How to manage anxiety at work: effective reactions for professional well-being
The challenge is to effectively manage the anxiety that arises from having to continue working while living with news/proposals that disturb us
3' min read
3' min read
At work, we do not always like what we are told by our colleague or customer. How we react to 'bad news' is a key component of our effectiveness and well-being.
Some of us, more or less consciously, tend to make our dissent explicit in a direct and immediate way with words and/or physical signals: 'It doesn't suit me'; 'It doesn't'; 'I don't agree'; 'I'm sincere, it doesn't work for me'. Others, on the contrary, tend to suppress their disapproval. At most, they dilute it with turns of phrase and timid expressions of perplexity. Different reactions lead to different consequences. In the first case there is the risk of conflict, in the second of being overwhelmed by the assertiveness and resourcefulness of others.
In general, the challenge is to effectively manage the anxiety that arises from having to continue working while living with news/proposals that disturb us. Let us imagine, for example, that our boss says to us at the end of a meeting: 'Lorenzo, I think the time is ripe for you to manage the meeting with the American suppliers by yourself' and let us imagine that this prospect frightens us. The inability to 'hold in' our fear would lead many of us to react impulsively by specifying our no, and perhaps in a 'hyper-reactive' logic to delegitimise the proposal, even going so far as to criticise the proposer: "Excuse me, but you haven't given me adequate training yet, how can I?"
The positive aspect of such a reaction is to make things clear right away: proposal inadmissible, stop. We get rid of the anxiety and close the game, attack repelled, danger dispelled.
However, there are at least two very significant contraindications:
