NEW YORK–Can anxiety make you a better leader? Yes, according to one person.
“When the pandemic started, anxiety came from not knowing what to expect. Now as workplaces make plans for employees to return, uncertainty is at the forefront again,” wrote Stephanie Vozza on FastCompany.com
Vozza quoted Morra Aarons-Mele as observing that while coronavirus-fueled anxiety can have negative effects, it can also enhance your leadership skills. Aarons-Mele is the author of "Hiding in the Bathroom: An Introvert’s Roadmap to Getting Out There (When You’d Rather Stay Home,” as well as host of “The Anxious Achiever” podcast, a show about mental health in the workplace.
“Anxiety is a natural human emotion, especially now,” FastCompany.com quoted Aarons-Mele as saying . “The fear and vulnerability we experience are normal. The key is understanding what sets you off and how you react. The process of managing your anxiety can make you stronger and more empathetic.”
According to Aarons-Mele, mindfulness can make you a more focused and effective leader and help you manage your anxiety, too, if you’re willing to be mindful in your anxious moments,. “Self-inquiry is powerful, but when we ignore the parts that feel scary or dark, like a tendency to be anxious, it can make us act out in all kinds of ways,” Aarons-Mele told Fast Co. “For leaders, ignoring the causes of our anxiety can hurt their teams.”
Toxic Responses
Left unexamined, people may manage anxiety by resorting to unhealthy actions. For example, they may yell at a coworker, overwork, drink, or run six miles even though their knee is throbbing. “These reactions without awareness can be toxic,” Aarons-Mele, added.
“When you’re feeling anxious, play detective and tune into your surroundings or situations,” the report recommended. “Several aspects of leadership can be triggers, and to manage it, you need to work backwards to determine what triggers you and why.”
“It could be about health or money,” Aarons-Mele told Fast Co. “Maybe a leader is responsible for a company’s finances and has to communicate reports to others. The balance sheet may bring them back to a time and place where they felt out of control and distressed. Instead of going down a spiral of anxiety, breathe and recognize that money makes you anxious and it can start negative thoughts.”
You can’t control your anxiety, but you can manage it the way you manage any other aspect of yourself. Build an infrastructure that supports you, and focus on the type of communication that works for you, added Aarons-Mele, who suggests telling others that you feel anxious.
“In success culture, we think that anything that has to do with mental health is a weakness and we don’t want to let it show,” she told the publication. “Admitting you are anxious is akin to saying, ‘I’m not in control,’ and that’s dangerous, so people shy away from it.”
A Natural Reaction
But anxiety is a natural human reaction, Aarons-Mele continued, according to Fast Co. “If we understand, talk about, and manage it, there’s nothing bad about it,” she says. “It’s when we aren’t in touch that we are acting out of control.”
According to Aarons-Mele, other ways to cope in the moment include taking a walk, doing breathing exercises, or telling the anxiety you have to deal with it later. People who understand what motivates and triggers them can be more effective leaders.
“If you can understand your own self efficacy around being anxious, you are more able to take a step back and observe the reactions,” she told the publication. “You can be a powerful communicator when you tune into signals and dynamics in room. You listen more, and that’s a great leadership skill. Anxiety is part of life and certainly part of a high achiever’s life. To achieve, you need to take risks, push yourself, and drive toward a goal, and anxiety is inherent to this process. It’s really about your reactions.”