Need to know:
Anxiety is a normal and adaptive response in times of uncertainty. Human attentional systems have evolved to notice and focus on novelty i.e. unknowns or unexpected changes and threats. There is a difference between fear and anxiety – fear is a response to a direct threat, anxiety is a response to a perceived threat. As a leader you need to know that any significant change at work will cause anxiety. Any significant life change for employee will cause them anxiety. Each person’s response to change and threats is individual.
Humans respond to both threat and anxiety in the same way, as the brain focuses survival not allowing time to understand the nature of the threat. Responses include anger (fight), reactivity (flight), and others seem to freeze and are incapable of action. Insomnia, headaches, stomach upsets, fatigue are part of the normal physiological responses to anxiety. Longer term impacts include depression and heart disease.
Anxiety is exhausting. The sufferer’s focus is on the threat. There are proven negative impacts on cognitive function, concentration and memory. People literally cannot ‘think straight’, and their work performance will likely be error prone and not to their usual standard.
Anxiety is contagious with the contagion spread via body language (including smell), and increased emotional reactivity as well as directly through conversation. It impacts the entire team.
Who is anxious?
- People whose jobs or other forms of income are uncertain or under threat
- People with pre-existing anxiety conditions – such as Depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or OCD.
- People who find uncertainty and change hard to tolerate, such as those with autism and those with trauma.
- Parents – particularly of teenagers, those with kids with SEN and new parents.
- People going through significant life change such as divorce, changing jobs, and those supporting significant illness or disability in family members.
- Gen Y (millennials) who may lack experience of loss, hardship or failure when the work or sector environment, or national economic environment changes.
- Gen Z teens and early 20s who were isolated through Covid.
- Individuals who lack social support.
The above list is not exhaustive: hopefully it will give you an idea of people you may not have thought about.
How to respond?
Always look after yourself first. Without doing so you will not have the capacity to help others in your team. Consider the use of a professional coach (https://theperformancepractice.co.uk/about/) to support you AND definitely:
- Actively manage your time with very anxious people. Their anxiety is contagious and managing your responses appropriately to them is an active form of work. Pace your exposure.
- Use exercise to burn off the adrenaline that builds up dealing with distress and stress. Get out in nature (walk at lunch time?): arrange life affirming, positive activities out of work to build your emotional and physical energy reserves: escape into music, art, theatre, reading and other forms of mindfulness.
- Control your use of alcohol and other substances – being hung over usually doesn’t help the situation.
- Eat healthily.
- Make time for, and when appropriate seek support from, your own social circle and family. Try not to share your own anxiety with the team at work. Perhaps temporarily limit how much time you spend with needy others away from work.
- Avoid algorithm driven social media ‘news’ that thrives on click bait alarms and negativity. Stop the doom scrolling by using apps (there are many digital wellbeing apps).
As a Leader:
- Don’t ignore anxiety in the team – acknowledging both its presence, that it’s a normal and healthy response to change, is helpful and will allow you to call out performance difficulties empathically rather than blaming and shaming.
- Sympathy is not often helpful either to the sufferer or to you.
- Remember your relationships at work are those of ‘manager/subordinate/colleague’, not ‘best friends’. Be thoughtful about who you confide in.
- Be clear about what is work (within your legitimate interest) and what is not work (not usually your legitimate interest).
- Update yourself on your organisation’s policies around hybrid working, and part time working, compassionate leave (etc.)and how to access any support available so you are prepared.
- When dealing with particular individuals, know that you cannot ‘fix’ everyone.
- If appropriate encourage the use of professional therapeutic services via health insurance including counselling. If not available through your organisation encourage the use of their GP (UK) or other health provider. Don’t become their go to ‘off load’.
- Communication matters and when effective reduces anxiety.
- Be accurate in information you provide.
- Don’t keep people in the dark if you don’t have to, and also be aware that you may need to balance communication with the potential loss of team members.
- Don’t gossip.
