Most business leaders today live a hyper busy, stressed out lifestyle characterized by too little time for too many things. As companies have become increasingly more lean in the quest for a productivity advantage, fewer employees are available to do the same (if not more) work. Not a lot of fun for the employees. Even less so for the leaders with whom the buck inevitably stops.
More work and less people equals more stress. Add in the face wind of the deepest recession in decades and you have the perfect prescription for Xanax nation. Stressed out bosses usually means stressed out employees. Stressed out employees are often less productive as they spend big chunks of time commiserating with one-another about their increasingly demanding and decreasingly fun jobs. Lower productivity means lower margins and more stress for the boss. And so it goes.
The stress cycle builds momentum like a flywheel spun by quantum amounts of negative energy. It begins to feed on itself until the workplace becomes transformed into one of those places you promised yourself you would never work at. If you are the boss this news is doubly depressing as the transformation happened on your watch, leading to (you guessed it) more stress.
The good news is that you can break the cycle and start spinning the flywheel in the opposite direction. It is not complicated, though it can be difficult. It begins with taking a very deep breath and relaxing.
Listen to the most successful athletes in the world, those at the very top of their games, and they all say the same thing. When the players all around them are panicked, stressed-out and frenetic, they have the unique ability to relax. They talk about seeing the game in “slow motion” while it appears to all others as a blur. This enables them to make the right choices at precisely the right time, when tenths of seconds count.
Business is no different. The pace is continually frenetic and the competition is fierce. People are looking for the slightest edge that makes the difference between success and failure. Relaxing is a critical first step for any leader to enable them to see the game clearly. This becomes doubly important as they coach their employees in the type of calm and clear-headed way that creates understanding and engagement.
As tempting as it may be, do not allow yourself to succumb to the pressure and lead in a stressed out way. When the fur is flying, challenge yourself to take a deep breath, slow down and make the right choices. Relax, then lead.