Many leaders are stressed. With an overwhelming amount of responsibilities, direct reports, and expectations thrust upon them, it can be challenging to be a leader. Resources are often tough to secure. Headcount is at a premium. It’s also not uncommon for leaders to be asked to do more with less. Add on the fact that many leaders have a good work ethic, and it can be a recipe for burnout. To help ease the stress of being a leader, it might make sense to care less sometimes. Managing stress is closely connected to how much you care.
Caring So Much Causes Stress
High expectations and challenging metrics to achieve, can often lead to stress both for leaders and employees. With a desire to perform to expectations, many people will put in extra time and effort. Late hours, weekends, and always being on is one of the easiest triggers of stress. Add on that leaders might become overly involved, perceived by some to micromanage their team somewhat, it can lead to challenges. To lessen stress as a leader and for your employees, you may need to step back and care a little less.
Good Enough is Sometimes Enough
When we care so much about a project or initiative, it’s not uncommon to spend a lot of time, overdoing it. By this, I mean, we go above and beyond, adding details that might be unnecessary. If it’s a report, we might spend a lot of time creating the perfect visual or chart. Sometimes leaders will nitpick minor details like word choices, aggravating others unknowingly. They do so with the best intentions – to produce a high-quality presentation, for instance – while in the process putting more demands on themselves and others. To lessen the stress and care less, there’s nothing wrong with good enough being all that’s needed sometimes. You need to know the audience and their expectations. Sometimes getting something 90% complete is all that’s needed, instead of the effort to make it 100% perfect.
Caring Less is Vital to Managing Stress
When leaders adjust how much they care, everyone becomes a bit more relaxed. There’s no point stressing yourselves or others out, with minor details that most people won’t be bothered with. Decide from the onset, how much attention something deserves, and respond accordingly. There are times in my career where I swayed too far to the quality side, caring about the output of my team, unknowingly frustrating them in the process. Despite how bold I wanted to enter into action, sometimes it wasn’t needed. It wasn’t until a mentor of mine called this out that I needed to adjust my approach, that most of my stress and frustration dissipated.
Managing Stress is Your Choice
Choose how much you care. Find the healthy balance of delivering to expectations while not burning yourself or others out. It’s ok not to provide perfection always. If you try to do so, you will create such high expectations that many working with you will no doubt be frustrated. You’ll always be upset and stressed too. Align on expectations from the onset, and you are sure to experience less stress overall.
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