Being a genuine leader is the ultimate goal of many business professionals, but leadership comes with a fair share of side effects every manager has to deal with.
A report reveals that nearly 90% of leaders claim work is a primary source of stress in their lives, but 60% of top managers cite their organizations as failing to provide them with the tools they need to manage stress. At the same time, 66% have lost sleep due to work-related stress.
If you a business leader, you are probably curious to learn how to reduce your leadership headache moments. It’s a riddle every leader needs to figure out alone, but we can give you a hand by discussing seven ways to avoid leadership stress. Let’s check it out!
- Embrace a Healthy Lifestyle
The first tip on our list has nothing to do with your business in particular, but it can make all the difference both on and off work. We suggest embracing a healthy lifestyle in order to improve your mental and physical health, which will help you to cope with stressful situations more comfortably.
If you don’t want to constantly feel stressed out and start hating your job, you should do the following:
- Sleep well: It’s easier said than done, but it helps if you follow the same sleeping pattern in the long run.
- Eat well: Forget about junk food and focus on healthy meals with lots of fruits and vegetables.
- Exercise: Of course, you should not neglect physical training as one of the major stress-fighters.
- Learn to Anticipate Problems
This tip may seem a little bit vague, but it definitely makes sense for agile and proactive leaders who are ready to open their eyes wide and pay attention to every detail in the business. How can you begin anticipating problems?
Jake Gardner, a term paper help expert who specializes in psychology, says it’s always better to prevent problems beforehand: “Keep an eye on every aspect of the business and focus on employee behavior. As soon as you notice something strange, you can react and prevent the outburst. It will not only improve internal operations but also save you from lots of stressful situations.”
- Take Data to Your Advantage
This tip goes hand in hand with the second one on our list. Instead of relying on intuition, you can follow success parameters to spot problems on time. After all, you must know a proverb stating that you cannot improve what you cannot measure. A data-driven approach is yet another way to boost anticipation and avoid problems at work.
- Master the Art of Prioritization
When you focus on relevant tasks, you do not waste time on less important duties. In other words, you don’t get into time trouble and you minimize the stress potential of your daily work. But it forces you to master the art of prioritization, a process that successful leaders divide into four categories:
- Important and urgent tasks: Deal with such activities immediately.
- Important but not urgent: These tasks come second, but you can do them patiently.
- Urgent but not important: This is the third group of tasks that probably demands instant reactions, but you can leave it to someone else.
- Neither urgent nor important: The last type of task can be neglected or delegated.
- Improve Your Communication Skills
Another important advice is to improve your communication skills because it will help everyone understand their tasks and key performance indicators. We are talking about all three types of communication here:
- Verbal
- Non-verbal
- Written
The goal is to say everything you need briefly and concisely, thus making sure that team members really understand your requirements. Besides that, you must also learn to listen to coworkers and leave them with enough time to share their opinions and impressions. It will eliminate a lot of misunderstandings and create a more peaceful business environment.
- Avoid Micro-Management
Are you a person who has to take care of everything single-handedly? If the answer is positive, you better stop doing it because 85% of employees claim their morale is impacted negatively by being micromanaged.
As a leader, you must learn to delegate tasks and let your staff work independently. If not, you will fall into the micromanagement trap, create unnecessary problems in the office, and face many stressful situations in return.
- Take a Rest
No matter how hard you try, sometimes there’s just no way to avoid stressful events. You will solve the problem sooner or later, but don’t forget to take some rest after a while. Leaders take breaks, too, so don’t be shy of taking some time off work.
And we are not only talking about going on vacation but also about daily and weekly breaks. For instance, you should make a pause every two or three hours and take a short walk to recover and come back to the office fresh and relaxed.
Up to You!
Playing a leadership role is always a tempting duty, but it also comes with a few downsides as well. High stress levels make one of the toughest issues for every top-level manager, so learning how to reduce your leadership headache moments becomes vital for the long-term success of your work.
In this article, we analyzed seven ways to avoid or minimize stress as a business leader. Do you think you can handle it using our suggestions? Do you know other anti-stress techniques we should know about? Feel free to write a comment – we would love to hear your opinion about this topic!
AUTHOR BIO
Leon Collier is one of the best professional essay writers and a member of top-level dissertation writing services.
Besides writing standout custom essay papers, Leon is also an expert in topics like self-improvement, leadership, and personal branding.
He is a passionate reader and explorer of new cultures. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12.
Photo by Mubariz Mehdizadeh on Unsplash