How You and Your Team Can Avoid ‘Stress Contagion’

We’ve all seen how symptoms of fatigue can spread throughout a room. One person starts yawning; and suddenly everybody is. Stress contagion is a bit like that. You might think of it as “second-hand stress.”

Leaders may be unaware of the extent to which they can be a major source of stress contagion in the workplace, and how subtle displays of stress can create a ripple effect in their team.

How can leaders become more mindful of their role as the nerve centers for their team? How can they mitigate against stress contagion and foster steadiness and resilience in their teams? Below are five strategies for avoiding stress contagion.

Check In With Yourself

Stress almost always begins with a physiological response—one we are dimly aware of, if at all. Before a high-stress meeting, take a few beats to scan your body. How am I breathing? Are my shoulders tight? What is my facial expression?

One leader I coach compared herself to a clenched fist when she’s stressed. We’ve worked on making small adjustments, like noticing her shoulders and letting them open up. We can always, in the moment, make small adjustments to our posture or breathing. Those small shifts send a message to the group; they also trigger internal changes. Holding ourselves more calmly makes us calmer.

This same client received feedback that she unknowingly but consistently communicated disappointment on her face, making others feel they were letting her down.  I’ve worked with her on relaxing into a more neutral facial expression. We can communicate so much to others without even realizing it. Ask yourself: How do I show up, physically, in critical moments?

Finally, be sure to note what you are thinking in those moments. Mindset significantly impacts behavior and what you tell yourself is critical. Telling yourself something spacious (“I’ve got this” or “I can do this”) as opposed to something limiting (“I’m so stressed out” or “The team is so behind”) can be a healthy nudge in the right direction.

Then, Check Yourself

Just as subtle physical cues can trigger a domino effect in team dynamics, small decisions (or non-decisions) can have a cascading impact on the team. Are you looking for opportunities to delegate important tasks to others in your team? In doing so you are acknowledging that you need help. You are empowering your team by showing faith in them, and giving them the opportunity to grow and to prove themselves.

Are you setting boundaries properly, both for yourself and your team? Are you allowing team members to “turn off” on nights and weekends? Are you setting expectations clearly so your team isn’t trying to hit an impossible standard? Are you building in time to reset, recover, reflect—and to celebrate your accomplishments?

Know when to beat the drum and ask for help from someone outside of your team. One coaching client felt stuck assuming that he had to figure it all out himself. Reaching out and connecting with a trusted peer to brainstorm helped him see options he hadn’t considered before.

Balance Urgency and Steadiness

In a fast-paced and rapidly changing business world, it is easy to let the pressure get to you. And to let a healthy sense of urgency spiral into something less healthy.

Humor and perspective can be powerful antidotes to runaway stress. I remember a team member quipping, “Hey, it’s not like we’re saving babies.” It was true. Her pointing that out helped put things into focus. Yes, sometimes we need to rally around a crisis. But a leader who falls into the trap of treating every challenge as a five-alarm fire risks high rates of burnout and attrition in her team.

A calm and steady response to high-pressure situations communicates optimism. It says: We got this. It creates time to pause and reflect before acting. And that pause creates space to reframe a threat or crisis as a learning opportunity.

Advocate For and Protect Your Team

Stress management techniques can only go so far. Sometimes you have to go to the source of the problem. Employees suffering from burnout frequently complain of not getting adequate support in managing their workload.

Stepping up as an advocate for your team is a powerful act of leadership. If your team’s plate is too full, say, “My team is fully committed to this project. They’re doing great work, but they’re tired. Can we push this deadline back? Can we delegate some of the tasks to another team?”

When you go to bat for your team like this, you win their trust, and demonstrate a meaningful commitment to their wellbeing. It shows a “We’re all in this together” mentality that will serve you well when the going gets tough.

Tackle Self-Care As a Group

That same group mentality can help you tackle stress management and self-care as a team. A sense of isolation is one of the biggest drivers of stress and burnout. Simply putting stress on the table as an acceptable topic of workplace conversation is a big step.

But go beyond talk and translate that conversation into action. How can we encourage one another to set aside adequate time for breaks and vacations? After a hard week, why not create a group reset and agree to take a half-day on Friday?

One of the biggest things leaders can do is model openness, transparency, and vulnerability. It may make sense to acknowledge your own stress and ask for candid feedback: “How do I show up when I’m stressed? How does that affect you?” It’s also ok to observe stress in a colleague, and say: How can I help? And it’s ok to reach out and ask for help. At the same time, maintaining composure is a critical leadership trait, and oversharing or frequent displays of stress can destabilize the team.

Individual mood affects the collective mood, and vice versa. Teams are an interconnected, living organism. Managing stress contagion can go a long way toward building a more sustainably cohesive and winning team.