In a Nutshell
Poorly managed stress can
lead to poor decision making, illness,
time
off work, unproductive
time at work, pessimism,
poor
listening, poor
problem solving, and interpersonal
conflict. Strategies for coping with stress include stressor-focused
coping and self-focused coping. Stressor-focused coping means solving
the problems that are causing the stress. Stressor-focused coping
is great, but sometimes self-focused coping is more useful. This
LeaderLetter addresses self-focused coping. Self-focused coping
strategies can help us relax,
bring down our heart rates and blood pressure, and build
confidence.
In This Issue
About the Photo
Indiana University announced
today that they would suspend their men's basketball coach, Mike Davis
(above), for one game after his emotional outburst at the end of a close
game against the University of Kentucky on December 21. In the last
three seconds of the Kentucky game, Davis thought the officials failed
to call a foul on a Kentucky player at a critical juncture. He reacted
by running out onto the court to yell at the official. The official
penalized Indiana, but Davis did not leave the court and continued to hound
the official. The official was forced to penalize Indiana again and
eject Davis.
Davis appears to be handling
the pressure of his job very poorly. Two years ago, he replaced a
controversial but popular coach at Indiana. He will have to produce
exceptional results as Indiana's coach in order to satisfy many of their
fans. Davis' results were exceptional last year as he coached
the team all the way to the national championship game. However,
he still seems to be experiencing a lot of stress. It shows on his
face. I was not surprised by Davis' outburst on December 21.
Pressure can help
us produce our best performances, but Davis' team is suffering as a result
of his difficulties with managing stress. Indiana had been undefeated
prior to the Kentucky game, but Davis' outburst assured their defeat in
that game. Indiana also lost the next game they played, and will
have to take on a tough in-state opponent tomorrow without Davis as the
coach. Pressure is often unavoidable and can be positive as long
as the stress it creates is managed well. Effective stress management
is essential for leaders. (AP Photo/George Widman: e-mailed
to me from Yahoo! News; news.yahoo.com.)
Stress and Stress Management
Strategies
Stressors
and stress. Before launching into a discussion of
stress management, I need to explain what "stress" means to me. Stress
is what we experience in reaction to something we perceive as a stressor,
such as an approaching deadline or being laid off. That is, stressors
are external forces that cause stress, and stress is what we experience.
The high expectations of Indiana basketball fans are a stressor.
The way in which the coach responds to that pressure is stress.
We experience stress when
we perceive threats or opportunities that we fear we cannot handle effectively.
Note the use of the terms "perceive" and "opportunities." First,
our stress is a function of our perceptions, and different people often
perceive the same phenomenon in different ways. Sometimes managing
perceptions is the key to managing stress. Second, opportunities
can cause stress; not just threats. Imagine being invited to discuss
an entrepreneurial idea you have with someone who has the power to implement
that idea. Since you would want that meeting to go well, you might
experience some stress.
The
good and the bad. Stress can be energizing.
During the "alarm" stage of stress, heart rate, blood pressure, and mental
alertness increase. The body becomes ready for "fight or flight"
approaches to dealing with stressors, and we can give extra effort.
However, when not properly managed, the experience of stress over extended
periods of time can also cause cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, and
more. In addition, surges of energy can actually be counterproductive
during performances, such as when a nervous public speaker speaks too fast.
Stress also makes us less patient and more irritable. The pressure
Mike Davis put himself under to maintain his team's winning streak and
beat a formidable Kentucky team made him very irritable.
Stress also affects our
attention. When we're under stress, our attention is drawn to the
stressor. Just as physiological reactions to stress can be either
functional or dysfunctional, so can the psychological reactions.
Sometimes it's helpful to give extra attention to a problem that is a source
of stress. Managers, athletic coaches, drill sergeants, teachers
and parents have been known to create stressful situations (often through
yelling or intimidation) to get other's attention, and it can be an effective
tactic. However, using stress to boost attention and motivation can
also be negative if creativity is needed, or if attention is drawn away
from other important things. During times of stress, our thoughts
tend to be less creative and more rigid. We can become fixated on
a problem and fail to think divergently about possible solutions to it.
Ironically, activities that take our minds off those problems can allow
us to realize their solutions. (These steps in the creative problem
solving process are often called "incubation" and "illumination.")
Another problem with our tendency to devote extra attention to stressors
is that we might ignore other important people, opportunities or impending
crises. We find it difficult to listen, learn and be helpful when
we experience high levels of stress.
In summary, poorly managed
stress can result in health problems, irritability, difficulty paying attention,
and poor problem solving. In the workplace, poor stress management
contributes to time off work due to illness, unproductive time at work,
poor judgment and interpersonal conflict. But I'm "preaching to the
choir," right? We've all had firsthand experiences with stress.
Stress
management. Effective stress management doesn't mean
getting to a point where we never experience stress. On the contrary,
it's better that we challenge ourselves, and as we push ourselves to continuously
improve and exploit our potential, we will cause some stress. Effective
stress management means keeping our stress levels from exceeding the level
where it's energizing and productive for us.
Coping
strategies. Coining my own terms here, think of stress
management strategies as having two categories; stressor-focused coping
and self-focused coping. Stressor-focused coping is solving the problem
that the stressor presents1. There are obviously many
advantages to stressor-focused coping, but this LeaderLetter focuses
on self-focused coping. Sometimes self-focused coping strategies
are more useful than stressor-focused coping strategies. First, not
all stressors can be eliminated. If the root cause of your stress
is the possibility of terrorist attacks, there's very little you can do
to eliminate the stressor. Maybe you can think of a creative way
to reduce your risk of being a victim of a terrorist attack, but it's difficult
to think creatively when you're experiencing stress. Accordingly,
a second reason why self-focused coping strategies are often more useful
than stressor-focused coping is that self-focused coping can help us unlock
our problem-solving skills.
Self-focused
coping. Self-focused coping strategies include short-term
and long-term strategies that help us avoid the negative personal consequences
that can result from encountering stressors2. Self-focused
coping strategies can be further divided into proactive strategies and
reactive strategies. Proactive strategies are the things we can do
before we experience stress to build up our resiliency. Reactive
strategies are the things we can do when we experience stress to reduce
some of the negative consequences and prepare us for creative problem solving.
Practicing This Management
Skill
Proactive
strategies. Proactive strategies are the things we
can do to make us more resilient. They help limit the severity and
duration of the physical consequences of stress. The proactive strategies
also help us develop the skills required by some of the reactive strategies.
Notes
Sources
Folkman, S., & Lazarus,
R. S. (1985). If it changes it must be a process: Study of
emotion and coping during three stages of a college examination. Journal
of Personality & Social Psychology, 48(1): 150-170.
George, J. M, & Jones,
G. R. (1999). Understanding and managing organizational
behavior, (2nd ed.). Reading, MA: Addison Wesley.
Whetten, D. A., & Cameron,
K. S. (2002). Developing management skills, (5th ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
About the Newsletter
and Subscriptions
LeaderLetter is written
by Dr. Scott Williams, Department of Management, Raj
Soin College of Business, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
It is a supplement to my MBA 751 - Managing People in Organizations class.
It is intended to reinforce the course concepts and maintain communication
among my former MBA 751 students, but anyone is welcome to subscribe.
In addition, subscribers are welcome to forward this newsletter to anyone
who they believe would have an interest in it. To subscribe,
simply send an e-mail message to me requesting subscription. Of course,
subscriptions to the newsletter are free. To unsubscribe,
e-mail a reply indicating that you would like to unsubscribe.
E-mail Your Comments
Whether you are one of my
former students or not, I invite you to share any insights or concerns
you have regarding the topic of this newsletter or any other topic relating
to management skills. Please e-mail
them to me. Our interactions have been invaluable. Every
week, I learn something new from LeaderLetter subscribers!
Let's keep the conversation going.
Try this diet during times of high stress:
BREAKFAST
1/2 grapefruit
1 slice whole wheat toast
8 oz. skim milk
**********
LUNCH
4 oz. lean broiled chicken breast
1 cup steamed spinach
1 cup herbal tea
1 Oreo cookie
**********
MIDAFTERNOON SNACK
1 medium apple
Remaining Oreos in the package
2 pints of rocky road ice cream
1 jar hot fudge sauce
Nuts, cherries, whipped cream
**********
DINNER
2 loaves garlic bread with parmesan cheese
1 large sausage, mushroom and cheese pizza
4 cans or 1 large pitcher of beer
3 Milky Way or Snickers candy bars
**********
LATE EVENING SNACK
Entire frozen
cheesecake eaten
directly from freezer
**********
RULES FOR THIS DIET
1. If you eat something and no one sees you eat it, it has no calories.
2. If you drink a diet soda with a candy bar, the calories in the candy
bar are canceled out by the diet soda.
3. When you eat with someone else, calories don't count if you eat
less than they do.
4. Food used for medicinal purposes, such as hot chocolate, hot toddies
and Sara Lee Cheesecake, never count.
5. If you fatten up everyone else around you, you look thinner.
6. Foods consumed at the movies, such as Milk Duds, buttered popcorn,
Junior Mints, Red Hots and Tootsie Rolls, do not have calories because
they are part of the entire entertainment package and not one's personal
fuel.
7. Cookie pieces contain no calories. The process of breaking causes
calorie leakage.
8. Food prepared by your mother and/or your best friend, and eaten
in her presence, contains no calories.
9. Things licked off knives and spoons have no calories if you are
in the process of preparing something. Examples: Peanut butter on a knife
making a sandwich; ice cream on a spoon making a sundae.
10. Foods that have the same color have the same number of calories.
Examples: Spinach and pistachio ice cream; mushrooms and white chocolate.
NOTE: Chocolate is a universal color and may be substituted for any other
food color.