I wrote a guest Business Week column on executive stress that came out today. It puts Healing the Wounds in Context for leaders in today’s organizations. It is a short article and here is an even shorter summary.
The Permanence of Temporariness. Executives who came up through the old psychological contract often find it very stressful to come to grips with the necessity of managing temporary systems because it requires a fundamental shift in values and attitudes concerning loyalty, motivation, and commitment.
Sucking it Up Will Bring You Down.
Despite how they are really feeling, most business executives are conditioned into displaying cool, rational, analytical behavior. The culture in many organizations forces executives to repress these emotions and, as a result, they experience enormous, often intolerable levels of stress.
Learn and Practice Helping Skills.
Do onto others what was not done onto you. Most business schools postulate the traditional managerial functions of planning, organizing, evaluating, and controlling. These are the skills that got most executives where they are, but they are not the skills that will help layoff survivors overcome their survivor symptoms and return to productivity. Non-evaluative listening, the ability to reflect feelings and emotions, and coaching skills are the executive currency of the realm in the new reality.
Be Cautiously Loyal but Not Stupid.
Employees do not want their executives to be mercenaries and executives need to demonstrate realistic optimism. This, however, is not inconsistent with the necessity of constant external networking and ruthlessly honing marketable skills. It is a delicate but essential balancing act. The most successful and stress-free new reality executives are those who know they have the skills and options necessary to leave the organization but choose to be there. The most stressed and least productive executives are those who live in fear of job loss and engage in a self defeating, passive-aggressive strategy of just trying to “hold on.”
