In an average week I may interact
with 10-20 clients in my role as an executive coach and strategic facilitator,
and it seems that everyone has been experiencing the same thing; increasing
levels of stress. One person I talked
to last week admitted being addicted to stress; and then followed by saying
“what am I suppose to do when I have nothing to do?”
As I look beyond the efforts of
companies to engage employees, develop their leaders, provide service to their
customers and create innovative solutions it becomes apparent that all of these
well-intended efforts are being held back or even derailed by negative
stress. In order to survive and thrive
in the 21st century we need to be more aware of the effects of
stress on people and how to reverse it.
As Stephen Covey said in Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People, companies that push employees harder to increase output,
without taking the time to examine and improve the process, create a cycle of
diminishing returns. New ideas for
improvement happen during reflection and if employees are so harried and taxed,
they don’t have the energy or motivation to do this important “thought work”.
According to an article by Dr. Kevin Flemming, more that
60% of work absences last year in the United States were attributed to
psychological stress and other related issues.
This cost American companies $57 billion.
And if stressed-out employees alienate customers what
happens when they aren’t overly stressed? According to a study by Frederick
Reichheld and W. Earl Sasser, a 5 percent reduction in customer defection
translates into anywhere from a 30 percent to an 85 percent increase in
corporate profitability.
So if I step back from my own
stress and do this reflective “thought work” Covey talks about, I wonder what
part of negative stress is self-imposed? In our efforts to pursue our “unalienable
Right to happiness” do we need to re-discover what really makes us happy? Are
we trying to find happiness in the wrong places and is our unmet need for
happiness the cause for some of our stress?
Jacob Needlemen thinks so in his book The American Soul when he asserts we
often seek happiness through the acquisition of things. “Materialism is a
disease of the mind”, he says, “starved for ideas about our inner and outer
world.”
Individually we need to remind ourselves
of what truly makes us happy: Probably not cars, furniture and shoes but
family, friends, adventure, learning and play. And by spending as little as 20
percent of our time doing what we love to do we reduce the risk of burnout.
Having a balanced life also needs as much importance as finishing projects at
work.
Companies need to place employee
stress on their risk management radar.
It is hurting the bottom line, strangling innovation and derailing all
the great ideas that come out of strategic planning sessions. Movement forward cannot be achieved without
addressing the stress that is holding us back.
Dean Newlund is President of Mission Facilitators International, Inc.
He can be reached at www.missionfacilitators.com
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