Neil Plumridge relies on the advice of colleagues, saying his peers coach each other with business problems. ‘Just a fresh pair of eyes over an issue can help’, he says.
Because of the growth phase the business is in, Stoykov has to concentrate on short-term stress relief—weekends in the mountains, the occasional ‘mental health’ day rather than delegating more work. She says: ‘We’re hiring more people, but you need to train them, teach them about the culture and the clients, so it’s actually more work rather than less.’
Jan Elsner says thriving on a demanding workload is typical of senior executives and other high-potential business people.
Neil Plumridge says, ‘Often stress is caused by our setting unrealistic expectations of ourselves. I’ll promise a client I’ll do something tomorrow, and then promise another client the same thing, when I really know it’s not going to happen. I’ve put stress on myself when I could have said to the clients: “Why don’t I give that to you in 48 hours?” The client doesn’t care.’ Overcommitting is something people experience as an individual problem.
Questions
1. Work stress usually happens in the high level of a business.
2. More people involved would be beneficial for stress relief.
3. Temporary holiday sometimes doesn’t mean less work.
4. Stress leads to a wrong direction when trying to satisfy customers.