For people in leadership, stress tends to come with the territory. Not only are you managing your own job responsibilities and deadlines, but you are also taking on the stress of overall company performance. If you’re a leader who also manages people, you take on even more stress as you monitor your team’s performance.
Sounds overwhelming, right? That’s why it’s important to recognise the signs of stress and actively work to manage it. With a few great stress management techniques in your back pocket, you can rest, reset and get back to business.
Top 10 Stress Management Techniques
1. Plan your workday
Planning is, of course, the best way to make sure you’re carving out enough time for all of your responsibilities. The more you plan, the more in control you’ll feel, which is a huge stress reliever. In fact, planning is actually an effective coping mechanism. Planning is a form of proactive coping, and one study has even shown that it causes people to be less reactive to stress.
So plan for staff development, meetings, networking, activities and any job-specific tasks you may have. The key here is linking your plans to outcomes – if one planned event doesn’t actually have a positive outcome, you need to either ditch it, or adjust in some way. Your time is valuable, so knowing it’s spent effectively is vital. The importance of culture in relation to good leadership.
2. Plan time for yourself
Once you’ve got your workday organised, you have to plan time for yourself as well. Knowing that you have time set aside for you-time later will help keep you calm and collected throughout your workday. Most importantly, you must treat this as a non-negotiable. Don’t let work creep into the time that you’ve set aside for yourself – once you do, it’s a slippery slope. Treat your you-time as a VIP event. That time to rest and recharge will do wonders for your psyche.
3. Take a break and move
It is all too easy to let yourself get into a stressed-out thought spiral. When this happens, take a step away, or a few hundred. Get some movement in away from your work area. Whether that’s going for a walk, taking a break to get a coffee – whatever it is, remove yourself from the stress zone. If you can, I highly recommend getting into nature. Seeing life around you, indifferent to your current issue and not stressed, will help bring calm and grounding to you. It helps to remind you the world is much larger than the issue in your work environment, and that tomorrow always has new potential.
4. Wallow – for a few minutes
Give yourself time to feel your emotions and wallow in them. Your feelings are valid and have a right to be heard, for a few minutes. Then, acknowledge that you’ve had your time to feel the situation and move back into your leader mindset. How can you manage, fix or overcome the latest challenge? Giving yourself time to wallow will actually make you feel better, sooner. It also increases your self-acceptance, which in turn increases your self-confidence.
Another stress management technique is to put your focus on what you can control. If you’ve given yourself time to wallow and are still struggling to bounce back with an action plan, try breaking down the issue into smaller steps and do what is within your realm of control. Then, call on others who can help with the issues that are outside of your control. Acknowledge that what is outside of your control, is outside your control!
5. Breathe
Breathwork is a powerful stress management technique. When you feel stress overcoming you, take a three-minute time out to focus on your breathing – in and out for at least four seconds each. Not only does this help to recentre you, but it’s also proven to help with stress. Short, shallow breaths can cause you to feel anxious and short-winded. On the flip side, when you focus on deep breathing, it reminds your body what it feels like to be calm, since deep breathing mimics your breathing when you’re relaxed. It can literally lower your heart rate and blood pressure.
6. Exercise
Give yourself an outlet to burn off all your emotions: tension, rage, agitation – whatever it may be, find a way to get it OUT. Exercise is a well-known stress reliever and stress management technique. According to the Mayo Clinic, it gives you feel-good endorphins and acts as meditation in motion: it forces you to focus on your body instead of your thoughts. It can even protect you from and reduce the negative impacts of stress by strengthening your cardiovascular, immune and digestive systems.
7. Avoid alcohol and coffee
Coffee elevates your cortisol levels because of it contains caffeine. For someone who consistently consumes caffeine, those elevated cortisol levels stay elevated longer, leading to chronic stress. Alcohol is a depressant, which will only negatively impact your energy. Plus, it disrupts your sleep cycle which will make you feel even more tired and lacking the energy needed to face the challenges of your day.
8. Meditation
Meditation has been shown to reduce negative emotions, while increasing creativity and patience. Plus, it forces you to focus on the breath which, as I discussed, will help you relax. If you struggle with meditation, try searching for a guided meditation on YouTube. Or, listen to sounds of nature and other calming music, and give yourself a few minutes to just listen and breathe.
The key to meditation is focusing on your thoughts: on music, visualisation or your breath/ body. The mind will wander, which is ok, just note it and bring it back. Like a puppy with regular ‘training’ it will learn to stay focused on what you wish.
9. Make problems a group activity
Pull your staff into the problem and ask for help brainstorming solutions. You might even designate someone else to lead on solving the problem – this gives them a development opportunity and gives you a chance to step back, mentor as needed and focus on strategic objectives. Plus, they’ll be stepping into the problem with fresh eyes, energy and a desire to succeed to a solution, that you may feel only frustration or tangled in the history. Let your team help you and build them at the same time. I promise, they will thank you for it.
10. Don’t overwork yourself
It sounds obvious, but far too many leaders burn themselves out by taking on more work than they can manage. Don’t let that be you – be proactive in planning what work you’ll take on and the timeframes you’ll work in. If you need to, negotiate and renegotiate timeframes as things change. Set boundaries early, so you can avoid working any crazy long hours.
Final thoughts
If you’re still stressed, consider this: while those in leadership do face more demands than those who are not, they also have higher levels of control. So although you have more responsibilities on your back, you have more power to delegate and more access to resources. Use that control, in addition to the stress management techniques outlined above. Remember, you made it to where you’re at because you have a distinctive, valuable skillset and an innovative vision. You’ll get through this and likely face even bigger challenges in the future – it’s all in your ability to employ stress management techniques and overcome the problem.
In the management of stress, coaching can help bring perspective and clarity. Once you’re out of the negative thought spiral, coaching can support you to create a strategic plan forward. If you’re ready to take the next step, check out our coaching services here. We look forward to working with you!
Author Bio
Deborah Knight is the founder of Xsead Lead with a background in organisational and individual leadership and executive coaching.
As a coach, Deborah aims to create an inclusive and respectful space where individuals and organisations can do the work necessary for growth and change. She is also passionate about helping women be valued for themselves while also contributing and being successful.
Apart from her company which she is deeply passionate about, Deborah also loves bushwalking, reading, travelling, and learning new things.
For any coaching or organisational support enquiries Deborah can be contacted via email: info@xseedlead.com.au or via her company website which is www.xseedlead.com.au.
