Identifying stress in senior individuals
Recently we wrote about how individuals have a different capacity to deal with stress at the work. We suggested a few ways that people with lower levels of resilience can be supported. We also suggested different approaches that the individual can take to manage pressure or stress.
This week we focus on senior leaders who may not recognise that they are stressed. They may even see admitting it as a sign of weakness.
The risks of not recognising stress
Some people, particularly in senior roles, find it hard to admit to any sign of stress. Some may not be able to recognise it in themselves. The nature of their role may make it hard for them to hear feedback from others. This may put the individual’s mental and physical health at risk. Poor performance at work, low morale and high turnover are just some of the many potential negative consequences for employers.
Recognising the way in which a person copes with pressure, and understanding how they might need to be supported can be critical to their success.
Self-report questionnaire
One possible way of helping an individual to acknowledge the impact that stress is having on them is to use a self-report questionnaire. In our work with managers and clinicians, we use the Emotions and Behaviour at Work questionnaire. This looks at a person’s ability to manage the critical emotions and underlying behaviour traits that predict performance in a work setting.
Increasing self-awareness and resilience
Using output from the questionnaire, we discuss behavioural clusters that indicate interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence. An important aspect of the latter is Stress Resilience, covering resilience and emotional control.
Having built up a level of rapport during discussion of the other clusters, we are able to stimulate the person’s thinking about the source of the pressure that they feel and how they might manage it.
The method described above gives a snapshot of the individual’s capacity to deal with pressure. The level of pressure that they are put under and their ability to handle that will vary.
Individual support to acknowledge critical stress
Sometimes it may be beneficial for an individual to work with a coach or mentor to help them to acknowledge their stress experience. In that environment a more robust Stress APGAR (Rook et al, 2019) can be used to enable the person to become more aware of the stress they are under and the impact it is having on them. The coach may then be able to help them get to a place where they want to do something about it.
Acknowledging stress is not a sign of weakness!
It is the first step in developing strategies and mechanisms that may help the individual cope with the stress they are under in a more positive way.
For more information about increasing self-awareness and resilience, through psychometric profiling or coaching, contact: viv.waton@deardenassessment.co.uk
Reference
Rook, C, Hellwig,T, Florent-Treacy, E &Kets de Vries (2019) ‘Workplace stress in senior executives; Coaching the ‘uncoachable’, International Coaching Psychology Review Vol 14 No.2 pp 7-23