15.7
MANAGING THE STRESS ASSOCIATED
WITH BEING A LEADER
Contributed by Clem Blakeslee and inspired by Peter Hanson, David Irvine, Stephan Rechtschaffen, and Hans Selye.“What you don’t know won’t hurt you” is a dangerous maxim, because stress is pervasive
throughout today’s knowledge-based, fast-paced organizations. Further, your stress and the
stress experienced by others within your workgroup or team are related. Thus, you need to be
sensitive to subtle stress cues within yourself, as well as from others within your organization.
This tool focuses on personal stress and how to deal with it. A diagnostic checklist is provided
to help you understand your personal stress and to assess stress levels within your workgroup.
Suggestions are provided to help you reduce your level of stress. (Note: See ☛2.1 Systems
Thinking to consider how systemic sources of stress can be reduced within your organization.)
CAN STRESS BE GOOD FOR YOU?
Hans Selye distinguishes among three kinds of stress.
When leaders say they thrive on stress, or that some level of stress is necessary to challenge
employees and to sustain a productive workforce, they’re referring to eustress.It’s important to
acknowledge, however, that what leaders might think of as a positive stress, those around them
might think of as distress.
A LEADER’S ROLE IN CREATING STRESS
Many leaders believe they must never display weakness, vulnerability, or personal inadequa-
cies of any sort. This creates an unfortunate condition whereby leaders downplay or deny the
pervasiveness, as well as the manifestations, of their own stress. And, since stress accumulates
month by month and year by year, it may be possible to deny stress symptoms even long after
there has been a considerable accumulation of physical, emotional, and relationship damage.
Leaders need to struggle with these questions about their beliefs:
- Is a leader a lesser person if he or she acknowledges the symptoms of stress?
- If one learns to manage stress successfully, will that process impair performance or
ambition? - Can work be challenging, yet free from stress?
- Does willpower aggravate stress? If so, what is the alternative?
- How much personal investment is required to manage stress successfully?
472 SECTION 15 TOOLS FORTAKINGCARE OFYOURSELF
- Too much stress for a productive
life- The optimal amount of stress for a
productive life- Too little stress for a productive
life
- Too little stress for a productive
- The optimal amount of stress for a
Distress Eustress Too little stress