Few things compare to the anxiety we feel in the minutes before a meeting begins. The fear of being judged and criticized can be incredibly overwhelming. Why is it that the majority of us struggle with anxious feelings at work? What can we do to make our work less stressful and experience calm instead of internal chaos?
Why We Get Anxious At Work
60% of employees are experiencing mild symptoms of anxiety, 25% of them dealing with symptoms that are clinically relevant. Those who experience general anxiety may feel their typical symptoms escalate in their work environment, while those without general anxiety may feel similar symptoms due to the special circumstances of work.
Anxiety at work can stem from many different stressors. When employees are challenged with tasks that supersede their normal duties/knowledge or when employees are worried about their performance, personal finances, or relationships with teammates and clients, anxiety can quickly fester.
40% of workers say that their jobs are extremely stressful, and a quarter list their jobs as the number one stressor in life. The stress of our jobs can cause many unwanted symptoms that make work even more challenging. Our performance declines, we lose interest in our work, and we have trouble staying engaged and focused. We might become more irritable and fatigued. We can fail at meeting our deadlines while struggling to manage our work relationships. Participating in meetings and preparing presentations for meetings can become much harder, too.
In fact, according to Capital Blue Cross, most professionals experience some level of anxiety about work-related meetings. Meeting anxiety can throw our entire day off and leave us feeling insecure, less valuable, and drained. Because we are scared of how we will be perceived, we tend to dread meetings. Participating in meetings while ruminating over self-conscious worries can cause uncomfortable symptoms such as sweating, high heart rate, nausea, shaking, or dizziness.
Virtual meetings in particular make meeting anxiety worse as it is harder to read body language and facial expressions on screen.
Practical Ways to Combat Nerves During Meetings
Everyone experiences meetings differently, therefore trying different tactics to combat meeting anxiety is necessary to overcome symptoms. Here are a few to give a chance and potentially implement to make your meetings more enjoyable, impactful and engaging:
- Utilize your benefits and resources. If your place of work offers assistance programs, gym membership discounts, skill-building lessons, or other helpful resources, take full advantage of them.
- Decrease “Zoom fatigue”. Virtual meetings can be particularly stressful and draining, causing employees to experience intense meeting recovery syndrome (MRS). Learn techniques to battle MRS so you can enter and leave every meeting feeling grounded.
- Prevent physical symptoms via relaxation techniques. Learn and practice some deep breathing exercises, stretches, or other ways to calm your nerves before (or during) meetings.
- Prepare and practice. Take the guesswork out of your meetings by preparing for presentations in advance and practicing them before the meeting, note topics in advance that you want to discuss during the meeting, and gather any information you or your teammates might need for the meeting.
- Take breaks when needed. Make the most of breaks in meetings or find time for your own breaks if necessary. Get up and walk around, grab a beverage, or splash water on your face.
- Identify what is in your control and what is out of your control. Focus on what you can control to show up to meetings prepared and confident; avoid predicting what your colleagues might do.
- Practice gratitude. Think over or write down what you’re grateful for at work or in your role. Consider relationships, flexibility, health benefits, purpose/mission, and personal benefits.
- Take proper care of yourself outside of work. How we spend our time outside of the office has a substantial effect on how we feel at work. Prioritizing healthy eating habits, exercise, and sleep can go a long way in preventing or lowering anxiety.
- Lean into positive affirmations to boost confidence. Remind yourself of your value and self-worth by adopting mantras like “I am a capable employee,” “my ideas deserve to be heard,” or “I am qualified and knowledgeable enough to have an active role in this meeting.”
- Put the coffee down. Caffeine tends to increase anxiety, therefore opting for caffeine-free beverages before meetings or all of the time can help us avoid nervousness.
- Set goals for meetings and reflect afterward. List a few things that you would like to accomplish during the meeting such as participate a few times, maintain eye contact while presenting, or share a specific concern you have. After the meeting adjourns, note what went well and what could be improved next time. Do this continuously to track your progress toward an anxiety-free meeting experience.
How Managers Can Help Reduce Meeting Anxiety
While employees can learn and apply ways to avoid feeling anxious during meetings, managers and leaders must lead by example and create an environment where employees feel safe.
Meeting anxiety and general work anxiety hurt businesses and make managers’ jobs more challenging. According to the Health and Safety Executive, depression, stress, and anxiety account for over half of work-related sickness absences.
Productivity also suffers when anxiety is high as 1 in 5 employees feel that poor mental health affects their productivity. This issue is extremely pressing and worth improving because lost productivity from workplace anxiety costs employers $1 trillion annually.
Anxious individuals are also more likely to quit, which can make keeping talent difficult for managers.
What can you do to create a workplace where employees feel supported and motivated?
Prepare and execute meetings like it’s your passion. Solidify and send the agenda to your team in advance, be open to (and ask for) feedback and questions, begin and end meetings on time, build in time for breaks, and encourage participants to take quick breaks when/if needed. Many more tips on how to execute meetings like a pro are included in our article about meeting recovery syndrome.
Prioritize casual one-on-one meetings and in-person conversations to discuss performance, duties, and challenges. Communicate with your team that dialogue should be open and that no subject is off limits. Manager expectations are a top stressor among employees, so discussing workload, deadlines, salary, advancement, and expectations is imperative to a low-anxiety team. Consider instilling a personal open-door policy so employees feel more welcome to instigate conversation.
Provide options for employees who need accommodations so that they can work to the best of their ability. Giving special privileges to employees can easily go too far and cause more issues, yet coming to compromises allows employees to work effectively without sacrificing policies or standards.
Provide and make aware of mental health services. If you can provide counseling or classes, do so and remind team members that those resources are readily available and waiting to be used. Be sure that these resources are easy to access so that employees are not deterred from using them.
Similarly, advocate for and use the resources you provide. Courses that cover anxiety or stress-management as well as wellness and exercise programs should be taken advantage of. Prove to your team that the resources are valuable and encouraged by participating in them.
If team members aren’t taking adequate breaks, require them. At the same time every day, block out 5 to 20 minutes for employees to take a break to help lower anxiety and, in turn, boost productivity.
Recognize that an increase in mistakes or a decrease in work output could be signs that folks might be overworked or experiencing anxiety at work. Make an effort to talk respectfully with colleagues about what's going on and lead with curiosity to avoid making accusations. 70% of people believe their manager has more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor according to Forbes, so these conversations are incredibly important and can be effective for those looking for guidance and an answer to their struggles.
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