Business manager stress: characteristics and how to manage it

As you move up the organization chart, it is more common to find positions of responsibility that beyond the hours dedicated to work, they must also adapt to all kinds of situations changing.

The power of having more to decide on is a double-edged sword: it gives you more leeway, but at the same time, it can trigger a lot of stress. This is precisely what I will talk about in this article: stress management by company managers.

• Related article: "Types of stress and their triggers"

Sources of stress in the day-to-day business manager

It is evident that there is great variability in the tasks carried out by company managers; However, in general terms it is possible to identify several common sources of stress in the day-to-day of these senior positions. Let's see which are the most important.

1. Changes in the economic sector in which the organization is inserted

The great changes that occur from time to time in the economic sphere mean that facing high levels of uncertainty is an intrinsic characteristic of the work of a manager. The responsibility of taking the helm when navigating this coming and going of difficult-to-interpret information falls largely on CEOs, department heads, etc.

In addition, as the economy increasingly depends on what happens in the digital world and in financial markets, it has reached an extreme where big economic paradigm shifts can literally come in a couple of days. And in the face of uncertainty, it is easy for anxiety and stress to arise.

2. Bad habits when delegating

Poor time management and mistrust (in turn, enhanced by stress and anxiety generated by work) are two one of the most important ingredients that lead managers to adopt an erroneous way of delegating tasks to their subordinates. This way it leads to a vicious cycle of stress.

3. Lack of separation between personal life and professional life

Among managers, the problem of not knowing how to “disengage” their attention from their work is very common.

Today, with the prevalence of laptops, Wi-Fi and smartphones, it's even harder to resist the temptation to use free time to get work done or to do extra supervision.

Of course, in the medium and long term this wears psychologically if it is not done in moderation, producing fatigue or even insomnia problems. When we feel weak, we are much more prone to stress, as our bodies begin to "burn" energy less efficiently.

• You may be interested in: "Psychology of work and organizations: a profession with a future"

4. Bad communication flows

The lack of information at key moments, the errors caused by avoidable misunderstandings and even the distrust produced by the lack of communication are a source of stress that remains active constantly.

5. Conflict management

Where there is an organization there are interests that partially coincide, as well as clashes of interest. For this reason, it is not uncommon for conflicts to arise, the formation of "sides", intrigues...

Managers are forced to position themselves before this type of conflict scenarios, as well as to apply measures that resolve them in one way or another. This produces stress in two ways: through strategic implications (whether a measure has worked or not) and moral implications (whether there are reasons to feel guilty or not).

Psychological advice for managers

These are some recommendations to follow by those who have a position of great responsibility in a company (CEOs, middle managers and senior executives in general) and want to develop protective habits against the negative effects of stress.

1. Learn to accept discomfort

To manage stress and anxiety, it is important not to try to "block" the feelings that they produce, since that would mean giving them more power over oneself.

Rather than trying to suppress these sensations in one's consciousness, it is better to accept that they exist., and at the same time not giving them more importance than they have in the here and now, focusing attention on more stimulating aspects. Psychological resources such as Mindfulness exercises help to achieve this.

2. Create clear schedules in your personal life

Many managers live their personal lives basically as a context in which to rest when work allows it.

This leads to some disorganization: the fact that company heads and senior managers in general take time away from leisure to dedicate it to their profession is due to other things to the fact that his day to day beyond the office lacks structure, which is why it is very tempting to dedicate time to computer.

Against this, it is normally positive to establish a schedule with leisure and rest activities to be done outside of working hours.

3. Assumes that communication does not equal wasted time

In the business world, there are frequent complaints about meetings considered “useless”, held only to comply with protocols that only make sense on paper. As a reaction to this, some senior officials fall into the trap of associating moments of communication with purely formal events, that is, image; this is a mistake.

If a meeting dynamic does not make sense, the solution is to introduce the necessary modifications to it; In the same way, we must not forget the fact that on many occasions the most valuable information exchanges occur spontaneously, in informal communication.

It is advisable stay close so that information flows do not run into barriers before reaching decision centers of the company; this avoids a lot of frustration.

4. Create comfortable workspaces

Stress is a highly contagious psychological phenomenon; where there are stressed people, there is a nucleus of a bad work environment that spreads based on bad mood, tendency to irritability, avoidance of facing problems, etc. Sometimes what fails are the people, but in many others, what fails is the way in which they relate and coordinate, or directly the physical space in which your work takes place.

Are you looking for professional assistance?

If you hold a position of high responsibility in an organization and notice that it is difficult for you to manage stress in your professional facet, I invite you to contact me.

I am a psychologist with many years of experience in supporting individuals and companies and I base my work on the cognitive-behavioral model, one of the most effective and adaptable; Throughout a process of psychotherapy and coaching I help people to gain autonomy when it comes to modulate emotions and deal efficiently with sources of anxiety and stress, among other goals. You can see more information about my face-to-face and online services at this page.

Bibliographic references:

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• Freudenberger, H.J. (1974). "Staff burnout". Journal of Social Issues. 30: 159–165.
• Ganesha, R. et. to the. (2018). The Stressed Executive: Sources and Predictors of Stress Among Participants in an Executive Health Program. Global Advances in Health and Medicine. 7: 2164956118806150.
• Huther, Gerald (2012). Biology of fear. Stress and feelings. Barcelona: Editorial Platform.
• Schonfeld, I.S.; Verkuilen, J.; Bianchi, R. (2019). Inquiry into the correlation between burnout and depression. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology. 24(6): p. 603 - 616.