This blog will give you guidance on how to manage work related pressure (WRP) so that it does not become work related stress (WRS). Globally, in 2018, 15.4 million people were off-work with illness due to stress, depression or anxiety. To bring that to scale, in an organisation with 600 employees, that means ONE person PER WEEK would go off with illness.
Before I proceed, I would like to just make clear that I am not a medical professional. This post is based on my learning and experiences which have helped me and others. If you are experiencing mental health issues, please consult a medical professional.
Often, I find that pressure and stress are categorised as the same, both with a negative aura. I believe that pressure can be healthy for you, if you control it so that it doesn’t become stress, which can be negative for you. There is a two-step approach to managing work related pressure and stress; which I will go on to explain.
If you start to look at pressure a good element in your life you can start to make it work for you by managing which category of pressure you are in. Referring to the graph above, if you spend too long without any pressure you will start to become bored. The ideal place to be is moving in between high level levels of comfort, stretched and strain. A good percentage split would be 30:60:10 respectively. Most of your time should be spent between being comfortable and stretched because this brings motivation, drive and fulfilment. The comfortable part allows you to not only rest and manage your mental well-being; it allows your creative mind to think and explore new things. A small part of your time should be spent in strain because this allows you to discover what works and doesn’t work for you, as well as providing you with the signs when you need to move yourself back into the comfortable zone, for example being to adapt your behaviour to suit your outcome. WRP is good for you because it provide you with:
- Self-Motivation
- Drive
- Structure
- Commitment
- Excitement
- Good levels of anxiety, for example nervousness regarding deadlines which creates a desire for motivation
- A healthy dose of fear which results in satisfaction when you overcome that fear
You want to avoid the stress category as this negative for you as it leads to:
- Lack of sleep
- Breakdown in relationships
- Negative thoughts
- Mental Health issues
- Physical health issues
The point between stretch and strain is called the tipping point. Managing the dance between comfort, stretch and strain will allow you to operate as a high performing leader. You can pass the tipping point and bring yourself back with the following methods.
Leading your life should be a priority. Learn the key behaviours of leaders in my book. Available here.
Self-aware of triggers
Spend time to make note of what creates pressure and stress then answer these questions:
- How this makes you feel?
- Why it makes you feel like that?
- What would your life look like if you those triggers didn’t exist?
- How does that make you feel?
- What would be your step to making this happen?
Awareness of consequences
Awareness of consequences allow you to understand what your life would be like if you changed your behaviour and overcame those consequences. Ask yourself these questions:
- What negative consequences do your triggers create?
- How does that make others feel?
- How do you think you others would feel if the consequences created a positive outcome rather than a negative?
- How can you bring the gap from where you are now to where you want to be?
Focus on the positives
Focusing on the negative is far too easy. It is far too easy to say that you are not performing because you are under pressure or that everything around you triggers stress. Changing your language and looking for the positives in a situation will have a profound impact on how you perceive WRP and WRS. Your target should be to reframe a “bad” situation by looking for opportunities to make it into a positive situation.
As a leader, managing WRP and WRS is essential for you to be able to control your emotions and continue to behave like a leader. This is also a demonstration of Emotional Intelligence and shows the difference between managing and leading. .
There are two more areas, mental resilience and you. However, I will discuss these areas in my upcoming blogs.
I hope this helps, JT.
Don’t hoard the information. Share it with your friends, partners and colleagues. Together we can make a difference.
How to reference this page
- Toor, J. (2019). How to manage work related pressure and stress. Available at: https://pmgrowth.co/how-to-master-work-related-pressure-and-stress?/
References
- DocHQBlog, 2019. Performance vs pressure graph.