Top 3 Myths About Workplace Anxiety Busted

Summary: Work does not make people anxious; rather, itâ€™s feeling bad about work that results in stressful situations. That means, unless leaders change the way they feel at work, changing their priorities, work hours, work environment, or work responsibilities wonâ€™t hold much meaning.

Somehow, itâ€™s become fashionable to either intentionally create a stressful position, or else if there is already such a situation, then not taking the necessary steps to come out of it. A creative concept is that of MBWA, or management by wandering around

1. Hospital management often walks around on floors understanding why people are asking for what they need and how it practically impacts their lives. For example, a particular department at a hospital was asking for a new printer because whenever they needed a printout for a patient they had to go all the way down to the hall or find a different printer that works, since their own printer kept breaking down. The CEO saw this happen in real time and obviously got onto fixing it promptly1!

So how do you stop making stressful work conditions an acceptable situation and actually understand what is going on with your employees? One key to building your presence through social awareness is to keenly observe your stakeholders and pay attention to how they are feeling. As an incredibly observant CEO, here are 3 myths to bust.

Excessive Demands are Necessary to Make People Perform

To work extra hard, and take up so much pressure, just to win some misplaced sense of approval from others is harmful to you and ultimately to your quality of work. A good metric of this is the psychological concepts of job demand and job resources

2. Observe how much specific roles and tasks demand, what are the energy levels and workplace resources such as support and even material objects. This will give you insights about how you can bring the resources available to people up, or pace out demands such that it is motivating and people feel ready to put in more effort!

Stress is Relevant to Time Spent Working

Not exactly. Stress isnâ€™t directly proportional to how many hours you work. The point of the job demands and resources concept is that you can actually do a lot of work if you feel that the job is enjoyable and youâ€™re well equipped to do it. If you want this for your team, the solution again is to really read the emotions of others and see how they respond to what they are doing. Thatâ€™s how you will notice that there are certain things some people (you included) are really perked up about, and donâ€™t mind putting in effort. Plus, people will appreciate the fact that you notice their strengths and are leaning into those and work harder to prove themselves at it.

Stress Results from not doing Enough

To give yourself a temporary push, so that you donâ€™t lag behind on your work, is all right. But, making such â€˜pushingâ€™ the standard way to work – not useful at all. The truth is, itâ€™s not falling behind, but you feel about falling behind that causes stress. Pay attention to what people think they are lacking at and falling behind on. This is not for the cause of calling them into your office and shouting at them for falling behind on it, but understanding that this is something they are tilting about and being unable to perform as of yet. Remove their qualms about work, ask if they would like a shift in responsibilities or even ask how you can help.

Impact on Leadership

Part of pushing people forward is first taking in who they are, what they want and being able to work with that information. This means really paying attention to their pain points and taking active steps to make their lives and resources at work better. Let people know that they can fail, that their ideas and wants will not be evaluated on the basis of anything other than pure merit.

Star Mindset

Emotions are contagious and can affect how others perform and interact with one another. Sensing the mood, absorbing the emotional cues, and helping others adjust their energy levels are vital to your success because others then perceive you as a leader with a likeable presence.

3 Immediately Applicable Action Steps

Calculate the amount of time and effort you demand from your employees, and see if they are able to provide the same with ease.
Ask people how they like the work that they are doing and whether it drains them or motivates them
Ask your employees what problems they might be facing at work and actively offer help to fix the same.

References

Moss, Jennifer, et al. â€œBurnout Is About Your Workplace, Not Your People.â€ Harvard Business Review, 11 December 2019, https://hbr.org/2019/12/burnout-is-about-your-workplace-not-your-people.
Leung, M., Shan Isabelle Chan, Y. and Dongyu, C. (2011), “Structural linear relationships between job stress, burnout, physiological stress, and performance of construction project managers”, Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 312-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/09699981111126205
Ashford, K. (n.d.). Leadership Qualities For Busy Workplaces. Monster Jobs. Retrieved July 14, 2022, from https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/help-your-team-be-less-stressed-0418

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