Stress is
unavoidable. What’s critical is knowing when one is moving from good stress
to bad stress — and leaders often are not aware of the difference,
according to research from the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL(R)), a
top-ranked, global leadership education and research organization.
When one’s resources meet or exceed the demands put on a person, stress
can show its positive side. That good kind of stress — eustress — acts as
a stimulating factor that contributes to success. Eustress is the energy
people feel when tackling a challenging assignment and feeling confident in
their abilities. However, when demands exceed resources, people experience
the type of stress associated with health problems and deteriorating
relationships: distress.
"The key is to know which stress is which, how to judge reactions to
various stressful situations and how best to manage the negative stress,"
says CCL senior enterprise associate Vidula Bal. "This is especially
important for leaders, who face the additional stress brought about by the
unique demands of leadership: having to make decisions with limited
information, to manage conflict, and to do more with less."
Bal, senior research analyst Michael Campbell and senior associate and
exercise physiologist Sharon McDowell-Larsen, all based at CCL’s Colorado
Springs campus, are the authors of a new Ideas Into Action Guidebook
titled, Buy zithromax without prescription Managing Leadership Stress. The 32-page guidebook offers a series
of practical tips on the causes of leadership stress and how best to handle
it.
The authors identified 10 factors inherent to leadership roles that
contribute to increased stress among leaders, including ambiguity; lack of
control; working beyond technical expertise; too much success; doing more
with less, faster; building relationships and managing conflict; developing
and supporting others; personal insecurity; high expectations; and
performance demands.
So what, specifically, can leaders do to better manage their stress?
The authors offer eight useful tips:
1. Know the signals - pay attention to your body’s response to stress.
2. Create a ritual - make it a habit to have a stress break.
3. Get away - find effective ways to set boundaries between work and home.
4. Build a support system - build a network of people who can assist you at
work and therefore alleviate some of the stress you feel.
5. Regroup on the task - look for ways to organize and streamline your work.
6. Recover - build time into your routine to recharge.
7. Redefine balance - link balance to your values and choose activities that
support those values.
8. Exercise - create a regular exercise regimen, which can help you regulate
emotions, induce relaxation and increase self-esteem.
According to CCL’s 2006 Stress of Leadership research study, 80 percent
of leaders surveyed reported that work is a primary source of stress in
their lives and that having a leadership role only increases that level of
stress. More than two-thirds of these leaders also believe their stress
level was higher than it was five years earlier. Further, 60 percent of
leaders cited their organizations as failing to provide them with the tools
they need to manage stress.
About the Research
In 2006, CCL conducted a Stress of Leadership study by surveying 160
participants in several of its educational programs and through a posted
Internet survey. Additional background information for the guidebook came
from CCL’s 2002 Fitness and Leadership research study. Finally, the
observations about leadership and stress also were taken from training more
than 20,000 leaders each year.
About the Contributors
Vidula Bal is a senior enterprise associate at the Colorado Springs
campus of the Center for Creative Leadership. She facilitates a variety of
open-enrollment programs, designs and delivers custom programs and conducts
research on stress, power and team effectiveness. She holds a Ph.D. in
communication from the University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Campbell is a senior research analyst at CCL’s Colorado Springs
campus. He conducts research on talent management and succession,
management, and manages CCL’s leadership assessment database. He holds a
B.S. in business and marketing from the University of Colorado at Colorado
Springs.
Sharon McDowell-Larsen is a senior associate and exercise physiologist
at CCL’s Colorado Springs campus. She manages the Fitness for Leadership
module of CCL’s Leadership at the Peak program and does research on the
exercise habits and effectiveness of senior executives. She holds an M.A.
and Ph.D. in exercise physiology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
About the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL(R)) () is a
top-ranked, global provider of executive education that develops better
leaders through its exclusive focus on leadership education and research.
Founded in 1970 as a nonprofit, educational institution, CCL helps clients
worldwide cultivate creative leadership — the capacity to achieve more
than imagined by thinking and acting beyond boundaries — through an array
of programs, products and other services. Ranked among the world’s top
providers of executive education by BusinessWeek and the Financial Times,
CCL is headquartered in Greensboro, N.C., with campuses in Colorado
Springs, Colo.; San Diego, Calif.; Brussels, Belgium; and Singapore. Its
work is supported by more than 500 faculty members and staff.
Center for Creative Leadership

generic ultram online buy | Buy diflucan without prescription | Generic propecia pills no prescription