Despite this, we continue to underestimate the importance of developing more resilient leaders and teams with greater emotional intelligence to control the effects of stress resulting from the current situation that we still live in, since now there are new work demands, such as learning to manage teams from a distance , communicate remotely, which are undoubtedly situations that have led us to demand more of ourselves, in addition to stopping interacting in person with colleagues, peers and bosses, as well as many other changes that have really been drastic for everyone during the pandemic.
Given this, I want to ask you, have you worked on developing your resilience and applied techniques to improve your emotional intelligence and cope with stress in the new normal?
We have normalized stress at work so much that for years we let grow a great problem that today has serious repercussions on society and on our companies; Not for nothing, different international organizations have classified work stress as the epidemic of the 21st century, and only in the country it is affecting 75% of Mexicans, an index that exceeds countries like China, according to data from the Mexican Institute from Social Security.
To this we must add the effects that the pandemic has left and as leaders we must be aware of the consequences that stress is leaving us, not only in the field of health, but also in terms of productivity.
When a person is constantly stressed, they can have serious health problems, such as tight muscles, headaches, back problems, fatigue, infections, increased blood pressure, exhaustion, cardiovascular problems, depression and anxiety.
This undoubtedly affects the performance of companies, since a collaborator with these symptoms will have more problems concentrating, will be absent frequently because they are more prone to getting sick and therefore the quality of their work will be compromised.
Also, for a long time, the stereotype was created that wearing the shirt in a company is synonymous with work overload and long working hours. The reality is that all this brings physical exhaustion, demotivation and a very severe economic impact; In the United States, for example, it costs companies more than $ 300 billion a year for absenteeism and poor performance, associated with job stress, according to the American Psychological Association.