A spot at the top isn’t the most comfortable seat

The often unpredictable recession, lingering credit crisis and ensuing financial burden makes sitting pretty, pretty near impossible for business leaders.

For many senior executives, stress is part of the job description.  Some of the most common stressors can be the dread of downsizing, constant and fast-paced workloads and feelings of isolation. Then there are also personal problems –separation and divorce, problems with children or aging parents with Alzheimer’s or a terminal illness. And if not managed properly, there can be negative side effects both in and out of the office.

High stress is damaging

For instance, high stress levels affect work performance, by damaging the “boss of the brain,” the prefrontal cortex. This portion of the brain, much like a organization’s leader, responsible for judgment, planning, problem-solving, decision making, moral reasoning and big-picture analytical thinking, and becomes derailed by stress.

According to Amy Arnsten, professor of neurobiology at Yale University, leaders with chronic stress, “become more primitive.” http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/02/stress-damages-brain/

Obviously, “primitive” is not a great way to describe the leaders of most advanced industries. A leader’s stress levels can quickly become toxic and then move down the staff food-chain, creeping into the company’s health, instigating ‘second-hand stress.’

This filtering down of a leader’s stress can take a considerable toll on a company’s productivity, even influencing profitability. A stressed out workplace decreases productivity and increases the potential for careless mistakes and even on-the-job injuries and accidents.

What happens at PEO

We’ve seen this at PEO advisor meetings numerous times. But what’s even more interesting is how groups rally to the assistance of their peers. With a dozen excellent business minds joining together, problems don’t necessarily go away—but better solutions are arrived at more rapidly. It’s an impressive demonstration of networking’s dynamics: there are resources offered, experts to help, experiences to share, all of which may suggest better solutions or directions. As one leader commented, “At first I thought I was alone with my personal problem. But I wasn’t—it may not have lessened the pain of divorce but with PEO a clearer path toward resolution revealed itself in no time.”

Forbes.com recently published the top ten tips for CEO stress management, http://www.forbes.com/2006/03/28/cx_sy_0329featslide_2.html?thisSpeed=35000

Tips include some of the ones leaders often learn at PEO:

• Maintenance of a healthy lifestyle
• Delegating responsibility
• Finding outlets for stress release, including such unusual ones as ‘having a sense of humour,’ and even meditating—“It’s not just for Buddhist monks, Forbes states. “Meditating for just a few minutes, especially in the morning, can help clear the mind.”

Of course, another release is connecting to a support system of like-minded leaders, faced with similar challenges. A peer-advisory network for business leaders decreases the feeling of social isolation, in turn aiding stress release.

This is one of the most important benefits for members of organizations like Presidents of Enterprising Organizations (PEO) – the freedom to communicate in a non-professional forum with other high-level managers, who are sympathetic to leadership stress. By aiding in stress management, PEO helps preserve the daily balancing act of senior executives. And that’s a sigh of relief for professionals across the board.