How stressful is your workplace? How stressed out are you -- especially at work?
Research from the American Institute of Stress cites the following statistics:
Stress causes 57% of US respondents to feel paralyzed.
63% of US workers are ready to quit their job to avoid work-related stress.
Chronic stress is commonplace at work with 94% of workers reporting feeling stress at work.
Those statistics are alarming -- especially given the effects of stress in the workplace.
Negative stress is a primary reason good employees fail to reach their potential -- and ultimately leave their jobs.
In his book, Boundaries for Leaders, psychologist and author Dr. Henry Cloud describes the impacts of stress on the brain by saying, “In the same way that the brain cannot work without the executive functions in place, it also cannot work if it is drowning in stress hormones. The cold, hard scientific facts are that your people think better when they are not stressed, afraid, or depressed. Yet many leaders do not put a lot of thought into creating a positive emotional climate for their people, and sometimes they create the exact opposite. As a result of their leadership, they create stress, fear, and sometimes even depression.”
This week’s Level Up Your Legacy Podcast discussed ways to create a positive emotional climate at work and the effects of a negative (or toxic) work environment.
Our discussion was informative and practical -- and you may find it helpful in reducing stress in your workplace.
I hope you can take a few minutes to discover the power you hold as a leader to create a positive emotional climate at work.
You will feel better at work -- and your team may thank you for it too. :)
