I recall a difficult assignment I once had that involved plenty of political fireworks, drama, and resistance. This included tremendous pressure—even abuse—from my higher-ups to succeed quickly.
To say it was stressful was an understatement.
Each day was an exercise in self-control and discipline just to keep forging on. I could actually feel the stress in my gut from the time I woke up until the time I went to bed.
The job was in another city, so most nights I ended up eating fast food in my room and then vegging out in from of the TV. The air conditioning didn’t work too well, so sleeping well in that hot, stuffy room was not easy. The lumpy mattress didn’t help much either. Eventually, the stress caused my upper back to seize up to the point where I couldn’t turn my head to the right without significant pain.
Eventually, some of the local people who worked for the organization I was brought in to help recognized my plight and started inviting me to social gatherings, parties, and even tubing behind a speed boat (they didn’t tell me there were sharks in the water until afterward though). This helped to ease the stress.
The second time I went back I got smarter. I found a much more comfortable hotel which just so happened to be next to a 27 hole golf course. Naturally, I brought my golf clubs so I could get a few holes in after work. I also brought a couple of co-workers with me to help carry some of the load.
All this helped a lot. The stress was still there, but it was much more manageable. The project ended up being successful, but at a tremendous personal price in terms of my morale and health.
Today I wonder how much better I might have managed my stress had I implemented more effective stress resilience practices—not to mention how much my actual day-to-day performance might have increased.
THE IMPACT OF STRESS ON LEADERSHP
If you’re a leader, especially an executive leader, you will experience higher levels of stress on the job than most. In fact you won’t be able to avoid it and it will come continuously, sometimes in big doses.
Now, a certain level of stress is normal and in fact required for optimal living. Having no stress basically means you’re dead.
At the other end of the scale, the body is built to respond emergencies through the release of cortisol, the body’s stress hormone. Cortisol aids in one’s “fight or flight” preparation. Increases in cortisol provide a short burst of extra energy, heightened memory function, increased immunity, lower pain sensitivity, and more stable internal body regulation. All good if you’re facing a saber tooth tiger or an oncoming vehicle in traffic.
However, it’s when stress becomes chronic that bad things start to happen such as:
– Reduced cognitive function
– Impaired emotional intelligence
– Blood sugar imbalance
– Decreased in bone density and muscle tissue
– Higher blood pressure
– Lower immunity
– Increased inflammatory response
– Increased abdominal fat
Chronic stress is the real danger for the leader. Given that leaders are responsible for results, people, and high stakes decision-making it is definitely not a good thing endure such stress all the time. Since your cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence decreases under chronic stress, this will have a direct and negative impact on your ability to perform at the necessary high level.
Unfortunately, our go-go society does not exactly allow for periods of effective downtime to allow the levels of stress to get back to normal.
STRESS RESILIENCE
The impact of over a decade of combat has given the U.S. military a unique perspective of the effect of stress on members of the Armed Forces and their families, particularly with regard to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
What military doctors have found is that stress resilience can be increased through training and education. This includes an “incoluation” process involving exposure to stressful situations, familiarization with the body and mind’s natural response, and techniques to increase awareness of and deal with that response.
Perhaps even more importantly, military experts have found that a period of downtime following a stressful event—such as combat—that incorporates plenty of rest, leisure activities, and group support goes a long way toward re-normalizing stress levels.
All this may seem like common sense, but common sense often times does not translate to common practice.
THE STRESS RESILIENT LEADER
Leaders must become stress resilient in order to deal with the demands of the role. According to Dr. Henry Thompson, this boils down to increasing stress management capacity, strengthening cognitive resilience, and building stress resilient emotional intelligence. Dr. Thompson, author of The Stress Effect, a Ph.D. psychologist, and former Army Ranger and Green Beret has spent years study the effects of stress on soldiers and everyday citizens alike.
In the next couple of posts, I’ll go into more detail on Dr. Thompson’s theory and explain how you can increase your SMC, your CR, and your SREI.
By Joe Scherrer | The Leadership Crucible