I’m sure you have come to the conclusion that tension and stress is unavoidable, and it is a fact of life in the workplace. While there are health concerns that can arise if one gets too frazzled, stress will always be prevalent in one or way or another, so we can choose to ignore it and get even more stressed out, or we can embrace it.
Too much stress does reduce the ability to work productively, but too little tension encourages complacency in not only yourself but your team members.
The key is to handle stress in a way that can help you achieve success. It is part of the manager’s role to manage the stress levels of the work group so people are able to perform their work smoothly.
If you view stress as a challenge to overcome, you’ll have a more positive outlook and will get more accomplished. Choose to believe that you can manage stress and this will allow you to quickly solve the problem before it gets out of control. It really all does come down to how you perceive the situation.
On the same token, you need to make sure you address conflicts and proactively deal with obstacles, or you run the risk of creating too high of tension levels for your staff.
Here are some items to be aware of when it comes to tension in the workplace:
Make sure that you challenge and influence your direct reports to perform at higher levels. In other words, use tension for positive purposes, not negative.