A Neuroscientist’s Guide to Reducing Stress: 3 Controllable Factors

The stock market is sliding, the election is looming, unemployment is up, the economy is slowing, and stress is at an all-time high. What are you going to do about it?

What can you do about any of these? We can only affect one of those issues: stress.

When people are under too much stress, they make decisions based on strong emotions, which are often irrational. The stress can also affect them physically with increased blood pressure, digestive issues, weight gain or loss, and even heart attack.

Resilience training or telling people to “Toughen up” likely increases the stress instead of decreasing it. Another common method for coping with stress is to push it off on others or delegate it. This, of course increases stress on the recipient but does not decrease the overall stress. When the two persons are on the same team, it does not make things better. So, what can we do to actually lower stress or increase our ability to withstand it?

Dr. Terry Wu, a neuroscientist and leadership speaker based in Minnesota, tries to solve psychological issues like stress by analyzing how the brain works and then developing solutions that are statistically demonstrable. Based on his research, Dr. Wu has concluded that 3 factors can reduce stress: Control, Predictability, and Progress.

Dr. Wu explains: There is an innate human desire for control. Nearly everyone wants to be able to control their life or at least to have some autonomy or choice. Regardless of the situation, having choices and options makes a situation a little better. When control and choice are taken away from people, their stress levels go up. The inability to exert any influence on the outcome raises stress levels beyond the actual effect of the result.

An example Dr. Wu gives is when a West coast tech company laid off a huge amount of people. Many employees and former employees were upset. Thousands signed a letter to the management voicing their frustration because they had no control and no predictability. They didn’t question the right of the company to do the layoff but asked for the company to abide by it’s own stated HR practices.

At Schoenfelder Renovations, we have found that Jocko Willink’s best-selling book, Extreme Ownership, relates to this. Having ownership or being in control of a situation reduces the stress. Despite many people’s instincts, not being responsible for your situation does not reduce stress, it elevates it. We can see this illustrated when we experience turbulence on an airplane. The turbulence stresses the passengers more than the pilot. Everyone is getting bounced around but the passengers can do nothing about it while the pilot has control of the plane.

Another example is when going to the dentist to receive a filling, if you have no choice in the pain control method (nitrous oxide or Novocain), you focus just on the pain. When you are asked to choose, you are participating and have more ownership in the pain management, and the perceived pain is less.

Dr. Wu’s research has shown that the 2nd factor we can manage to reduce stress is to provide predictability. A person can put up with discomfort for far longer if they know the ups and downs that are coming and when it will end. When a doctor gives a diagnosis for a serious ailment, they spell out the treatment, side effects, prognosis, and timeline. Most of that would not be considered good news but it is better than the uncertainty of the unknown.

Leaders often do not share negative news because they do not want to discourage their team. However studies show the team is more able to withstand hardships and stress if they know what to expect, why it is happening, and how long it will continue. If you can not remove a stress, allowing it to be unpredictable just makes it worse.

An example is when purchasing something online, would you choose a provider with a 5-day shipping time or choose a competing provider that does not tell you how long it will take. We are all accustomed to very fast shipping times, and 5 days seems really slow. Chances are the unspecified shipping time would be faster than 5 days, but nearly everyone would not agree to an unknown shipping time. The slow but predictable is preferred to the unknown.

The 3rd factor that we can manage is progress. If there is progress, there is hope. If there is no progress, the stresses we are under seem worse. Without progress, we are a mouse on a treadmill, suffering with no end and no hope for change. With progress, we see a path to the end. The stress is temporary, and we can withstand a higher level of stress because we know things will get better.

As leaders and managers of people, our vocation is to make our team better. We benefit everyone if we can reduce stress for our clients and team. Dr. Wu’s studies prove that by giving control, predictability, and showing progress we can lower the stress we are under.

The next challenge is how to do this in our day-to-day lives.

At Schoenfelder Renovations, we encourage our employees to use Control, Predictability and Progress to reduce stress for our clients and team. When we are hired to renovate a facility, we are typically walking into an extremely stressful situation. The client’s employees already have their normal workload and stresses. Now with a looming construction project, they are filled with uncertainty, unavoidable disruption and added work load. Stress levels go up and people can often exhibit their worst behavior.

Our team is tasked with starting the new project, new site, new scope and unknown personalities. Both the client and our team will experience unusually high stress at the same time. What could go wrong? Better yet, what can we do to improve the stress level and the process?

We can lower the stress for our team by giving them control and ownership in the situation. The first step is recognizing that we chose this situation. This career and the responsibilities that come with it are what we chose to pursue. It doesn’t change the challenges but it makes them more bearable because each person volunteered for this.

Second, each team member knows the expectation that he/she must provide value to the client and the team and helping them all succeed. This is the overarching and shared priority. Each person is expected to exercise their good judgment and make decisions that ensure success. There are very few rules or restrictions that can’t be changed in order to achieve success. Giving up and making excuses is not acceptable. Putting the responsibility for success on individuals would seem to raise their stress level but we have found it does the opposite. It frees people up to make the necessary choices required for success and improvement.

We delegate most decisions to the person closest to the situation but the expectation for mutual success is constant. One of the ways we delegate control is by having shared Todo lists. A Project Manager is responsible for his Site Supervisor, however he will usually have the Site Supervisor make his own Todo list. If he makes his own Todo list it will be more accurate and appropriate. Best of all, it is more likely to get done because the Site Supervisor created it and has more control.

We try to do the same with our clients. They are undertaking a huge amount of stress but they chose to undertake the renovation project to improve the property. The client has the same burden of achieving success for whoever they answer to. The client is not a victim or helpless, their actions and reactions affect the project. We give them control and ownership in several ways. A scheduled weekly call with the team to review progress and identify problems gives the client a voice and opportunity to be heard. They are also required to inspect the work before accepting it. If they have issues or concerns, they are the ones who approved the work and need to speak up. Having the client be responsible for accepting the final product increases their satisfaction immensely. Sometimes it gives them the needed voice to say what they really mean. Other times, having inspected and given approval, they feel more ownership in the result.

One of my favorite clients asked, “What can I do to make sure this project is the smoothest, best project my company has ever done?” She made quick decisions and gave clear communication. She was not burdened by having to live through a renovation but instead focused on doing everything in her power to “Crush it.” Her level of ownership and ambition resulted in a great experience for all.

We work to lower the stress for our team by giving them predictability. Clear communication and follow thru are the foundation of predictability. Clearly laying out to the client and team what is going to happen, when and why, helps everyone prepare for the challenges ahead. Much of this takes place in the Pre-construction meeting between the client and the team.

Having a renovation or construction project in your building is a huge stress no matter what. Knowing how the renovation is going to proceed does not take all the stress away but it does make it more bearable. Our schedules are very detailed and contain the whole plan for the project from start to finish. The schedules are updated daily with pictures and percentages complete. The crews, Site Supervisor and clients all have 24/7 access to this schedule. Having this shared schedule and shared priorities allows everyone to seek changes if needed.

One of the key ways we deliver predictability is by working hard to deliver Even Flow Production. Our goal is to break the project apart into small tasks that can be accomplished by very small crews in one day. We want the same crew, doing the same thing, each day. By the 2nd or 3rd day, that crew knows exactly what is needed and is very efficient. They can deliver very high quality at a high rate of speed. Both the crew and the client know what is coming each day, and stress is reduced.

Even when undergoing a major commercial renovation, if a person can see progress being made, they have hope that things will get better. This enables them to withstand more stress. Having a detailed schedule that is moving along predictably shows the progress. The detailed schedule we use is the combined Todo list for the whole project that has conditional formatting, is sortable and has pictures attached. There is a sense of satisfaction from the crew when they can check off a few more items each day and a sense of hope to the client when they can see the regular progress every day.

Large tasks can be overwhelming when viewed as a whole. We break a project up into sections, floors, rooms or tasks, etc., and eat the elephant bite by bite. It is easier to see the progress when we complete small sections 100% and never have to go back to them. When renovating a large multi-story building, we do not demo the entire project at once. Our crews are more productive when they can see the goal for the day or week and stretch for that finish line every day.

Control, predictability, and progress are the keys to lowering stress. Knowing this, how can you utilize these findings to lower the stress for your team?

For more information on how to reduce stress or leadership training, you can access Dr. Wu’s work at: https://www.WhyTheBrainFollows.com/