Acquaint Yourself With Others And Alleviate Stress In The Workplace

Leading at Light Speed is an excellent leadership book by Eric Douglas showing you step-by-step how to implement 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

Quantum Leap #3 is all in regards to how to Lead Through Others.

Imagine you’re flying on an airline with an open seating plan like Southwest. You’ve come across an aisle seat. The middle and window seats are open next to you. As people stream down the aisle looking for a place to sit, what do you do?

If you have familiarity with other people and you can make eye contact, welcoming them to take the seat next to you. But if you’re not oriented toward other people, you avoid eye contact, keeping your face buried in a newspaper. Perhaps you place a section of the newspaper on the chair beside you. When someone takes a seat next to you, you take a glance at them, recoil, and let them fend for themselves.

This “Southwest Test” might not look like much. But it says a lot about who you are and your ability to lead through other people. A lot of information is transmitted in those few moments – am I a person who can be counted on to look out for other people? Or is it that I’m essentially watching out for myself? It goes without saying which type of person is better able to build trust – and who triggers people’s cheater meters.

In some organizations, especially those driven by “Type A” managers, a relentless pressure to perform can drain people’s energies. Successful leaders alleviate the pressure in ways that aid people to find out how to trust one another. Psychologists call this ability to regulate pressure “systemic stress management.”It’s why sailors get shore leave, why people get holidays, why organizations throw parties.

Hundreds of highly paid broker-dealers manage the daily rise and fall of the stock market at Lehman brothers, but their Friday afternoon is a communal chance to relax with each other. As one executive put it: “If you don’t bring food to the office, people will always go hungry.” Lehman gives people yet another reason to appreciate the company’s level of attention and care.

At the Intel campus in Roseville, California, people let off steam by taking part in volleyball games during lunch hour. Players fill the two sand courts everyday. A soccer game pick up on a field close by.

Gregory Kolt, a professor of psychology at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand says, “To maintain a high level of focus is fatiguing”. The trick, he says, is to find enough idle distractions so that you can elevate your focus at the right time.

Take this free work survey to assess your organizational strengths and weaknesses.