Middle Way Management, Stress, and Creative Tension

In my last post, I discussed how values are really at the foundation of everything you do as a Middle Way Manager™. Values color your perceptions and create biases - both positive and negative - that you use in your daily Middle Way Management™ walk. Recognizing and appreciating the values of your team members will also help you understand them better. This way, you can practice compassion, empathy, kindness, and understanding in natural, authentic ways. In this post, I will consider how you can turn a stressful situation into one where creative tension ushers you point-to-point without damaging relationships or compromising your values.

Good Stress, Bad Stress
While we've all experienced stress of some form, especially as managers, psychologists tell us that not all stress is bad. Yet, terms like "stress management" have created a buzz around stress that tells us it's something to be eradicated for the good of all. But is this really the case? Stress is indicated in our bodies in several ways. We breathe differently, we move differently, we even think differently under duress, all of which have been necessary survival tactics during our long evolution into Homo sapiens postmodernensis. What I'm suggesting here is that fight-or-flight is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be quite good.

We've all been in a situation in which flight seemed like a logical response to the energies at hand. I certainly know I have. During these times, my mind goes on a short hiatus and I'm left looking for the nearest exit. Now, this can be as immediate as potential direct harm to your person or a feeling that you need to "get out of here." And "getting out of here" can involve a quick retreat from an organizational situation or even the organization itself. Regardless, the thing to take away from these experiences is what your mind did and where it went while you were under stress.

Systems Science to the Rescue
In his book, The Fifth Discipline, Senge (2006) presents the idea of creative tension. He suggests the reader visualize a rubber band looped over the backs of both hands while pulling them apart. On, say, the left hand is your current position while the right is the place you want to eventually reach. He recommends decreasing the amount of tension between the two in creative ways so you reach your goal over time with less, well, stress. Like Senge, I consider the tension between current place and goal position to be the domain of stress.

Viewing stress this way changes it from something negative to something that offers Middle Way Managers myriad opportunities to inject creative energy into organizational pursuits. Whenever you begin to feel the telltale signs of stress, you are offered a chance to raise your awareness to respond in more positive ways to the issue(s) at hand. This consciously mindful approach lies at the heart of Middle Way Management and you should be grateful for every stressor that allows you to walk your Middle Way Management talk.

One way to do this is to categorize your potential stressors and concentrate upon a single category until you've mastered it. For instance, if you manage a large group of people, a category of focus might be "people issues" for a week. Every time someone brings you something that requires your attention (remember, stress is created by "good" and "bad" scenarios), you can raise your awareness to recognize the inherent stressor and why you feel the way you do. Once you recognize this, it's a short trip to turn the stress into creative , goal-directed tension. Will this instantly solve any problems you must address? Probably not always, yet it will expand your perspective into a solution space, rather than a problem space.

Why Does This Matter?
While this topic might seem tangential to your Middle Way Management practice, handling stress, both "good" and "bad," typically requires a new perspective. Morphing stress into creative tension matters here because the promotion of positive energy in your daily Middle Way Management walk is a fundamental aspect of managing with compassion while practicing empathy, patience, sympathy, and kindness. Each of these helps you achieve your primary goal as an active, mindful Middle Way Manager: the relief of suffering at all levels of the organization.

In my next post, I will consider Middle Way Management and finding your refuge. This is necessary in a hectic, sometimes chaotic, work environment. By taking refuge, you rejuvenate and re-energize yourself, which is good for you, for your team members, and for the organization at large.

Reference

Senge, P. M. (2006). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Broadway Business.

Copyright © 2009, Darin R. Molnar, PhD. All rights reserved.