The Importance Of Stress Management For Leaders

Leaders in any workplace are burdened with huge responsibilities of guiding their teams towards the achievement of professional success. They also need to take care of the welfare of their team members, while still maintaining their own professional capabilities. 

These tough workloads may exert pressure on their mental well-being. However, these leaders need to cope with these pressures efficiently, and to minimize the harms caused by stress on their physical and mental health. 

They need to learn the effective techniques of stress management and resilience building from experts in these areas, which are highly beneficial for both of them and therefore their team members.

The benefits of stress management for leaders in all areas of work life include:

• Better motivation for teams – When the leaders learn to manage their stress effectively, they find themselves more capable of inspiring their team members to reach their potential and do better work. These leaders can in turn, help their juniors to be stress-free and boost their morale in the workplace.
• Boosts productivity at work – The productivity in a stress-free team is sure to be enhanced mainly due to the relaxed temperament of the leader of that team. It makes sense therefore that the leader should be a role model for their team, and be as stress-free as possible to expect better productivity from his team members. 
• Improves relationship with the team – The stress-free leaders find themselves more capable of handling work-life integration, which improves the conditions of both their personal and professional lives. The balanced and friendly – though not over familiar - nature of a leader encourages their subordinates to share all their challenges with the leader and other team members, thus making the team stress-free as well. The leader also earns more respect from team members, improving relationships with them all.
• Ability to solve all issues – A good leader with a stress-free mind can easily spot any signs of trouble in his team, and quickly and effectively solve these issues as they arise. Since the techniques used in managing stress are also very beneficial to creating emotional management, when used ‘in the moment’, the mind of the leader can immediately become clear to handle any challenges in the workplace. This may also help them to objectively handle any bullying and/or unethical practices that may be occurring in the team with firmer yet fairer hands, without reacting too harshly or personally with the concerned team members.
• Retain the team size – When the team leader is guiding his team in most positive manner, it is less likely that team members will want to leave the team. As training team members is such an expensive investment, it provides a greater return on investment when the same team, happy and efficient team can continue to work synergistically to yield the best results for all projects undertaken. On the contrary, disgruntled and unsatisfied team members may lose necessary focus as they are constantly on the look-out for better work options, and therefore leave the team at the first available chance. 
• Improves speaking and writing abilities – A stress-free leader communicates more freely and effectively with his team members and superiors, thus improving the entire working environment. The leader is also able to make observations for performance appraisals more objectively and quickly, which makes him a better leader and saves him time and energy in the process.

The best leaders in both large corporations and small to medium sized enterprises, are invariably more highly regarded for their emotional intelligence rather than that of their intellect. 

Such simple stress management tips as taking short walks or meditation breaks at work, daily exercise, setting and keeping personal and team goals and being the role model for their team by living a more healthy and balanced lifestyle, not only brings out the very best in the leaders but in every member of their team as well.

Maggie Webber

Guest Author The author mentors people around the world, providing them with a variety of tools to create more health, wellbeing and balance in their lives.