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Stress Free Leadership
- 1. Stress Free Leadership 5 Steps to Get Value from Stress & Experience Less
- 2. 2 Opportunity: Extractthe value from stress, but experience and convey less of it. 1. Identify your specific stressors to better manage them 2. Determine when stress is sabotaging or beneficial 3. Shift your focus from stress to progress more quickly 4. Increase your capacity to lead and your impact 5. Avoid passing stress on to your team and build their momentum instead
- 3. Work can pushall our buttons: Need to achieve Fear of failing Pressure to perform Reliance on others to perform Other people’s styles and habits Self doubt and recrimination Overwhelm Money anxiety Obligations to others But it also signals what needs our attention… if we listen.
- 4. A little historyon stress… The term “stress” was coined by Hans Selye in 1936, who defined it as “the non-specific response of the body to any demand for change”. Stress quickly became a buzzword. Some used it to refer to an overbearing or bad boss or some other unpleasant situation. For others it referred to the form of chest pain, heartburn, headache or palpitations people experienced in reaction to hard situations. Others used stress to refer to what they perceived as the end result of these repeated responses, such as an ulcer or heart attack. A 1951 issue of the British Medical Journal noted, “Stress in addition to being itself, was also the cause of itself, and the result of itself.” Selye was not aware that stress had been used for centuries in physics to explain elasticity, the property of a material that allows it to resume its original size and shape after having been compressed or stretched by an external force. As expressed in Hooke’s Law of 1658, the magnitude of an external force, or stress, produces a proportional amount of deformation, or strain, in a malleable metal. This created even more confusion as research had to be translated into foreign languages. There was no suitable word or phrase that could convey Selve meant – which was really strain. In 1946, academicians responsible for maintaining the purity of the French language decided that a new word would have to be created. Le stress was born, quickly followed by el stress, il stress, lo stress, der stress in other European languages, and similar neologisms in Russian, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. Source of text and image: http://www.stress.org/what-is-stress/
- 5. I hate myjob and I don’t like you much either. When stress talks for us, we don’t operate at our best.
- 6. I just needyour team goals?? to align to my goals. This has nothing to do with our work – he’s clueless! When stress drives our actions, How was I supposed to know these were our we are less effective and observant leaders.
- 7. Is Stress Good or Bad? Both.
- 8. Stress Spectrum GoodStress Distress Stress Level Performance THE HUMP Healthy tension Comfort zone Fatigue Exhaustion Health risk Breakdown http://www.stress.org/what-is-stress/
- 9. Stress can tellus what needs attention and work, what needs to be resolved or improved. When viewed as a tool, it can amplify our leadership effectiveness.
- 10. While too muchstress can make us unhealthy, our response to stress is often the bigger problem. (Thinking stress is a problem can create a problem.)
- 11. Stress Response Escalation Physical Sensation Unthinking Reaction Impulsive Behavior Negative Impact
- 12. Stress Response Escalation What do you feel? • Hot flush • Clenched jaw • Tense shoulders • Shallow breathing or holding breath • Sweat • Exasperation • Sadness or crying • Fatigue What is your immediate response? • Anger • Rage • Blame transfer • Recrimination • Rejection • Aversion • Frustration What are your reactive behaviors? • Impatience • Lash out • Raised voice • Visible frustration • Unkindness • Cut people off or out • Berate or belittle • Convey blame What is the consequence of your reactive behaviors? • Mistrust • Hurt feelings • Missed facts • Culture corrosion • Misunderstanding • Attrition • Disengagement • Recovery cycles Sensation Reaction Behavior Impact
- 13. Know Your WorkStressors What triggers or amplifies your stress? Stressors at work can be compounded by stressors from home. Physical ¨ Lack of sleep ¨ Hunger ¨ Lack of exercise ¨ Poor health Personal ¨ Kid challenges ¨ Partner issues ¨ Family member health scare ¨ Financial challenges Work ¨ Lack of control or facts ¨ Being blindsided or surprised ¨ Ever-changing priorities and constant shifting ¨ Lack of accomplishment ¨ Misalignment or resistance on the team ¨ Pressure to deliver without the capacity ¨ Sense of impending failure with no obvious path to recover ¨ Coworkers or team members that exacerbate or amplify our stressors
- 14. Stress Awareness CanBring Insights & Enable Thoughtful Action & Communication Sensation OBSERVE 1. Without reacting to the sensation, observe your physical response to stress. 2. Be curious about it without trying to escape or reject it. 3. Don’t rush into reaction mode; intercept the emotional reaction. Breathe…. Reaction Behavior Impact DISTILL 1. Separate the sensation from the facts. 2. What is the trigger? Is it an authentic business problem? What are the facts or are you missing facts? Clinically look at the facts and triggers for their business value. 3. If you need fresh air or a night’s sleep, give yourself the time – before acting. PLAN 1. Rather than react to your discomfort, consider the best course of action for the business. 2. What action is appropriate for the facts (including the fact that you don’t have the facts)? 3. Decide what course correction is needed to address the root business issue. ACT 1. Making institutional change is often less work than the cycle of reaction/recovery – for you and the team. 2. Communicate the change needed to address the root business issue. 3. Incorporate methods to sustain the change if the root issue or stressor is chronic. Pause Pause
- 15. Choose Where YourAttention & Energy Go OBJECT ACTION Spin cycle Resolution path
- 16. Practice Helps Buildphysical awareness to detect the stress response faster (before reacting to it) 1. Several times a week, begin your day with mindfulness practice. Sit comfortably and quietly for 2 to 5 minutes; observe the feelings and sensations that arise. Identify them and let them go; notice that they arise and dissipate without any effort on your part. Getting more familiar with this cycle 2. Prevent stress magnifiers such as lack of sleep, hunger or lack of exercise. Recognize how these conditions amplify anxieties – so be more vigilant about when they exist. Schedule meetings or work stressor activities when you are most likely to be successful; moving a meeting to after lunch or after getting a briefing on key facts may be more efficient that recovering when the meeting goes badly!
- 17. Practice Helps 3.Notice your physical response day to day. Next time you trip, you’re running late, you’re startled or other purely physical stressor, observe what happens immediately – it’s a great opportunity to observe the rise in blood pressure, flush, faster breathing and other physical stress changes. This observation will help you detect the same response to work stressors and intercept your automatic reaction. 4. When you sense stress rising beyond your comfort zone, stop and step out of the environment. A short walk and fresh air create space to process the sensation without acting on it impulsively. Pre-empt stress breakdowns in situations you know will be challenging, by taking the walk before the meeting or trigger event. 5. Remember you can choose what you give attention and energy to. Make a conscious effort to shift your attention from the stress object to thoughtful, fact-based action. Rather than viewing stress as a problem, view it as a tool. Sometimes this simple shift in perception produces great relief!
- 18. Over time, thestress sensation shrinks and the time from stress to best action gets shorter OBJECT ACTION Spin cycle Resolution path
- 19. Know What MakesYou Happy What aspects of work do you enjoy most? ¨ Clarity on the purpose for your efforts ¨ Sense of accomplishment ¨ Succeeding as a team ¨ Overcoming obstacles ¨ Coaching and mentoring ¨ Sense of camaraderie ¨ Balanced challenges ¨ Knowing you make a difference for customers or the organization ¨ __________________________________________________________ ¨ __________________________________________________________
- 20. Take responsibility foryour experience: Create or cultivate the conditions for enjoyment and satisfaction.
- 21. With a moreclinical view of the root business issue, evaluate whether the entire team experiences the same triggers and stress.
- 22. To reduce stressorsfor the entire team, institutionalize these: ü Clear goals and expectations ü Transparency culture ü Alignment practices ü Individual accountability ü Shared commitments ü Discipline to prioritize ü Consistent, constructive feedback
- 23. Changing habitual andinstinctive responses takes willpower. It won’t happen overnight; you won’t get it right every time. But you can do better over time! 1. Recognize the business and career benefits of higher awareness 2. Commit to changing your pattern 3. Build skill catching yourself at the physical change and lengthening the pause before acting. 4. Value your progress and awareness.
- 24. Want More Alignment& Transparency to Reduce Stress across The Team? My Individual To Do List Progress Transparency Team’s Goals & Priorities Get Workboard, a free app for teams that: 1. Links the ubiquitous “to do” list with team goals and priorities 2. Simplifies prioritization and calibration 3. Automates status reports and provides team transparency 4. Enables consistent, constructive feedback … less mystery and drama, more achievement.
- 25. 25 The Zenof Achievement …or Zen and Achievement! Learn more at www.workboard.com