“Pressure...

Social media, and specifically LinkedIn, is full of articles and posts about how to create and achieve “stress-free...” As often as these posts cross our LinkedIn feed, we will challenge the notion of stress-free leadership in any form. Stress-free leadership is analogous to eliminating conflict in the workplace. In our minds, trying to achieve either or both is a fool’s errand. We learn to manage workplace conflict because we know it never goes away completely. We also learn to manage stress as leaders as we know it never really goes away completely.

The other element of stress and conflict similarities is that, like conflict, not all stress is negative. Most are familiar with the negative side of stress we call distress. However, few are familiar with the positive side of stress called eustress. Eustress is the short-term stress that motivates and creates focus for leaders in any given situation. For instance, everyone has heard of the common fear of public speaking. Even though I’ve been a confident public speaker since high school, I still get butterflies when speaking in front of a new audience. Those butterflies are a sign of eustress that helps focus on the speech or presentation I’m about to give.

How does stress impact the leader’s decision-making process? Having recently facilitated a session on decision-making and problem-solving to a group of leaders as part of a leadership institute, the idea of stress’s impact on the topic made for an interesting discussion. It brought us back to when we first learned about System 1 and System 2 Thinking created by the Nobel Prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman. System 1 Thinking is quick, subconscious and intuitive thinking that is highly influenced by stress. It creates an urge to quickly decide based on past experiences that may or may not be contextually appropriate to the current situation. System 2 Thinking on the other hand is slower, rational and deliberate thinking that transcends the urge to succumb to distress. By leveraging eustress, the leader can be more focused and disciplined about the decision in the context of the current situation and less biased by the past.

Referring back to the title quote, “Pressure is a privilege.”, we see that pressure in the form of eustress can significantly change a leader’s attitude toward facing the challenges of a VUCA business environment. It is the attitude that creates sustainable success for the business!

How are you managing pressure as a privilege? If you’re not sure, we can help.

Lead Well!