For all of us, there are times when work gets to be too much. When deadlines are mounting, problems seem to only be increasing, and things just aren’t turning out as they should, the impulse to simply give up may be difficult to resist. And, in today’s hypercompetitive business climate, finding yourself in such high-pressure situations is becoming quite common.
As a leader, you can’t prevent a team from experiencing any and all stress or discomfort. And, in many cases, certain levels of pressure due to high expectations can actually increase one’s productivity, their quality of work, and overall satisfaction with their performance after accomplishing a difficult-to-reach goal. However, a good leader will be able to recognize when their team is beginning to crumble under the pressure, and will step in to do what they can to relieve some of it.
Helping employees manage their stress is an invaluable skill for any leader who wants effective teams. Too much pressure can lead to many negative outcomes, such as reduced productivity, burnout, unethical behaviors (e.g., cheating), and even a reduced sense of self worth or embarrassment after a failure.
The obvious solutions are reducing the amount of workload or lowering expectations — they can, indeed, help reduce stress. And, when possible, reducing a team’s responsibilities may be a good solution. But, in many cases, workloads are inflexible because the results and products of the work are necessary for sustaining a functioning business. On the other hand, lowering expectations if they are already insurmountably high is a good idea — but lowering expectations that may be high, but reasonable, will simply lead to inferior outcomes and underperforming teams.
The crux of the issue for leaders is balance. How much stress can your team handle? How much pressure and in what form makes them better? What can you do, as a leader, to support the team, or even individual members, when the balance is off?
The answers to the above questions will vary from person to person and team to team, and some strategies may work better than others. It is up to each leader to find what works best.
There are many strategies a leader can use to guide their teams through stressful patches, and help them achieve intimidating objectives.
What a team leader can do
When harnessed correctly, pressure to perform can result in employees and teams functioning better than before. But, leaders dealing with a team feeling overwhelmed by the pressure can get started by paying attention to how factors outside of the work itself may be affecting their ability to deal with stress. An internal belief that they are not capable of success and/or a sense of a lack of support from their organization, teammates, and their leader may be major factors leading to problems rather than the workload or expectations themselves.
- Encourage strong interpersonal support systems. When people are stressed, they should feel comfortable admitting it at work. As a leader, encourage your teams to speak up to ask for help when they need it. Acknowledge concerns, provide extra help and solutions when possible, and never invalidate a person’s experience (such as telling them to ‘simply deal with it’). When employees feel they can find assistance and understanding from teammates and leaders alike, they will be emboldened to take on more (and likely have additional guidance and resources to aid them).
- Frame it as a challenge; not a threat. We all enjoy accomplishing something great. When an individual or team is about to embark on a daunting project, highlighting the good they can get out of the experience will make the prospect sound more like an exciting journey than a grueling slog. The team wants to hear about the skills they can gain throughout the process. Don’t assume failure.
- Take into account individual differences. Some people handle pressure better than others. Some of us are more likely to internalize a difficult goal as something exciting where others tend to think of expectations as a threat. Resilience to stressful situations is an individual trait that shows up differently in different people — and it makes a huge difference in how they react to and regulate pressure at work. As a leader, making yourself aware of how this trait differs between individuals on your team may allow you to maximize how you distribute support. Offers of extra resources and guidance may be better given to the team member who needs it compared to one that thrives off of pressure. You just have to be careful you don’t overlook someone who’s reluctant to ask.
- Avoid ranking systems. Especially when a team is already overwhelmed with pressure, comparing performances between teammates will only serve to heighten stress. If your intention as a leader is to promote synergy and decrease stress, it might not be a good idea to start recruiting certain individuals on a team into a leadership development program. Development could instead be done through more inclusive programs.
- Emphasize positive feedback. Don’t forget to be encouraging whenever possible. Focus on what the team is doing well. Focus on what individuals on the team are doing well, such as highlighting each member’s unique contributions and strengths. Positive feedback is an excellent motivator and can be fortifying to an overwhelmed team.
- Help members deal with failure and setbacks. Failure can easily drive someone to give up when they are already struggling under pressure to perform. Help the team reframe the anxiety in healthy ways. For example, taking the disappointment and anxiety of a setback into, instead, a reinvigorating experience that can only lead the team closer to a better solution.
A self-affirmation approach
Overcoming job pressure is often at least partially — if not mostly — a mental process. A detachment from the purpose and meaning of your work can lead to distancing yourself from the outcomes. This can lead to resorting to lowered productivity, decreased quality of work, giving up, or even cheating to achieve certain outcomes.
The self-affirmation approach seeks to realign your values and show you what you want out of your work, which can partially counteract the negative outcomes of performance pressure. A study showed that, through doing self-affirmation exercises, individuals experience a better mental relationship to their work (e.g., feeling less anger when experiencing setbacks or difficulties).
In this study, some participants were asked to take six minutes to write down values they find personally important, and outline occasions in their lives where those values played a significant role. Following this exercise, the participants who took part were much less likely to cheat on a subsequent task compared to participants who didn’t.
As a leader who has noticed frustration growing within your team, you can consider asking members to complete this personal values exercise (either during a meeting or on their own time). Through this expression of self-affirmation, they can reacquaint themselves with their goals, and how they can achieve them through their work.
And, of course, you can try it yourself next time you feel a bit overwhelmed.
You Don’t Have to Do it Alone
Finding ways to help your employees manage their stress is an invaluable asset to an organization. We would love to walk with you as you work to provide your leaders with the tools to meet these challenges and to successfully build their skills as they engage, motivate and transform their teams.
If you would like to learn more about how team building, leadership development, professional coaching, or strategy planning sessions can help you find a successful and sustainable way forward, let’s talk. Contact us for a free consultation by clicking this link: Innovative Connections or calling us at 970-279-3330.
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