Leading Effectively During Times Of Crises And Stress - What You Need To Maintain Your Composure As A Leader

It is becoming More Frequent in the Lives of Leaders today.

Extreme Crises and Severe Stressors.

In the past decade, these types of events have been Growing, arguably Exponentially, which helps to explain why Burnout has Spread to 80% of the Workforce, with more close behind.

Indeed, Burnout itself has only made Leader's Lives more Difficult.

Looking at the Results of Leadership Decisions, it is "Very" Evident that most Leaders have been Succumbing to Crises and Stressors, making Horrible Decisions that have made things worse.

Look no further for the Continually Failing Return-To-Office "Mandates" that have made No Sense.

The Results of Leaders have been Workforces that are Insubordinate, Mass Quittings, Significantly Decreased Productivity and Innovation, and more.

So, how can Leaders Avoid Fates like this?

What can Leaders Do to Maintain their Composure to make Better Decisions?

To be Effective during Crises and Stress as a Leader, you must Understand How Stress works Psychophysiologically.

Stress exists on a Scale where both Extremes are Bad, and you must seek a "Goldilocks" Just Right Middle Ground.

On one Extreme you have the Most Common form of Stress we see and speak about.

Dis-Stress.

Here we see all sorts of Problems that Leaders typically have in the workplace.

• Decreased Productivity
• Decreased Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI)
• Decreased IQ, Impacting Problem-Solving Capabilities
• Decreased Innovation
• More

There is another Extreme which is also Bad called "Boredom".

That is where we Do Not have "Enough" Stress, and it becomes Negative to our Mental, Emotional, and even Physical Wellbeing.

With Zoo Animals (which some people would argue Humans have artificially turned ourselves into) and Household Pets, there is a field of Research and Practice known as "Enrichment".

Enrichment is a way of adding Stressors designed to "Prevent" the Negative Psychophysiological Aspects that go with Boredom.

Though less common, Boredom "Can" be a Problem for Leaders when their Workforce Consistently does Jobs that are Significantly Below their Capabilities.

In between Dis-Stress and Boredom, we have the "Goldilocks" Zone known as Eu-Stress.

At the Height of Eu-Stress, we have Flow States, which is the Psychophysiological State where we Look and Feel our Best as Humans.

Why is this Important to Understand as Leaders?

If you are to Effective Lead during Crises and Stress, you must be able to "See" when You, and those you oversee, are Leaning Too Far in One Direction or the Other.

If You and Your Team/Organization are in Dis-Stress, you must Adjust the workload to get them into the Eu-Stress Zone.

If everyone is in Boredom, you must Adjust the workload to get them into the Eu-Stress Zone.

The Key here, where most Leaders go Wrong, is to ensure that You Do Not Overcompensate.

Most Leaders end up either putting their Workforce from Dis-Stress into Boredom or from Boredom into Dis-Stress, which "Always" causes more issues.

Leaders also often go from Work (where they experience Dis-Stress) to Boredom Outside of the Office, creating a cycle of Extremes that are Not Beneficial.

However, if you Adjust the Stressors to the Eu-Stress Zone, you can get Yourself and your Employees into Flow States, and if done correctly you can "Also" Increase their Resilience so they can Handle Future Stressors better.

Another Aspect of this Leaders must Understand to Maintain Composure, especially during times of Crises and Stress, is that you "Must" take Recovery Seriously.

When we Experience Stressors (even Eu-Stress in Flow States), it creates a form of "Exhaust" for our bodies to handle the Stressors.

This "Exhaust" is called "Stress Damage" or "Oxidative Stress".

As this Builds up in the Body, it can become a Stressor.

If the Stress Damage is not Fixed, it builds up and ends up acting like a Landfill.

This Landfill of Stress Damage decreases our Overall Resilience and will Lower our Overall Composure.

This Stress Damage also Builds Up "More" Quickly during Times of Crises and Stress.

Where most Leaders go Wrong here is that as they encounter Crises and Stress, they Recover "Less", which means the Landfill Grows Exponentially Worse.

The "Only" way to Fix the Stress Damage and Remove it is "Through" Proper Recovery.

Specifically, the body needs something known as "Ceruloplasmin" which acts similarly to Trucks that Remove the Stress Damage from our Bodies and is Most Effective at Cleanup.

If you want to have better Composure, you must Prioritize your Recovery with proper Ceruloplasmin Levels.

If you don't, as the Stress Damage Builds and adds to your Total Stressors, it will push you into Dis-Stress more Frequently and Faster.

This will Dramatically Lower your Composure, which will Quickly Diminish your Leadership Capabilities.

As a Leader, it is also Important to Understand how this Impacts your Teams.

If your Teams are not Recovering Enough, their Stress Composure will also Decrease, making your Work as a Leader Significantly "More" Difficult.

Their Composure will Impact your Composure, both due to more Difficulty in Handling Stressors, but also via Neurocardiology where Stressors can "Literally" be Passed Physiologically between Individuals.

If you want to Lead Effectively and with Composure as a Leader, you must understand how Stressors play out from a Psychophysiological Perspective, and Adjust based on this Reality.

Your Best Chances at Success as a Leader will come from Flow States, which will only be Attained by Correctly Navigating Stressors and Recovering Effectively.