Relieving the carnage of executive stress

9 January 2012

Let’s be honest, in the context of stress, executives are a notoriously self-sufficient bunch!

They didn’t get where they are today by falling at the first hurdle, and many of them won’t stay where they are today unless they take action when the pressure builds and they go into overwhelm!

And that’s what this article is about:  How to protect organisations and executives from the carnage that is Executive Stress!

WHY SHOULD WE WORRY?

Every year, the public sector is estimated to lose millions due to the drop in productivity associated with stress-related ailments.  A report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that public sector workers took an average of 9.6 days off sick per year, three more than employees in private firms.  Crucially, whilst it can be anticipated that executives experience no less levels of stress, generally they neither acknowledge it nor take time off.

The nature of stress makes it difficult to ascertain the amount of damage it could be doing to people and organisations. Operating under a cloud of on-going austerity, executives are being forced to control their budgets, sometimes by laying off parts of their workforce.  As if the pressures of redundancies and restructuring alone weren’t enough to trigger bouts of stress, a multitude of other factors also contribute, many of which arise away from the office.

Executives going through tough patches in their personal lives can see their well-being  drastically suffer if left to deal with their problems alone. Normally a good manager can step in to help.  But who is there to look after an executive?

The current business paradigm on executive stress is that it’s untouchable, unstoppable, inevitable and expensive.  It’s certainly expensive.  Very few executives have someone fully up to speed, ready and waiting to step into the breach should they unexpectedly have to take 3 months off [i.e. Chief Executive Lloyds/TSB]!   Indeed, many executives have so many processes and decisions running at the same time that an enforced absence means nothing progresses until they return.

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

By the time an executive tells you that they are experiencing stress, it’s too late – the damage is done.  What’s needed is a simple way of keeping track, of watching how they are.  But how do you do that?  There are 3 factors to consider:

• The first factor is WHO?  Who is going to ‘look at’ an executive and determine whether they are stressed?  The answer is to get them to look at themselves in a painless and easy way.
•  The second factor is TIME!  Can you imagine asking an executive to stop doing what they’re doing and invest 30-40 minutes of their time in looking at themselves?  However much of a good idea the concept may be, time is of the essence.  How more likely are they to do it regularly if it takes only 3 minutes?
• The third factor is INSTANT RESPONSE.  Our tolerance of waiting is diminishing.  Who hasn’t found themselves frustrated when a document wouldn’t open in 30 seconds or you couldn’t get to the relevant information in 3 clicks?  In the olden days, people would order something in a shop and be delighted if it arrived in less than a couple of weeks.  Our expectation now is of instant, or at the very least, next day delivery.  The days of asking someone to complete a stress survey and waiting for a consultant to deliver a diagnosis are passed.  What people want is to see how they’re doing NOW and to have action taken the instant it is identified that they are heading for the danger zone.

HOW?

EXECUTIVE HOT FROG is a service for executives based around the 3-minute HOT FROG INDICATOR questionnaire that measures levels of resilience and pinpoints signs of stress in the executive team.  Results are delivered instantly to the executive and monitored for signs of a stress response.  This allows urgent interventions to be made as soon as an alert is triggered.

Executives need taking care of as much as the most junior member of staff.   Time is short for action.

Ask about the EXECUTIVE HOT FROG service and experience HOT FROG INDICATOR for yourself: RUN HOT FROG