How can leaders deal with a mental crisis?

Why did we prepare material on the role of leaders in times of crisis?

This is due to a number of different events that are currently taking place in Poland and around the world. Inflation, the specter of crisis are additional burdens on those in leadership roles. Personal difficulties, sometimes the need for more frequent crisis management, restructuring, and in addition to all this overlapping expectations of those employed, their anxiety. Such situations can affect additional feelings of uncertainty, distress, which can become a source of mental crisis.

What is a mental health crisis?

This is a healthy person’s reaction to circumstances that may be beyond him at any given time. This is a very natural phenomenon associated with various situations that occur in a person’s life. There are 2 types of such factors. The first are emergency factors. Point events that cause us to “enter” a crisis. Such situations are, for example, the loss of a loved one, the loss of a job (especially unexpectedly), information about an illness. Crisis can also be caused by factors that are recurrent, long-lasting. A classic example is bullying, a toxic work environment that can affect someone for several months or even several years. And when it would seem on the surface that the individuals in question are functioning well, however, their resources are depleting with each passing week. As a result, they may experience pronounced symptoms of mental crisis.

The role of the leader and the sense of psychological crisis

It is worth remembering that a person in a leadership role is still first and foremost a human being. The business and private zones are intertwined. A leader has to deal with a team, a business for which he has taken responsibility, but also has his own life (family, commitments, etc.). When both spheres are demanding, this responsibility can start to become overwhelming. This often leads to feelings of loneliness. The leader/leaders may feel a lack of understanding from those around them, especially at work. These are the extra burdens of the leadership role that make the mental crisis sometimes threaten these people more.

How to prevent a mental crisis?

We don’t always have control over what happens in our lives. But we can always influence how we behave in a given situation. Our comfort level and what happens next depends on it. It’s worth “stopping” and taking a detached look at our personal and professional situation, at the projects we are implementing. In this way, we will gain adequate knowledge of the state of our health before we act and make decisions.

How to regain control of stress? We can do it ourselves or with the help of a specialist. Using the right techniques, we are able to consciously look at and reflect on: what we are doing, what is happening to us, what the decision-making process looks like. We often act automatically without realizing how a certain situation affects us. But as soon as we manage to stop this automatic mode, we regain awareness of our own feelings.

Types of stress

We divide stress into eustress – stress that mobilizes action, provides energy, strength, and distress – stress that burdens us too much (otherwise we can call it so-called excessive stress). It’s not about avoiding stress – because that’s impossible. But we should be careful that this distress is not too much. It is worth looking at ourselves and analyzing what is happening to us to “catch” the moment when this distress becomes too much.

Analysis of emotions in a moment of mental crisis

Feeling emotions is not a bad thing. So is saying that a given situation is aggravating to us, or perhaps even beyond us. It’s also normal to not be able to decide right away what to do about it. Admitting to ourselves that something is not ok, something is difficult – is as appropriate as possible and we should allow ourselves to do so. All sorts of things can stress us out. We often stress about doing something for the first time, for example. We have the right to experience difficulties. Accepting that something is difficult for us is a necessary step that enables us to make informed decisions and take action.

Methods of dealing with stress

• Data collection and analysis
• Create a variety of scenarios (pessimistic, neutral, optimistic)
• Making sure that the decisions we make are informed
• Risk management – based on the analysis of information and scenarios, you can realize what the risks are in a given situation. How do we approach this risk? Sometimes we don’t realize what is threatening us or what can go wrong – then we are unable to take countermeasures.

Minimizing distress

It is worthwhile to take care of our psychological resources, which are “drained” by distress in the face of difficult situations. Analyzing the situation, determining our emotions and how we feel takes a lot of energy – so it is all the more important to put in place certain activities that will take care of our well-being and minimize the level of distress.

What can we do to take care of our resources?

• Rest, relaxation, a moment of “boredom”,
• Physical movement, even a short walk in the park,
• Adequate amount of water, at least 2 liters a day,
• Taking care of sleep, a minimum of 7 hours,
• activities that “recharge the battery” – reading a book, going to the movies, meeting with friends, dancing, etc..,
• Support from the environment, the opportunity to tell the other person about our experiences
• crisis consultation/therapy.

Health on the “to do” list

Health for a person in a leadership role should always be at the level of: important, but not urgent. Since in business we prioritize projects in different ways, using labels like important, urgent, not very important, etc., we can also approach our health this way. When health is prioritized as “important” to us, then we remember that we need to devote time and our resources to take care of it. In a moment of crisis, health will become not only “important” but also “urgent.” This means we must act immediately. You can avoid this situation by taking care of yourself on a daily basis. It is worth remembering that our health is also an element that we manage.

Minimizing distress

Stimulus activities. What can we do for ourselves, besides taking care of resources?

• techniques that bring you back to the “here and now,” e.g., meditation, mindfulness, body work,
• Conscious engagement of prefrontal lobes – techniques such as mentalization, rationalization
• stopping and giving something a deeper thought, all sorts of conscious decisions and communications
• at the time when we have a sense of “lack of solutions/traps” – organize brainstorming, facilitation
• coaching, mentoring

Leader’s stress over inflation

Wage pressures from employees are NATURAL and UNDERSTANDABLE. Many companies are currently in a difficult situation where they may not have the funds for raises or are even planning to cut jobs, reduce revenues, etc. However, the employee does not have to understand this. The employee, seeing the current situation in the world, wants to take care of his finances. Therefore, it is very important that he has the space to talk about his needs. The role of the leader is to understand his motivation and explain the situation in the company.

But how do you deal with pressure for employee raises in an era of tight corporate budgets? It is worth taking care of the ability to have difficult conversations. Below is an example of a flowchart that will make it easier to talk about tough topics.

• understanding the NEEDS
• Clear, assertive and empathetic communication of decisions
• acquiescence to EMOTIONS – your own and your interlocutor’s
• setting and policing boundaries

When do you know it’s a good idea to reach out for help from a specialist?

Our internal resources are not always enough to handle a crisis on their own. Support from loved ones also has its limits, especially if they themselves are experiencing similar difficulties at the same time. What to do when we feel the situation is beyond us?

Specialized psychological help is not just therapy or a visit to a psychiatrist. In many cases, for example, a crisis consultation (with a coach, therapist or crisis interventionist) will suffice.

Sometimes just one conversation can give a broader view and change our perspective, making us feel better. Any therapist or coach to whom we go for help is obliged to offer a solution appropriate to our individual needs: whether it is a medical examination (important when we experience psychosomatic symptoms: pains, insomnia, appetite disorders) or a referral to a specific specialist. For more information, see our article: “What to expect when you reach out for psychological support.”