Can Anxiety Be Useful?
What can an unwanted feeling of anxiety actually teach us? Nobody wants to be anxious. If we do feel anxiety setting in, the first response is often to push it away and try to feel something else.
But if you turn toward the anxiety, with perspective and gentle focus, it can actually provide valuable information. In January, The New York Times published an article by Christina Caron titled, “The Upside of Anxiety.” It touches on similar themes about turning toward anxiety and striving to accept it. Work with it not against it.
My questions are, how does anxiety factor into the day-to-day of the business world? How could anxiety be useful in team dynamics to drive results? The truth is, anxiety can be very informative.
Here is an example. Early in my career I was the IT Project Manager for a major system conversion. The lead on the business side was very technical and had a reputation of being a tough customer. A real in-your-face-challenger to get things right. I respect that quality in a business stakeholder. I went in with a clean slate and clear head to make my own determination.
As the system conversion date drew closer, just a few weeks away, the business lead said repeatedly on a call, “I’m not comfortable. I’m not comfortable.” You could feel the recoil on the call by the other team members (even by phone as video conferencing was not yet en vogue). The free-floating-anxiety level was quickly rising and this was a potential derailer to the whole project.
What should I do? How should I respond?
I chose to stay calm, not get swept up in the swirl of fear and dug deeper, searching for the root of the discomfort. “I can’t manage to comfort, but I can manage to risk. What is the risk to the system conversion that is driving your discomfort?”
The business lead replied, “We don’t have the operational piece ready and the compliance testing may not be robust enough. We may have missed something.”
Jackpot!
Everyone exhaled. We had something tangible to go after. The panic level went from deafeningly quiet to “we can figure this out.” All of that happened with one question.
After 2 breakout sessions, one with the operations lead and the other with the compliance team, related testers and techies, we were back on track. When you step back and look, we were never actually off track. The anxiety of change and an unarticulated risk made it feel like the team was spiraling. But we were not lost. We found issues with enough time to address them and successfully converted the system on schedule.
All it took was a little space and perspective to see the anxiety and hold it outside. By that I mean, don’t let it penetrate your personal boundary. Don’t absorb the energy and get spun up. With a little space between the anxiety and me, I was able to find calm and perspective to pave a way forward.
The same can be true for your own anxiety. Are you waking up in the middle of the night with your mind churning? Is something at work really gnawing away at you?
Ask yourself, what’s at the root? What is the core issue? With something tangible to focus on and sink your teeth into, anxiety can subside and productivity can flow.
All it takes is one question. What is driving the anxiety and discomfort? Breathe. Dig. Identify. Articulate. Then solve for the free-floating anxiety problem and mitigate a tangible risk.
That’s a great 2-for-1.
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