity and transparency. Striving for perfection is a path to a static state, a dead end. Perfection implies that you’re all done, and we aren’t, not any of us.
The pursuit of perfectionism creates stress and anxiety as it is an absolute — all or nothing.Â
There is no room for cracks, mistakes or any other deficiencies, yet, it is our imperfections that make us human. Continuous improvement is critical in creating a culture that engages and enhances employee talents. Striving for personal perfection in contrast may have the opposite effect as it can lead to stress, fear and ultimately failure.
Tip #7: Celebrate
If all of your time is focused on starting new projects, getting the work done, and moving on to the next big thing, then all of the stresses you face will not be worthwhile. It’s important to step back, celebrate big wins, and reflect on areas that could use improvement.
Leaders facing a crisis and feeling stressed may fixate on the negative aspect.
But even in challenging situations, there are markers of success. Acknowledge and celebrate small wins and how leadership is making a difference. Recognizing the positive can boost mood, which can help leaders improve their flexibility, open-mindedness, and creativity.
One of the main problems with long-term or ongoing projects is that they can start to drag. You begin to feel that you are working hard but getting nowhere.
Remove that feeling of monotony and boost morale with a celebration. Any milestone can be considered a win. You can also give your team a chance to burn off stress, which is another big morale booster. With good morale in the office, you can be sure that your team will be working hard.
Celebration pays dividends in your mental, emotional, and financial health.
If you do not take time to pause and celebrate a goal achieved, it will drive the team apart and may lead to individual burnout. When we know we are celebrated, this helps us feel safe. We produce more oxytocin, which bonds us together and creates a more positive culture.
Celebration is a formal invitation to take a break from the daily grind of chasing victory.
Alongside this surge in positive thinking, comes an immediate reduction in stress. Furrowed brows hard at work crunching numbers become light smiles. Hunched-over shoulders relax. Bodies that had been sat at desks for hours stand, stretch, and move in social circles.
Final Thoughts
Don’t get swallowed up by the stress that comes with being a leader, be proactive and manage your stress before it takes control over you. Your ability to thrive under pressure will catapult your success as a leader, and will impact not only your work life, but your life as a whole.
No matter how long you’ve had your position or been with a company, leadership development never ends — at least, it shouldn’t.
There are always new things to learn, new skills to acquire, and new techniques to try out. By continuing to hone your abilities, you’ll get better and better at de-stressing your life and the lives of your employees.
Leaders facing a crisis and feeling stressed may fixate on the negative aspect.
But even in challenging situations, there are markers of success. Acknowledge and celebrate small wins and how leadership is making a difference. Recognizing the positive can boost mood, which can help leaders improve their flexibility, open-mindedness, and creativity.
A calm and confident leader is the best leader of all.
When challenges arise, leaders can allocate the people with the relevant skill sets to tackle the job, share their own knowledge of the issue or, at the very least, know where to go to find someone with the experience to help.
By using these tips, and recognizing the signs of stress, you’ll be better able to lead under extreme stress levels!
No matter your role, know that some stress is good. It’s how we manage it that can help us get to the next level. While we can’t stop every crisis from happening, we can control how we react to it. What do you think? How do you beat stress? Scroll down and leave a comment below!
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