The leadership role
In a leadership role, job demands are usually considerable, workload is often very high and there will be expectations to deliver from both the organisation and oneself. It is important to learn to prioritise and ensure your own values align with those of the organisation, but also to consider the drivers and motivators of your personality that keep you balanced and content. When these needs are not met, we tend to feel unhappy and unfulfilled, and workplace demands are likely to create undue stress.
Most of us like to have control over our lives, it’s human nature. But this is challenging in some work environments. In leadership roles, the challenge increases as we face unplanned or urgent activity. Stress paired with chaos is likely to lead to problems (causes: competing demands/time pressure/urgency, others perception of urgency of the situation compared to your own).
A committed leader will never feel they are doing enough but try to understand you are doing your best and be confident to challenge. Discussion with senior leaders over work prioritisation and capacity are essential to you and your team’s well-being. Urgent work, of course, will take priority but discuss and understand what business as usual will have to pause or stop in its place.
How should we deal with this chaotic pressure?
Often new problems are complex and seem overwhelming. When a new event/stressor arises, it is important to first synchronise and sequence your thoughts on how to approach the problem. Ask yourself, “what is actually required?” and seek clarification if you need it. Then strategise the issue, ordering and sequencing into sub-tasks with binary outcomes. Finally, consider the degree of effort required for each and structure your resource (time to tasks) accordingly allowing you to deal with it in coherent bite-sized chunks.
Sometimes withdrawing from an activity (or stopping it altogether) is an important strategy. Commonly, we struggle to identify what we can stop doing. Ask yourself, “why do I need to do this? ”, there should be a good reason to hold on to an issue;
emotional attachment doesn’t necessarily mean you should carry it on. Employ “tactical pauses” to clear your thoughts (white space). Thinking straight at times of pressure is critical to good outcomes. The white noise of the threat/stressor is highly distracting. Aim to create order from the chaos.
Support
So, support becomes really important. Support from peers, senior colleagues, our team, but most importantly from our social network of friends and family. Self-support is also hugely important; maintaining work-life balance is critical, having an outlet, a means to let go of stress and to do something for ourselves. It can be anything, from walking the dog, going fishing or free-fall parachuting; what it is doesn’t matter, so long as it is time for you to escape from the stresses of work and life. As mentioned above, support of your seniors is key, and the importance of understanding what you should prioritise or pause underpins this. We all need time to recharge, we also all need the ability to surge activity when demands dictate. Ideally, pace at 80% capacity so you can surge to 100% when the time comes. The reality of life though, is more like working at 100% most of the time. When urgent pressures are overlaid, it is important to pause or stop some business as usual, otherwise you risk rapid burnout.
Reflection
Relationships underpin several of these aspects, but one further consideration is to understand what negative personal traits develop when you are under stress. How do others see us? Ask yourself “What is it like to be on the receiving end of me? ”. How might your colleagues describe you as a leader? Reflect upon your impact on others, but most importantly, act on your findings, otherwise it is pointless. Reflection can be tough, looking in a mirror and being brutally honest. Written reflection is probably most powerful, but it is not for everyone. Ask yourself three simple questions, “What happened? So What? What next? ”. Do this regularly to unload and develop.
Leadership is challenging; the demands are inexorable. Strategise workplace problems, take control and develop key workplace relationships. Strive to maintain work life balance. These will not be new concepts, but hopefully this has been a short reminder of how we can help ourselves maintain and drive self-improvement.
¹ Tony Robbins The 6 Human needs: Significance, Certainty, Variety, Contribution, Growth, & Connection
Article by Dr Dan Burrow
Consultant Occupational Physician