De-stressing Stress - A Leader's Guide

VIEWPOINT: Following the recent news that a high-profile CEO in the banking sector has stepped back from his job due to stress - until now a taboo word in the macho world of big business - Simon Hayward, Managing Director at Cirrus, provides some advice for leaders .

Striving for success can cause us stress - Leaders need to start a dialogue around an unspoken danger that can damage performance

It’s very unusual for high-profile corporate leaders to admit they are suffering from stress, so it was a shock when Antonio Horta-Osorio, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group, announced he is taking time off to recover from work-related fatigue. There is an expectation that the people at the top of the world’s largest organisations are bullet-proof, able to handle difficult challenges and simply get on with the job.  There is also quite a widely-held belief, which is often unspoken, that suffering from stress is a sign of weakness.

We want our CEOs to be brave, bold and fearless. However we also need them to be open and honest. Stress is extremely damaging, and the prevailing culture that prevents many people admitting that stress affects them is detrimental to working life. If more senior leaders talk openly about stress and how it affects them and others, it could really help build more positive, supportive workplace cultures – improving employee engagement and ultimately boosting productivity.

The UK Government Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that stress costs the British economy £3.7 billion per year. Research conducted by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) earlier this year put stress at the top of a table of causes of long-term absence. Although there is a clear business case for addressing the subject of stress, it is not always helpful to deal with it in isolation. It is usually part of a wider issue. The economic crisis has meant that most organisations are now trying to do ‘more for less’.  As a result, many employees across all organisational levels feel the need to work longer hours, often without increased recognition or reward. This can be a stressful situation which rarely leads to better results. Some employees fear speaking up because they worry about damaging their career prospects or even losing their jobs. A recent survey from mental health charity Mind found that 41% of workers feel  stressed – and the same percentage feel stress is a taboo subject. So perhaps the Lloyds CEO’s openness about this issue will help to raise awareness about stress and the impact it can have. 

Most of us would say we want to be part of positive, productive organisations – we want to feel engaged, we want to be motivated, and we want to enjoy work. When we feel this way, it’s good for us as individuals and good for the organisations we work for. When we don’t, we get stressed out.

Success doesn’t have to depend on long hours and unrealistic deadlines. Research demonstrates that the best-performing organisations tend to have highly engaged employees. These people tend not to be overly stressed because they are supported, empowered, and have a clear understanding of how their work contributes to the overall success of their organisation. Engaged people usually want to take on increased responsibility rather than feel they have to.  Their increased contributions are recognised – and this recognition doesn’t always have to be financial. Most of us appreciate positive feedback, feeling valued and knowing we’ve contributed to the success of our organisations.

Addressing the issue of stress is difficult, and often the best place to start is with conversation. Through something as simple yet powerful as dialogue we can connect to each other, explore issues, and share solutions.  Perhaps more executive teams can draw on the example of Lloyds’ CEO to legitimise discussion around creating a climate of engagement and resulting performance, rather than pressure and resulting stress.