Lessons from Back Pain

As you can tell from my posting title, this has been a challenging week. If you have ever suffered with lower back pain you know what I am talking about. Since Wednesday morning I have been dealing with varying degrees of discomfort in the muscles that occupy the lower left quadrant of my back. No, I don’t know what I may have done to aggravate or injure myself. Yes, I have received plenty of suggestions from family, friends, and colleagues about possible treatments and preventative actions to take. Meanwhile, I have ignored most of them and chosen to work in spite of the pain. Call me stubborn if you like.

So what does a bout with back pain have to do with leadership? Perhaps nothing, but my experience reminds me how leaders can ignore symptoms and fail to treat the sources of pain in their workplace. Let me illustrate.

In my case I don’t know the real cause of my soreness. Without exploring what is contributing to the ache I can’t take any real steps to prevent a future reoccurrence. Leaders sensing troubles in their office, factory, or distribution center too often choose to ignore the issues behind the pain. Like me, they try to work through the discomfort knowing that at some point there will be a reprieve. While this strategy may prove successful in the short-term it does nothing to protect the leader from a repeat of the same scenario at some future date.

When one muscle in my back is strained or injured the other muscles and tissues react to compensate for the weaker area. In effect, they work harder to keep my body in alignment and able to function. While this seems like a helpful strategy it may actually prolong the recovery period by stressing these muscles as well. In workplace stress the person causing the pain isn’t just hurting their productivity but is likely affecting the job satisfaction and productivity of their co-workers. Because they are forced to compensate for the problem employee’s behavior their stress is increased and the impact spreads deeper and further than may be necessary.

Leaders would do well to pay attention to small signs of trouble and workplace discomfort. They should take more preventative steps to replace ineffective managers or provide them with training and coaching. Employees should be offered access to Employee Assistance Programs or other safe avenues for them to alleviate the stress they may be feeling due to layoffs, reduced hours, or problems at home.

Back pain, like workplace stress, doesn’t need to become a chronic issue. Just as there are effective treatments like yoga and exercise to build stronger more resilient back muscles, leaders can employ training programs, counseling, and coaching to create healthier teams and workplaces. Being stubborn and working through the pain is also an option. Ask me in about a week how that is working for me.