Leaders are more stressed-out than ever, according to one metric. Surprise!

According to the Center for Stress Intelligence (CSI), a project of the Brunswick Group, “stress levels are even higher now than they were at the peak of the pandemic,” write two CSI founders at the Harvard Business Review. The reasons for that are well-known and multi-layered; a little while back I wrote about the importance of self-care under pressure. But CSI focuses on self-awareness, which can be just as important.

An assessment developed by CSI helps leaders determine how they tend to react when presented with a crisis situation. They’ve identified six distinct personalities. If you leap right into fixing things, you’re a “firefighter.” If you focus on optimism and supporting your team, you’re a “lighthouse.” Emphasize logic and discipline, and you’re a “stoic.” (You can take the test yourself; I’m a stoic.)

The authors stress that none of these patterns are “right” or “wrong.” Each has their upsides and downsides—stoics are cool in a crisis, but may neglect others’ emotional needs in the midst of it. Nor is one pattern destiny—indeed, one valuable element of good leadership, the authors say, is possessing the awareness and fluidity to shift patterns as necessary. As they write: “Preparing for high-stakes decisions therefore requires a good process, including an understanding of how you’re likely to react when pressure peaks, based on your default response type.”

And though the patterns of responses might differ, there are some approaches that are common to each one. They recommend expanding one’s toolkit of responses, particularly in lower-stakes situations, to determine comfort level and fit. And in the moment, they can, well, stress-test their actions and the responses, to determine which ones are working best. “Asking simple questions will help,” they write. “Is this response reducing or amplifying confusion? Is it moving us closer to our objectives or just making us feel busy?”

Regardless of which pattern a leader employs, and how comfortable they feel about adjusting it, one action is paramount: Not going it alone. “Some of [leaders’] cognitive load can be borne by systems and by their colleagues,” they write. “It means consciously designing leadership teams with a balance of response types…and normalizing the open discussion of stress in executive forums.”

By the way, that’s not just important in terms of staff—it can help to have your board develop their own self-awareness to manage in a crisis. 

Earlier this month, consultant Alison Teitelbaum, MS, MPH, CAE, wrote about how governance under stressful situations—such as leadership transitions—can exacerbate burnout and poor decision-making. It may be that leaders aren’t as equipped for challenges as perhaps you thought. “They discover they have only a few people who are adequately prepared to share the responsibility of ensuring continuity,” she writes. “When that responsibility is not shared, burnout becomes a very real risk and the organization’s long-term leadership bench becomes even more limited.”

There’s no way to be prepared for every crisis. But a little self-awareness can go a long way toward easing the pressure.