No one finds stress enjoyable. Managers who lead stressed teams often scramble to guide their fatigued staff while struggling to maintain productivity within their organizations.
However, not all stress is detrimental. Eustress, in contrast to distress, refers to the psychological discomfort that actually benefits the individual experiencing it. As noted by Alia and Thomas Crum in the Harvard Business Review, those who learn to manage stress positively are more resilient when facing challenges and are less likely to experience burnout.
“Stress is an inherent aspect of life,” states Curt Cronin, a former Navy SEAL and co-founder of Ridgeline Partners. “If we try to evade it, we miss the lessons it can teach us. Embracing it enables us to emerge stronger and better equipped to face more difficult challenges in the future.”
While leaders have the ability to assist their teams in evading burnout and maintaining productivity, they must first revise their perceptions of how stress operates.
The Positive Side of Stress
From an evolutionary standpoint, stress signifies the state that the body enters in response to perceived threats. This is a crucial aspect of the fight-or-flight response, prompting individuals to either evade issues or confront them head-on.
A moderate amount of stress can drive a person to tackle daily challenges and strive harder to achieve significant goals. Conversely, excessive stress can convert positive encouragement into adverse reactions. In fact, overwhelming stress may lead to health issues, strain personal relationships, and hinder productivity.
Regrettably, leaders do not always have control over the stressors their teams face. Tight deadlines, client expectations, and financial constraints can swiftly transform ordinary experiences into chaotic episodes. Rather than trying to manage factors beyond their control, leaders should adopt a mindset that views stressful situations as challenges to be embraced—and inspire their teams to adopt a similar perspective.
Utilizing Stress as a Motivational Tool
Leaders can adopt the following best practices to turn stress from a significant barrier into a potent asset:
1. Identify the sources of stress.
Research conducted by a team of neuroscientists has shown that merely recognizing a stressful scenario can transition the brain from a state of panic to one of proactivity. Stress will not dissipate on its own; instead of evading it, acknowledge it and confront it directly to lessen its hold.
Postponing a response to stress can facilitate easier management. When someone receives unwelcome news, it’s essential not to let it overshadow the entire day. Allocate a specific time to devise a response to the issue and attend to other scheduled tasks, allowing you to return to the problem later with a fresh perspective. If immediate action is necessary, take a moment to gather your thoughts and plan a response instead of rushing in without an outline.
2. Decompose the stress into manageable parts.
Large problems often create substantial stress. Instead of tackling overwhelming stressors directly, break them down into smaller parts and assign responsibility for each part to different team members. Clearly communicate the entire situation to your team so they grasp the broader context of their contributions.
This strategy serves dual purposes: it boosts employee engagement by demonstrating how their work contributes to the whole, while simultaneously alleviating individual stress levels, as each member focuses on a specific, less daunting task. Managers can also reduce their own stress by monitoring each part’s contribution to the overall solution rather than fixating on the enormity of the issue.
3. Convert ambiguous stress into concrete facts.
The apprehension tied to stress is often indistinct. In a stressful environment, individuals perceive the weight of stress hanging over their workload—unless they can pinpoint that stress through specific, achievable actions.
Minimize the impact of stress by associating it with tangible deadlines. Research from the University of Rochester indicates that students who perceived their pre-exam anxiety as a positive force tended to perform better than those who did not reframe their stress. When team members address tasks linked to stress, they liberate themselves from the burden of anxiety while also experiencing a sense of accomplishment.
While experiencing stress at work is inevitable, it need not be distressing. By implementing these strategies and reinterpreting stress as a driving force, leaders can empower their teams to maintain focus and achieve more—regardless of the challenge at hand.
