What are the most effective stress management techniques for leaders to improve creativity and innovation?

Team members must feel that they can come to you with their stressors and issues - that they will be heard and not shamed or gaslit - that you will work WITH them, not AT them, to find solutions. Be open to the idea that you may be their source of stress.... Owning that and actually doing better will go a long way to earning their respect and making everything work better. Be willing to: - change work requirements - expand available resources - be flexible A real Team means you work collaboratively to find ways to work better together - not you on top waving your decisions around. It will serve you better to listen more than you talk, and to make grounded changes with many people's input.

I agree and would add that planning and organising our work as well as our thoughts and feelings can help us to better manage our stressful times. It comes natural to organise and plan for practical aspects of our work but what we forget or never really learned is to take time to reflect how we feel about the plans ahead. Exploring our feelings ahead of time, and anticipating possible stress can prepare us to handle these situations and emotions. Thus we can stay calmer and be more creative and innovative in our problem solving when need the most in difficult and stressful situations.

In my experience the most effective stress management technique outside work is exercising (running for one, boxing for other, swimming, weight lifting etc. for someone, horse riding for me) - I `m confident if we experiment also with different styles, different places, or sports coaches, the experimenter in us will continue to be creative in other fields. I`m sure we will more often ask "How can I do this differently?" instead of "Why am I not succeeding?"

The most effective technique is the one that you actually implement to continuously regulate your nervous system, enabling you to keep your prefrontal cortex online enough to actually be creative and innovative. If you're in a sympathetic state, those go out the window. Some of the most effective, evidence-based ones to pick from include: - physical activity - laughter - breathing - crying (sounds strange, but helps to complete the stress cycle!) - positive social interaction - creative expression (singing, drawing, coloring, crafting). For a deeper dive into these, check out Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily and Amelia Nagoski. I quote this in almost every workplace wellbeing program I do!