The ineffective organisation!
Fabiola Sommer
Building brilliant, resilient and effective leadership teams by mastering human connection ???? | Conscious Leadership Coach
McKinsey has found that leaders globally are increasingly facing stress and burnout, while Gallup reports that more than 40% of the global workforce experiences stress daily.?
Since this didn’t happen overnight—we’re clearly doing something wrong!
Why should you care about this?
When you’re stressed, your brainpower is limited. You’re cognitively slower.
Your unconscious mind thinks danger might be on the horizon, so it primarily focuses on you and how to protect you. You get tunnel vision, unconsciously start to imagine all the things that could go wrong, basing your decisions on negative assumptions, beliefs, and stories you tell yourself!
How stress impacts your leadership
You get easily distracted, you think slower, and it becomes harder to stay present with people. Without realising it, you shut down your emotions and start fixating on “what’s best for you” instead of what’s best for the team or organisation.
Your unconscious mind goes from “we” to “me, me, me”!
Not only does this make it harder to genuinely connect with your team, it also makes you less efficient—and therefore, a less effective leader—compared to what you could be.
Stress is contagious—And it starts with you
Now, I know what you’re thinking: "Fabiola, I’m not the type who gets stressed." And I’ll ask you: "Are you sure?"
(For some reason, being stressed has a negative connotation for most leaders—as if it’s a sign of weakness!)
If you ever find yourself easily frustrated, irritated with people, overthinking, needing to constantly be at it, with a scattered mind, forgetfulness, constant worrying, difficulties sleeping, or feeling mentally overwhelmed or exhausted—one of these and there’s a good chance you’re mentally stressed!
The ripple effect: Your stress infects your organisation
Did you know that humans are contagious??
We’re constantly infecting one another with our emotional states—and as a leader, holding more power than your coworkers—you’re always dictating the emotional atmosphere in your work environment, whether you realise it or not.
So, when you enter the office unknowingly feeling somewhat stressed, you infect your team with your state of mind. They don’t have to interact with you directly—their unconscious mind picks up on your mood, and they’re affected by it. Since their brain works like yours, their cognitive abilities suffer the same hit, making them less efficient too.
Simply put: your team’s effectiveness drops.
The organisational impact: Declining productivity and performance
As if that’s not bad enough, your team members are contagious too, unknowingly spreading this emotional “disease” across your organisation—like wildfire.
Don’t believe me? Just take a look around your organisation.
Do you see people behaving selfishly, focused on their own needs, or whining about what’s wrong instead of focusing on teamwork? Has gossiping and complaining become more common? Is tension growing? Are discussions more intense, and conflicts happening more frequently? Has teamwork diminished, productivity plunged, and quality dropped? Are absenteeism and turnover on the rise?
领英推荐
Congratulations—you’ve got yourself a stressed organisation = an inefficient and ineffective organisation on your hands!
Why this matters: Stress affects much more than just business
Obviously, you should care about this because stress in the workplace isn’t just bad for business, eroding everything from performance to your bottom line. It also affects the well-being of your entire workforce.
And let’s be honest—when people are stressed, it doesn’t stop at the office door. Everyone of you brings that stress home—it seeps into your personal life and affects your loved ones too. If the stress turns chronic, it even carries socioeconomic consequences.
Our stress culture: The “efficiency-work culture” issue
One of the problems, as I see it, is that being in a state of stress has become the norm for most of us. We’ve created an “efficiency-work culture” that dictates us to be “little busy bees”—running faster, doing more, suppressing how we really feel, and pulling ourselves together to stay in the game. So, especially at the top, many leaders don’t even realise they’re stressed.
It starts with you at the top!
The McKinsey and Gallup numbers are a clear warning—we need to turn things around both to ensure the well-being of one another and to increase leadership and organisational effectiveness.
We need to start yesterday and this—of course—begins with you, deal leader!
Here are some practical steps I recommend to the leaders I work with:
#1: Prioritise mental well-being as a strategic goal
Create a work culture where mental well-being is not just encouraged but actively supported by leadership including cultivating open communication, building team resilience, and ensuring your co-workers have access to the resources they need to handle stress.
#2: Get to know yourself
Self-awareness is the foundation of effective leadership. Start by understanding your triggers—the situations that cause you to stress or react negatively. Regular self-inquiry practises or coaching can help you recognize your limiting beliefs and poor behavioural patterns.
#3: Lead by example
As a leader, your behaviour sets the tone. Show your team the healthy behaviours your wish to see in your team and organisation. When they see you prioritising mental and emotional well-being, they’ll feel empowered to do the same.
Liked this article?
Want exclusive content I don’t share anywhere else? Sign up for my personal newsletter to get practical strategies and tools to help you expand your leadership effectiveness, and resilience. You'll receive tips, in depth advice, and free guides.
Want to dive deeper? Book a free mini-coaching session to start transforming your leadership style today. Let’s have a conversation about what could be the most beneficial area for you to Upgrade Your Leadership to increase your Leadership effectiveness.
I’d love to connect with you!?
Until next time!