How
much stress is good for you? We all have
our own particular sweet-spot with just the right amount of pressure that
stimulates, motivates and inspires us to greatness. If it’s too much or too little our
performance deteriorates and when it’s out of balance it harms our health.
Over
the last few months I’ve been running a number of workshops on developing
resilience – the ability to manage the stresses of work and flourish in a high
pressure environment. It was interesting
to research and select a number of exercises and themes that would help very
busy managers identify and manage their own responses to the pressures of their
work.
Our
resilience to pressure is dependent on a number of factors, like our level of
experience or skill in a particular context, what else is going on in our
personal lives, the quality of the relationships and support we have with significant
others or the state of our health. But the key to being resilient is recognising
when the pressure is creating stress and then having the capability and skill
to do something about it – to manage it.
The Danger of
Procrastination
I
was amused when I recently read an article that stated men often use the
adrenalin-rush of an impending deadline to motivate them into action. It said men, can at times, wait until it’s
almost too late before addressing issues or even planning for them. Without adrenalin they feel it can’t be that important
so it can wait – the motivation to do something is not really there, which creates
inertia. The article said that women on
the other hand prefer to plan well ahead because they dislike the unnecessary pressure
and prefer to avoid it by using foresight and taking appropriate action well in
advance. After looking into it I
discovered that this gender bias is unsubstantiated with empirical evidence so
be careful, not everything that gets published is true!
However,
there is a study by Tice & Baumeister (Longitudinal study of
procrastination, performance, stress and health: The costs and benefits of
dawdling) that researched students who procrastinated and then crammed before
assignments or exams and those that planned and studied in advance. While there was lower stress amongst procrastinators
at the beginning, not only did the ones who crammed get lower grades, this
strategy affected their health and immune system in the longer term. They were generally more fatigued, anxious and
prone to illness. There was no gender
bias in this study, so the science currently shows that women and men are both
equally as likely to fall into this trap.
What is your tendency?
Reading
the research did remind me of how much I have changed over the years. My wonderful VA (Virtual Assistant) Amanda has
trained me over the last 5 years to be better at planning ahead. Previously when writing my article of the
month I only found the motivation to put words on paper in the last couple of
days of the month and it used to cause a lot of pressure that meant other
things would have to be put on hold, creating a knock-on effect. It also put unnecessary pressure on Amanda
with last minute proofing and rushed preparation for publishing to my
subscription list and syndication to the various Blog sites.
Amanda
now chases me (politely!) for the following month’s article as soon as the current
one is published on the first Tuesday of the month. This makes it far more enjoyable to write and
allows more time for proofing, polishing and in the case of this irregular
series on the ‘Life Paradoxes’, time to enjoy drawing the illustrations which
can take a surprising amount of time because I’m still learning how to do it.
The Paradox of Poised
Achievement
The
balance of Self-motivation and Stress Management is an interesting one. On the Management workshops I’ve been running,
many managers say ‘Stress is good – it gets you going’. I totally agree, but it’s
about understanding your levels of stress and your ability to manage it. The problem with stress, as with much of our
thinking, is that it can be difficult to identify from the inside.
When
I was initially introduced to the Harrison Assessment Paradox Report I was
curious about the way it measures two related positive traits that, when
combined in a balanced way, produce highly effective behaviour. But when they are out of balance they produce
counter-productive behaviour. Harrison’s
approach is based on Enjoyment Theory and the originator’s background in Mathematics,
Personality Theory, Counselling and Organisational Psychology has enabled him
to make a rather unique contribution to assessment methodology.
Each
paradox has a ‘Dynamic’ trait and a complimentary ‘Gentle’ trait. For example the traits in the ‘Motivation’
Paradox are Self-Motivation (dynamic) and Stress Management (gentle) See the
illustration below.
Self-Motivation
is about the drive to achieve, including taking initiative, wanting a challenge
and being enthusiastic about one’s goals. The complimentary trait is Stress Management,
this is the tendency to be relaxed and manage stress well when it occurs.
When
we score high on both traits in a paradox we demonstrate ‘Balanced Versatility’. In this case it gives us the trait of Poised
Achievement: The tendency to be highly self-motivated without becoming tense or
easily stressed.
If
we are highly self-motivated and don’t recognise or manage stress well we fall
into the ‘Aggressive imbalance’ of Stressed Achievement; the tendency to be
very achievement oriented whilst at the same time being tense and/or having
difficulty managing stress. If not
managed this this can ultimately lead to burnout.
The
opposite ‘Passive Imbalance’ gives the trait of Tranquil Inertia; the tendency
to be relaxed and easy-going while at the same time lacking in self-motivation
(low Self-Motivated and high Stress Management).
If
both traits are low you get the unfortunate ‘Balanced Deficiency’ trait of
Stressed Underachievement; the tendency to lack achievement orientation while
at the same time being tense and/or having difficulty dealing with stress.
When
there is an imbalance in the traits it creates a situation where we can ‘flip’
to the opposite under pressure. So
someone who has a high level of Stressed Achievement will flip into Tranquil
Inertia when under too much pressure.
This may happen at home, where we just want to chill out in front of the
TV with a glass of wine, or in extreme situations at work when we end up getting
distracted by Facebook or just staring at the screen. Likewise a person who has high levels of
Stress Management but low Self-Motivation may, at times of increased pressure,
get super-motivated. This can often be
too little too late at the expense of others and the quality of work. The research also shows that this approach is
bad for your long-term health and well-being.
Raising Awareness
By
raising your awareness of your natural preferences and tendencies you can
choose to do something about it. What is
your tendency? Do you notice any
imbalances as described above? Would you
benefit from improving your ability to manage stress when it occurs? Or do you need to get re-motivated and
re-inspired with new challenges that you can be enthusiastic about?
The
concept behind these Paradoxes allows us to explore the principles of the
opposing traits and how we can exercise more of both. It is not about doing less of what you
naturally prefer; it is about looking at any imbalances and learning ways to
improve the balance between them. This
can be achieved by greater self-awareness, being open to feedback and a
willingness to improve. With regards to
stress it is about acknowledging that it is there, labelling it, and knowing that
you can do something about it.
So
I invite you to explore your preferences and the preferences of your Directors
and Managers. How well do you and the
teams you are a member of, go about managing the pressure and stress of work? Are they engaged and motivated by the
challenges of their job? What will you
need to do in order to exercise more Poised Achievement and have more balanced
versatility in your approach?
If
you are interested in exploring where you and your managers stand on this
Paradox and the eleven other Paradoxes in the assessment just contact Amanda at
info@InspiredWorking.com.
If
you are interested in exploring our Mindfulness resource with practical tips
and notes on the science of Stress Management just click here
With best regards
David Klaasen
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