Why Managers Must Manage Stress, Not Cause It

Oct 14, 2025
Jody Holland Training & Speaking | Leadership
Why Managers Must Manage Stress, Not Cause It
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Managers should be helping their employees manage their stress; they should not be causing it. As much as your team should be trying to make your job easier, you should also be trying to make their jobs easier. This entails being consistent, reliable, calm under pressure, open to feedback, and helpful when they have questions and/or need assistance with something. You are the first example that your employees will look to, so your behavior is critically important to the organization.

As John C. Maxwell described, “You cannot lead others until you first lead yourself.” If you want to be the trusted authority for your team, you need to learn how to regulate your emotions so that you can respond to a situation effectively, rather than simply reacting to it. Additionally, you need to demonstrate the importance of your expectations for the team by living into them yourself. If promptness is a requirement for your employees, then you should always make it a point to be on time or early. In fact, you should have even higher expectations for yourself than you do for your team members because you set the tone for success.

Becoming a manager does not just come with a title change and pay raise; it comes with increased responsibilities. This is something that people understand in theory, but when it comes to fulfilling those responsibilities, it can feel overwhelming for the manager. We, as a society, have the tendency to promote people to the point of incompetence. This is known as the Peter Principle. We take someone who is great at their current job and give them a promotion that requires different skills and responsibilities, but that does not necessarily mean that the individual is prepared or equipped to succeed at this new level. As such, this can cause a ripple effect of negative consequences.

One of the more common occurrences is that the manager does not know how to cope with their own stress from the situation, and therefore, they project that onto their team, causing even more stress for everyone involved. Most of the time, this is not a deliberate act from the manager. However, unintentional consequences are still consequences and should be addressed promptly. If a calm and professional conversation cannot be had directly between the manager and the employees that are feeling the effects of this, then an outside mediator may need to be involved.

In the same way that employees sometimes need to be coached to success, as do managers. They are not done growing and learning once they are in a position of authority. If a manager is creating more problems than solutions for their team, then the organization has the responsibility to either get the manager more training or consider alternative opportunities for the individual that are better aligned with their skill set. A manager should never cause more stress and problems for their employees than they alleviate such things.

At Jody Holland Training & Speaking, we recognize the importance of continuing the development of your managers and leaders so that everyone on the team has the best possible experience and can produce positive results every time. If you’re not sure where to start, fill out the form below, and we can help you determine which of our online or in-person training programs would be most beneficial for your organization. We are here to help you become the leader that you would follow.

 

-Meghan Slaughter

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