by Phillipa Geard
Leaders are burdened with an immense amount of pressure and accountability. While it is the norm for employers to prioritize employee wellness, it is also critical that they recognize the potential hidden costs of stress on their health and productivity.
A report concluded that eighty-eight percent of leaders stated that work is a primary source of stress in their lives and that having a leadership role increases stress levels.
The demands on leaders take a toll
Because of the mounting demands, rigorous schedules, and ongoing performance expectations, leaders are under increased strain. Decision-making, conflict resolution, fostering relationships, and job responsibilities are the demands that cause leaders to experience high-stress levels most frequently. Leadership responsibilities, including personnel development and resource management, increase stress. Physical needs such as travel, extended work hours, and the work environment elevate stress levels in leaders.
The silent impact of cognitive load
Stress can result from a leader's cognitive load. Cognitive load is the mental effort and capacity needed to process information, make decisions, and solve problems. Making crucial strategic decisions, leading teams, and carrying out various tasks are just a few of the challenging and complex scenarios leaders frequently encounter that call for a high mental load. Stress occurs when leaders handle a high cognitive load regularly without sufficient resources or coping techniques.
8 Tips to reduce cognitive load
Prioritize and delegate tasks: Assign non-essential tasks to team members so you can focus on high-impact strategies and projects that fit your primary responsibilities. Hire a reliable virtual assistant to attend to support tasks, freeing up your capacity and time to think.
Lessen decision fatigue through time management: Sort tasks into categories such as urgent, important, or neither using strategies like the Eisenhower Matrix. To lessen the cognitive load from decision fatigue, prioritise your everyday tasks and set clear goals.
Simplify information received: To reduce the amount of information you must process, ask your staff to submit brief reports and communicate clearly.
Constant learning: To make informed decisions quickly, stay current on market trends and best practices. To gain from your team's collective knowledge, promote a culture of learning within your organisation. Recognise and reward employees for self-learning and sharing their knowledge.
Practice mindfulness and be in nature: To maintain mental clarity and focus, practice mindfulness exercises and stress reduction techniques. Listen to deep-focus music or white noise to relax your mind. Nature is a proven stress reliever. Try and get into nature often or focus on a picture in nature to relax your mind.
Minimize distractions: Create efficient filters for incoming messages and emails. Multitasking should be avoided as it lowers productivity and adds to cognitive load. Rather, hire an assistant or other support staff to assist you with these tasks.
Leverage technology: Leverage technology and automation tools to streamline repetitive tasks and data analysis. Invest in project management and communication tools to enhance collaboration and organisation. Read: Free tech tools that will enhance collaborative working
Delegate decision-making: Empower your team to make decisions within their areas of expertise. Trusting your team and allowing them to make certain decisions will lighten your cognitive load.
Exercise, diet and sleep goes a long way
Nearly all forms of exercise will reduce stress. Being active releases feel-good endorphins and helps you forget about your everyday concerns. Combining exercise with a healthy and balanced diet is an excellent stress management method. Numerous health issues, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, are less likely to occur when eating a nutritious, balanced diet. Diet has an impact on mental health and lowers stress, and some studies indicate that certain diets may lower the chance of developing anxiety and depression.
Sleep is a critical factor in managing stress, which is pivotal in maintaining our physical and mental well-being. During deep sleep, our bodies repair and regenerate tissues, while our brains consolidate memories and process emotions. Our stress levels can skyrocket when we don't get enough quality sleep. Sleep deprivation impairs our ability to cope with stressors, making us more irritable, anxious, and less resilient. Consider downloading a sleep app to monitor the quality of your sleep.
You don’t have to do it all yourself
Leaders need to remember that they don't have to bear the entire burden alone; hiring competent staff your can trust or outsourcing tasks to skilled independent contractors will alleviate stress and open up new avenues for growth. In delegating the work load, leaders will enhance their wellness while empowering their organisations to thrive.
Hire support staff
Hiring the right, skilled remote or in-office staff can take a business to another level through the additional skills and resources they provide. Hiring experienced, reliable skills part-time or ad-hoc hour-by-hour is an affordable solution for any business, especially for start-ups that do not need a full-time in-office resource during early growth and change stages.
In the relentless world of leadership, where stress is an ever-present companion, recognize the importance of self-care and effective strategies to combat the burdens of your roles. By implementing these strategies, employers can contribute to a more supportive and efficient work environment, ultimately reducing cognitive load and enhancing the well-being and productivity of themselves and their employees.
Phillipa Geard is the Founder and CEO of multi-award winning company RecruitMyMom.co.za, an innovative online recruitment agency for forward-thinking companies, looking for top-calibre female skills. Skills that value flexibility, either hours or location. More recently she launched RecruitAGraduate, an online platform designed to make the hiring of graduates and interns effortless. Both are full service agencies. She is a wife, mother and a social entrepreneur at heart.