Are You Working Too Hard?
Is stress good or bad for you? The answer is both. New research demonstrates that managers who learn to regulate stress can be more productive and happy at work - and do the same for their teams.
Managers apply pressure to themselves and their teams in the belief that it will make them more productive. After all, stress is an intrinsic part of work and a critical element of achievement; without a certain amount of it, we would never perform at all.
Yet the dangers of burnout are real. Studies cited by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) indicate that some 40% of all workers today feel overworked, pressured, and squeezed to the point of anxiety, depression, and disease. And the problem is getting worse, thanks to intensified competition, rapid market changes, and an unending stream of terrible news about natural disasters, terrorism, and the state of the economy.
The cost to employers is appalling. Corporate health insurance premiums in the United States shot up by 11.2% in 2004 - quadruple the rate of inflation - according to survey figures from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Today, the American Institute of Stress reports, roughly 60% of doctor visits stem from stress-related complaints and illnesses. In total, American businesses lose $300 billion annually to lowered productivity, absenteeism, health-care, and related costs stemming from stress.
So the question is: When does stress help and when does it hurt? To find out, HBR senior editor Bronwyn Fryer talked with Herbert Benson, MD., founder of the Mind/Body Medical lnstitute in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Also an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Benson has spent more than 35 years conducting research in the fields of neuroscience and stress. He is best known for his 1975 bestseller, The Relaxation Response. He first described a technique to bring forth the complex physiologic dance between stress and relaxation, and the benefits to managers of practices such as meditation, in "Your Innate Asset for Combating Stress" (HBR July-August 1974.) His most recent book is The Breakout Principle (Scribner, 2003) with William Proctor.
Benson and Proctor have found that managers can learn to use stress productively by applying the "breakout principle" - a paradoxical active-passive dynamic. By using simple techniques to regulate the amounts of stress one feels, a manager can increase performance and productivity and avoid burnout. In this edited conversation, Benson describes how managers can tap into their own creative insights, boost their productivity at work, and assist their teams to do the same.
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Reprinted from Harvard Business Review |
 Note from Kevin
Greetings!
I believe one of the most important questions this month's message asks is, "How much is too much?" We would all agree we have moved into a time and place in our business world where the demand to create more with less has never been greater. As is true with any challenge we face, there is a "right" and "wrong" way to get the desired results.
"Are You Working Too Hard" offers some valuable insights into how we can achieve great results by learning the connection between physiology and neuroscience. As you read the article, I am convinced each one of you will connect to a time when putting space between you and a major challenge created that "aha" moment. The action step I encourage each of you to embrace is to become "proactive" with yourself and your team when it comes to creating those enlightening moments. Yes, it does go against our widely accepted process of linear thinking, but I need to ask you, "How's that working for you?" Are you becoming more or less effective as you get busier? Do you find yourself clearer or cloudier than you were 10 years ago? When you look at your team, do you ever feel concern that they look tired or have become less effective?
In the end it's for you to decide whether or not this is a sound way of thinking for you and your team. But...if you are experiencing any of the negative side effects described in the article, then what do you have to lose?
Life is good!
KW |
