If you are not feeling stressed in a crisis, it's almost certainly not a crisis.
Stress is a normal reaction, and it (in most cases) helps us to respond to the challenge that we're facing. But managing stress is vital if we are to be effective when trouble hits. Here are ten tips based on my experience of handling many types of emergencies.
1. If you already stressed before a crisis hits, it's bad news for you and the company. Far too many people are in jobs that stress them out. And that's before a crisis. If you are stressed in a job, you need to fix it. Are you approaching the job properly? Are you too much of a perfectionist? Or a control freak? (I plead guilty) All of these cause harmful stress. It also may be that your company is asking too much of you. Targets that are too stretching. So called "efficiency" savings that mean you are being worked to death. If it's the first, seek help from a trusted coach, friend or colleague to do things differently. If it's the second, get a different job as soon as possible. Prolonged stress leads to very bad health effects, including heart disease, strokes, gastric problems, and early death. You're selling your skills and time to a company, not your life. Don't work for companies that exploit you and risk your health. Earn less and and have a nicer life.
2. Get enough sleep. In a crisis, you may be expected to function with less sleep. This is fine for a couple of days but beyond that your decision making ability will be severely impaired. Getting enough sleep is the key for success at work in general as well as health. Your crisis arrangements should ensure that everyone gets enough sleep. I've found that getting enough sleep means you can get up in the morning a little earlier and feel more relaxed at the beginning of the day instead of rushing around. It's amazing the difference it makes to your stress level.
3. Eat properly. Part of your crisis arrangements should include giving someone responsibility for feeding you and the team properly. Not sandwiches and biscuits all day. You can't function on junk food. A CEO I worked for caught me eating a chocolate bar in the middle of a crisis. "I always think over-eating is something to be avoided when you're under pressure", he told me. Half an hour later I went into his office and caught him eating a large caramel bar. "I was advised against overeating by a very trusted authority", I told him (impertinently) as he laughed. But actually he was right.
4. Manage your behaviour very carefully in a crisis. Don't pass your stress on. Instruct your team to call you out (nicely) for your behaviour. Don't shout at people and if you do, immediately apologise - and in public. It's not allowed, unless you are giving a fire warning or saving someone's life. I have watched people scream at each other continuously during a crisis and it's not going to make a crisis go better. I worked at the start of my career for neurosurgeons who were performing operations in which they had minutes to save a child's life on the operating table. They stayed calm. They were courteous and pleasant. We adored working for them, and would have done anything for them. We spent all our time thinking of how we could do better to support them. I've worked with people who screamed over a bad headline about a TV show that, at best, is there to pass the time of day for bored people. Go figure.
5. Have a plan. A good crisis plan makes sure that everyone knows exactly the job they need to do. I hope you rehearse your plan regularly. If you do, your stress when a crisis hits will be reduced. It's completely pointless having a crisis plan if you don't rehearse it.
6. Get decent technology. A lot of the stress I've felt in a crisis has been due to duff technology. Sometimes you need to explain to your CFO that cheap IT is not going to save the company's reputation in a crisis. I met someone the other week in quite a senior role who does not even have a smart phone. In a big company.
7. Treasure your personal relationships. The crisis is yours, not your friends or your partners. Don't use your friends and partners as punch bags for the tough time you are having. This is especially true in a prolonged crisis. There's only so much understanding a person can give. In a crisis that is longer than a few days, ensure you have ring fenced time off when you are not disturbed. Otherwise you will have no partner and few friends. And more stress.
8. Separate the critical from the urgent. In a crisis, "stuff" hits you from every angle. Stay strategic, not tactical. Identify the things that will make the most difference, that will make the most impact in protecting the company's reputation and focus on them. Delegate the rest to others. In a crisis, you quickly realise you can't do everything and you certainly can't respond to every request for help.
9. Keep your team constantly informed and updated. The more they understand what is happening and what you want, the more they can deal with without passing it up to you. Then you have less stress.
10. If you're a manager, one of your key roles (and legal duties) in a crisis is to protect the well-being of your staff. Make sure the team have proper rest and proper support. Remove people from duty that are showing signs of undue stress - and ensure this is not seen as a sign of weakness, rather that it's about care. Make sure you take a little time to tell them they are doing a good job. One CEO I worked with made a point of coming into the press office in a crisis to say thanks to the team. It was smart - it gave the team a rocket boost in morale and energy. One company saw two members of staff suffer breakdowns after a prolonged crisis. That's a failure of the company not the individuals.
We don't live in a perfect world. In a crisis things happen we don't expect. And it can be tough even for the most emotionally resilient. Especially when lives are at risk or lost, we want to give our best and give the most we can. But as Robert Jensen, the CEO of Kenyon International Emergency Services, and one of the world's most experienced crisis managers often says, in a crisis it's not our role to give in to emotions and stress. If we do that, we're not doing our job. Our job is to support those who are affected by the crisis, not to indulge our emotions. It's a great professional lesson.
(Posted from Singapore)
Stress is a normal reaction, and it (in most cases) helps us to respond to the challenge that we're facing. But managing stress is vital if we are to be effective when trouble hits. Here are ten tips based on my experience of handling many types of emergencies.
1. If you already stressed before a crisis hits, it's bad news for you and the company. Far too many people are in jobs that stress them out. And that's before a crisis. If you are stressed in a job, you need to fix it. Are you approaching the job properly? Are you too much of a perfectionist? Or a control freak? (I plead guilty) All of these cause harmful stress. It also may be that your company is asking too much of you. Targets that are too stretching. So called "efficiency" savings that mean you are being worked to death. If it's the first, seek help from a trusted coach, friend or colleague to do things differently. If it's the second, get a different job as soon as possible. Prolonged stress leads to very bad health effects, including heart disease, strokes, gastric problems, and early death. You're selling your skills and time to a company, not your life. Don't work for companies that exploit you and risk your health. Earn less and and have a nicer life.
2. Get enough sleep. In a crisis, you may be expected to function with less sleep. This is fine for a couple of days but beyond that your decision making ability will be severely impaired. Getting enough sleep is the key for success at work in general as well as health. Your crisis arrangements should ensure that everyone gets enough sleep. I've found that getting enough sleep means you can get up in the morning a little earlier and feel more relaxed at the beginning of the day instead of rushing around. It's amazing the difference it makes to your stress level.
3. Eat properly. Part of your crisis arrangements should include giving someone responsibility for feeding you and the team properly. Not sandwiches and biscuits all day. You can't function on junk food. A CEO I worked for caught me eating a chocolate bar in the middle of a crisis. "I always think over-eating is something to be avoided when you're under pressure", he told me. Half an hour later I went into his office and caught him eating a large caramel bar. "I was advised against overeating by a very trusted authority", I told him (impertinently) as he laughed. But actually he was right.
4. Manage your behaviour very carefully in a crisis. Don't pass your stress on. Instruct your team to call you out (nicely) for your behaviour. Don't shout at people and if you do, immediately apologise - and in public. It's not allowed, unless you are giving a fire warning or saving someone's life. I have watched people scream at each other continuously during a crisis and it's not going to make a crisis go better. I worked at the start of my career for neurosurgeons who were performing operations in which they had minutes to save a child's life on the operating table. They stayed calm. They were courteous and pleasant. We adored working for them, and would have done anything for them. We spent all our time thinking of how we could do better to support them. I've worked with people who screamed over a bad headline about a TV show that, at best, is there to pass the time of day for bored people. Go figure.
5. Have a plan. A good crisis plan makes sure that everyone knows exactly the job they need to do. I hope you rehearse your plan regularly. If you do, your stress when a crisis hits will be reduced. It's completely pointless having a crisis plan if you don't rehearse it.
6. Get decent technology. A lot of the stress I've felt in a crisis has been due to duff technology. Sometimes you need to explain to your CFO that cheap IT is not going to save the company's reputation in a crisis. I met someone the other week in quite a senior role who does not even have a smart phone. In a big company.
7. Treasure your personal relationships. The crisis is yours, not your friends or your partners. Don't use your friends and partners as punch bags for the tough time you are having. This is especially true in a prolonged crisis. There's only so much understanding a person can give. In a crisis that is longer than a few days, ensure you have ring fenced time off when you are not disturbed. Otherwise you will have no partner and few friends. And more stress.
8. Separate the critical from the urgent. In a crisis, "stuff" hits you from every angle. Stay strategic, not tactical. Identify the things that will make the most difference, that will make the most impact in protecting the company's reputation and focus on them. Delegate the rest to others. In a crisis, you quickly realise you can't do everything and you certainly can't respond to every request for help.
9. Keep your team constantly informed and updated. The more they understand what is happening and what you want, the more they can deal with without passing it up to you. Then you have less stress.
10. If you're a manager, one of your key roles (and legal duties) in a crisis is to protect the well-being of your staff. Make sure the team have proper rest and proper support. Remove people from duty that are showing signs of undue stress - and ensure this is not seen as a sign of weakness, rather that it's about care. Make sure you take a little time to tell them they are doing a good job. One CEO I worked with made a point of coming into the press office in a crisis to say thanks to the team. It was smart - it gave the team a rocket boost in morale and energy. One company saw two members of staff suffer breakdowns after a prolonged crisis. That's a failure of the company not the individuals.
We don't live in a perfect world. In a crisis things happen we don't expect. And it can be tough even for the most emotionally resilient. Especially when lives are at risk or lost, we want to give our best and give the most we can. But as Robert Jensen, the CEO of Kenyon International Emergency Services, and one of the world's most experienced crisis managers often says, in a crisis it's not our role to give in to emotions and stress. If we do that, we're not doing our job. Our job is to support those who are affected by the crisis, not to indulge our emotions. It's a great professional lesson.
(Posted from Singapore)
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