Stress costs the US economy $300 billion per year. Most people are aware of the negative effects of stress on physical and mental health, but what about the effect of stress on focus, engagement and productivity?
How stress affects engagement, focus and productivity
Well it’s all to do with brain function and arousal. Stress is the body’s reaction to events in life or the work stimulus. Some stress can be positive: the brain and body become energized (known in neuroscience as “arousal”), brain function, motivation, focus, engagement and productivity increase. But there is a tipping point, when increasing arousal begins to affect brain function and focus, engagement and productivity decline. And this is the negative stress, that is commonly referred to as “stress”.
The image shows the the relationship between performance and arousal of the brain, for a cognitively challenging task (known as Yerkes-Dobson law). Simple or habitual tasks and those requiring stamina and persistence show a different relationship: increasing arousal leads to improved motivation and performance.
The effects of stress on the brain, are not global. Stress causes deterioration in function of some parts of the brain more than others. World-renowned psychiatrist and brain researching maverick Daniel Amen has showed that stress affects frontal lobes (executive function center), cerebellum (balance center) and amygdala, hippocampus and temporal lobes (emotional and memory centers). The consequences of this include negative effects on motivation, focus, judgement, impulse control, empathy, balance and coordination, emotional regulation, response to events and memory.
Stress and the business world
So what’s the relevance of all this to the business world? Well stress and burnout are increasingly common in the workforce. Not only does this impact the health and wellbeing of the individual employees, but it also reduces focus, engagement and productivity… and ultimately the bottom line… profit. I have a question for you: “If you knew there were serious inefficiencies in your business would you ignore them?” I’m guessing the answer is “NO”. Now I’ve just explained why stress is so bad for performance, causing significant inefficiencies among your workforce. So my next question is “Are you doing everything you can to reduce stress among your employees?”
The good news is that most people can learn to better manage their stress and when they do… you guessed it… focus, engagement and productivity improve. Most of the chronic effects of stress are reversible. Learning to manage stress must begin with education. Most people would rather not be stressed, but they lack the knowledge and skills to prevent and reduce it. A good stress management program will include strategies to identify sources of stress and deal with any that are reversible, improve the health of body and mind, so the response to stress will be appropriate and development of a stress management toolkit.
If you are a CEO, CFO, manager or HR specialist, I urge you to look into programs to help your employees manage stress, it might end up being one of the best investments you ever make.
To learn more about how to reduce in your workplace visit: www.WellbeingInYourWorkplace.com
Dr Leonaura Rhodes 