Resilience centres on how we manage change, and change inevitably brings stress into our working lives. The relationship between resilience and stress is deeply interconnected, making stress management a critical leadership competency.
Resilience can be defined as the ability to bounce back from adversities, stresses and changes. Essentially, it enables individuals to withstand, recover from and grow in the face of stressors and shifting demands.
Understanding the difference between good stress vs bad stress for leaders isn’t just beneficial, it’s essential for maintaining high-performing teams whilst protecting wellbeing.
The Reality of Workplace Stress in the UK
Even the most grounded professionals regularly experience stress when handling daily challenges. However, the scale of work-related stress in the UK demands attention.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, work represents the most common cause of stress, with eight in ten UK workers (79%) reporting they frequently feel stressed.1 The impact is substantial: an estimated 17 million working days were lost due to work-related stress and anxiety in 2021/22, accounting for half of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.1
Armed with this data, leaders must learn to distinguish between productive pressure and harmful strain. Whilst both impact team performance, they do so in fundamentally different ways. Understanding and managing these stress types can significantly enhance leadership effectiveness and team productivity.
What Is Good Stress? Understanding Eustress
Stress can be beneficial. Consider an athlete training for a marathon, working towards a specific time goal. The physical challenge builds strength whilst creating mental clarity and helping manage anxiety. The nervous excitement before race day represents classic good stress in action.
This positive form of stress, known as eustress, boosts energy, enhances focus and motivates us to handle challenges effectively, particularly in workplace settings. Research indicates that appropriate levels of workplace challenge, when accompanied by adequate support, can enhance both performance and wellbeing.2
Eustress manifests in various professional scenarios:
- The adrenaline rush before an important presentation
- The drive that helps you meet demanding project deadlines
- The motivation to learn new skills or systems
- The challenge of stepping into expanded responsibilities
For leaders, good stress vs bad stress becomes particularly relevant when motivating teams. Assigning a stretching project to a developing team member, providing appropriate guidance and support to help them step outside their comfort zone, represents an effective use of eustress.
Good stress drives creativity, productivity and team cohesion. It catalyses innovation, pushing team members beyond their comfort zones to achieve extraordinary results for themselves and the organisation.
What Is Bad Stress? Understanding Distress
Distress represents the negative form of stress that drains energy, reduces focus and causes anxiety. It occurs when pressure exceeds an individual’s capacity to cope effectively.
The tipping point between eustress and distress is critical for leaders to recognise. Whilst challenge stimulates growth, overwhelming demands without adequate support create harmful pressure.
Consider the difference: asking someone to deliver against a demanding timeframe without providing resources, guidance or assistance overwhelms people, transforming potentially productive pressure into damaging distress.
Distress leads to decreased productivity as people rush between tasks without focus, ultimately resulting in burnout. This became particularly evident during recent years when many employees experienced sustained periods of excessive pressure.
Recognising Good Stress vs Bad Stress in Your Team
Identifying whether team members experience eustress or distress requires careful observation:
Signs of good stress (eustress):
- Increased energy and engagement
- Heightened focus and concentration
- Enthusiasm about challenges
- Improved performance under pressure
- Positive attitude towards deadlines
Signs of bad stress (distress):
- Visible fatigue or exhaustion
- Difficulty concentrating
- Increased irritability or mood changes
- Declining work quality
- Withdrawal from team interactions
- Physical symptoms such as headaches or tension
The transition from good stress vs bad stress for leaders often happens gradually, making regular check-ins with team members essential for early intervention. Studies show that early identification of stress signals significantly reduces long-term absence and supports sustained team performance.3
Strategies to Harness Good Stress and Reduce Bad Stress
Recognising the difference between eustress and distress represents only the beginning. Effective leadership involves actively managing both stress types within your team.
Encourage a Positive Stress Mindset
Help team members reframe stress as a challenge rather than a threat. This perspective transforms potentially harmful pressure into eustress, encouraging resilience and growth.
Explain how stress affects the body and mind, share relevant examples and provide practical context. When people understand the mechanics of stress, they gain greater control over their responses.
Establish Clear Communication Channels
Uncertainty breeds distress. Clearly communicating expectations, deadlines and goals prevents unnecessary stress within your team. However, consistency represents the crucial factor where many leaders struggle.
Communicating a goal once and expecting team members to proceed independently rarely works effectively. Schedule regular conversations and coaching sessions with your team, and observe how they handle pressure differently with ongoing support.
Provide Adequate Resources and Support
Ensure your team possesses the necessary resources to handle their tasks effectively. This might involve providing training, appropriate tools or emotional support. When team members feel properly equipped, they’re significantly less likely to experience distress.
Resource provision extends beyond physical tools to include time, information and access to expertise. Eustress thrives when challenge meets capability; distress emerges when demands exceed available support.
Create a Psychologically Safe Environment
Encourage an organisational culture where individuals can express concerns without fear of judgement or retribution. When team members feel heard and valued, they’re more likely to engage positively with workplace pressure.
Psychological safety allows people to admit when they’re struggling, seek help before situations escalate and collaborate on solutions. This openness transforms how teams navigate both good stress and bad stress.
Monitor Workload Distribution
Even positive challenges become overwhelming when accumulated excessively. Regularly review workload distribution across your team, ensuring no individual carries a disproportionate burden.
Balance stretching assignments that create eustress with adequate recovery time and manageable routine tasks. Sustainable performance requires rhythm, not constant intensity.
Frequently Asked Questions About Good Stress Vs Bad Stress
Building Resilient, High-Performing Teams
Understanding good stress vs bad stress for leaders represents a multifaceted competency with significant implications for team performance and wellbeing. The distinction between eustress and distress shapes how individuals experience workplace challenges and ultimately determines whether pressure enhances or diminishes results.
Effective stress management requires continuous attention rather than one-time intervention. By encouraging positive stress mindsets, maintaining clear communication, ensuring adequate support and creating psychologically safe environments, leaders harness the benefits of good stress whilst mitigating the harmful effects of distress.
The goal isn’t eliminating stress entirely but rather cultivating the right type and level of pressure to drive growth, innovation and sustainable performance. When leaders understand and actively manage both eustress and distress, they create conditions where teams thrive under challenge rather than crumble under strain.