As a manager, do you feel stressed out and anxious due to having too much on your plate?
According to Sydney based coaching psychologist Travis Kemp, nearly 37% of managerial executives are stressed in the workplace. Many displayed mild to severe symptoms of depression and anxiety. Tony Grant of University of Sydney, noted that stress resulted from higher expectations that led to greater work pressures. Working in a difficult or demanding environment is guaranteed to induce stress.
In addition to being expected to achieve organisational goals, modern senior management often have to deal with disgruntled employees and un-harmonious team dynamics. Sorting out problems related to an angst-ridden workplace environment is no fun especially when it comes on top of heavy administrative paperwork. Employees can often exhibit a range of behaviours and attitudes that can be challenging to process and decode. The truth is that when you’re constantly obliged to take on problems of a toxic nature, you are left with very little time to develop your team or work on long term strategy.
In an organisation, while there is typically a lot of emphasis on collaboration, targets and goals, there is far less openness about around issues like bullying, intimidation and harassment. As a result of not properly addressing these, managers are often confronted with resentment and hostility. In turn this leads to toxic workplace problems including increased employee sickness (mental as well as physical), depression, absenteeism, reduced team and individual performance and decreased productivity. Workplace issues affect the bottom line in several ways and senior management often ends up wasting valuable hours searching anxiously in the dark for solutions.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to seek professional support to help alleviate the stress managing all of this creates. Even the smallest error can derail the sensitive process of intervention and create bigger problems. Moreover, simply waiting it out will not make the problem go away. In fact, the more you wait, the higher the likelihood that the problem will escalate and involve more people. Trained professionals will gather information and get to the core of the matter in a discreet and unbiased manner. Talking to employees on your own can be problematic as invariably existing personal biases and subconscious presumptions distort the process. As a result, false rumours and unfounded allegations could damage internal working relationships or even lead to negative publicity.
At ESN, we understand the pressures of working in senior management and we will be happy to provide professional consulting and coaching services. Please feel free to contact us for further details regarding our top-of-the-range corporate services.
