Managers often ask me for the one piece of advice that they can implement to help create a stress-free environment. The answer often takes them by surprise. I tell them to ensure that their employees understand the most important principle of stress management: There is no such thing as good stress.
Distinguishing between pressure and stress
For years, stress management professionals have perpetuated the myth that a certain amount of stress is good for employees. They claim that it helps them perform to their best. In this belief, they have confused pressure and stress.
Pressure arouses the body and mind, preparing employees for the difficult challenges that lie ahead and allowing them to perform at their optimum. As long as employees believe that they can cope with the pressure, there is no difficulty. However, once they no longer feel that they can cope, the symptoms of stress begin to set in.
The Health and Safety Executive of the United Kingdom define stress as: “The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed on them.” Stress has often been dismissed as something that is “all in the mind.” However, the differences between pressure and stress are not just psychological, they are physiological too.
Research has shown that stressed individuals have higher levels of the stress hormones than someone who is experiencing pressure. Studies have linked stress with a range of physiological illnesses, including:
- heart attacks
- strokes
- ulcers
- diabetes
- cancer
- anxiety
- depression.
None of these consequences of stress are good.
The problem with the concept of “good stress”
Like any other health issue, the earlier that stress is diagnosed, the easier it is to make a successful intervention. The difficulty is that stress is very much an individual experience. Each individual begins to experience stress at a different point. Therefore, the manager is reliant on the employee to recognize that they are experiencing the symptoms of stress. This requires a culture of awareness, openness, and trust.
Employees must be able to trust that they can speak openly with their manager without fearing the consequences of doing so. Once the employee opens the channels of communication, the manager is in a position to help them find a workable solution. There will be many potential solutions available to the manager but they cannot be offered if the employee has not identified, and highlighted, the stressful situation.
Talking about “good stress” may seem harmless, but it creates a macho culture in which stress is viewed as a positive thing. Stress is treated like a badge of honor—a reassuring sign that they are working hard. Rather than viewing the symptoms of stress as a warning sign, employees begin to view them as something to be accepted, and expected, as a natural part of working life.
In this sort of culture, there is a stigma attached to stress. It is not normal to state that you are struggling to cope with the pressure. As a consequence, stressed employees may feel that it is they who are the problem; not the situation. They are then unlikely to raise the issue with management as they fear it will draw attention to their inadequacies.
Rather than discuss their experience with management, stressed employees tend to adjust their behavior in an attempt to cope. Work hours are increased by arriving earlier, working later, and taking shorter, if any, breaks. In the short-term, this may appear to be an effective solution, but fatigue sets in and performance levels drop.
Employees may try to extend their working day further, but there are only 24 hours in the day. And the more they try to put off dealing with their situation, the more severe the consequences of their stress become. Eventually, the situation will come to a head due to poor health, poor performance or a reluctant acceptance by the employee that they have to seek help. By the time the situation has come to a head, the employee will have endured a great deal of unnecessary suffering and the consequences will have become more severe than necessary, making the situation more difficult to resolve.
Moving forward
When dealing with stress management, the greatest gift that a manager can give their employees is awareness of the true nature of stress. Pressure and challenge are necessary to optimize performance in the workplace. An optimum level of pressure enables companies to maximize productivity and allows ambitious employees to fulfill their potential. As such, pressure is a positive thing for management and employees.
Stress and pressure must never be confused with one another, however. They are psychologically and physiologically different experiences. Unlike pressure, stress is never good. Employees must understand that stress is both unsustainable and unnecessary.
Employees who understand this will be quicker to report any stress related issues they may experience. This provides the manager with the opportunity to intervene swiftly and resolve the situation, thus returning the employee to a healthy and productive situation which benefits both the employee and the company.