Let’s talk about anxiety. As an IT leader, you’ve likely seen it: the developer who works late every night, endlessly polishing code that’s already shipped. Perhaps you’ve noted the project manager whose constant worrying derails every meeting.
How about the site reliability engineer (SRE) who deflects praise and defers opportunities, convinced they’re not qualified? Lastly, consider the IT service desk analyst who communicates abruptly with customers or internal end-users. These are the faces of anxiety in IT.
Anxiety in IT
A recent study found that over half of IT professionals experience anxiety disorders, compared to just 7% of the general population. Unfortunately, anxiety won’t appear in your monthly IT performance report.
As a leader, you must introduce a visual cue or learn how to listen to your staff as you walk around their work areas to highlight the existence of anxiety. This could be a red dot on a Kanban Board or an artificial intelligence (AI) signal that alerts performance has changed, with both acting as calls for help to team members and leaders.
Anxiety remains a taboo topic in the IT industry, as the competitive, fast-paced culture of IT often equates mental health struggles with weakness. Admitting to anxiety can feel like a career-limiting move – especially for those in leadership roles. Stigma is the leader of the “Big 4” gang, of which anxiety is a member (the others are stress, depression, and burnout).
Stigma
Stigma, like hackers, elicits a steep cost to go away. Untreated anxiety doesn’t just hurt individuals – it hampers team productivity, hinders innovation, and drives costly turnover. One report estimates that anxiety disorders cost the global economy $1 trillion each year in lost productivity.
As IT leaders, we have both an opportunity and a responsibility to break this code of silence by taking advantage of a powerful new ally: AI.
Who is “anxiety”?
Anxiety affects me as a person, and I think considering anxiety as a person helps address its impact. Anxiety makes me feel unsure about life or work. Anxiety ramps up worrying about missing a deadline or not having the needed skills.
Anxiety rebukes me for not achieving perfection, labeling me an imposter, and denying my need for assistance. Anxiety encourages me to keep testing as the results could be better, but then tells me it’s okay to procrastinate as I need a break.
Dealing with anxiety
Anxiety attempts to overpower me, but as “BatDan,” I have the strength to defeat anxiety via these techniques:
- I admit I need to learn a new skill. While I am initially anxious when taking the course, each lesson empowers me. Thus dissipating my anxiety.
- I usually make big plans, but creating smaller chunks (of plans) allows me to achieve faster, repetitive success. Again, foiling anxiety.
- I quickly forget my fundamental values and goals, especially when anxiety steers me off course. If I pause and return to the basics, I can realign my efforts toward my goal. An example is how I redefined retirement to be how I wanted to work and not to retire the way others wanted me to, which was to stop completely.
- I ask for help or what others think, thereby obtaining valuable feedback on how to limit my anxiety by adjusting my goal or behavior.
Personal strategies and discussing my anxiety with others are helpful. Still, I need an ally in my war against stigma and anxiety.
The AI-assisted future of mental health
From chatbots that provide on-demand cognitive behavioral therapy to machine learning models that predict burnout risk, AI is rapidly transforming how we understand and treat mental health issues like anxiety.
As an IT Ops-IT service management (ITSM) veteran, I love the next shiny thing. 2024 is the year of AI, presenting a compelling opportunity to partner with technology to defeat stigma and the Big 4. AI can alert leaders to potential issues or create a private, safe space for individuals to seek support.
Some promising applications of AI for anxiety in IT include:
- Mood-tracking apps that use machine vision and voice analysis to detect signs of rising anxiety and prompt early interventions.
- Natural language processing (NLP)-powered coaching tools that provide real-time feedback on communication patterns and suggest anxiety-reducing rephrasing.
- Predictive algorithms that identify team members at high risk of anxiety based on workload, sentiment analysis, and biometric data.
- Virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy programs that allow IT pros to practice anxiety-provoking situations (like presenting to the board) in a safe, controlled environment.
- Gamification which has been instrumental in DevOps and ITSM for comparing current versus best practices. Similarly, you can use gamification to create a safe environment and path from your current struggles to improved well-being and work habits.
By integrating these tools into our teams and leadership practices, AI can help create cultures where anxiety is addressed, not hidden. AI is not a cure or a panacea. AI must be used under strict risk and best practices for managing personal data. Introduced wisely, AI assists leaders in creating an environment where anxiety is no longer threatening or debilitating.
8 principles for addressing anxiety
We must embed new principles and practices into our work fabric to shift the culture around anxiety in IT. Here are eight principles to follow to start the process of overcoming stigma and the Big 4, beginning with anxiety:
- Respect. Create an environment where everyone’s voice is valued and people feel psychologically safe to speak up. As a CIO, I admitted that I had created a culture of Big 4 where my teams suffered from admitting they required assistance.
My teams thanked me, but then I added that this culture came from my fears as my peers, managers, or board drove me to the Big 4 and removed my ability to articulate my feelings. We then worked together to define and create respect and trust. - Representation and inclusion. Stigma pressures you to stay silent and push forward. It leaves no room for doubts or disagreements, insisting that you either follow the plan or leave. Anxiety and stigma diminish when decision-making processes include diverse perspectives.
Some teams use NLP tools to analyze meeting transcripts and pinpoint unaddressed ideas. AI then automatically adds these ideas to the Kanban Board. Seeing your thoughts being heard makes you feel better – goodbye, stigma! - Continuous learning. Regularly share anxiety-related information and resources, including AI-powered self-care strategies and workplace accommodations. Offer AI-driven training for managers on supporting team members with anxiety.
Provide subscriptions to AI mental health apps and encourage their use. Allow people access to gamification apps or anonymous safe zones. - Barrier Removal. As a leader, it’s crucial to proactively identify and address elements of the work environment that contribute to anxiety. Your teams, no matter how empowered you make them, can only do this with your concerted assistance. Use AI to pinpoint pain points and simulate solutions, but make sure each decision is discussed and agreed upon with the teams or individuals involved.
- Clarity of purpose. DevOps, ITSM, and Lean all want value for their customer and staff. Leaders must create a culture of understanding such that when an employee performs a task, they can reflect upon whether this is solving an issue or meeting a desired opportunity.
Implement an AI-powered system of cascading objectives and key results (OKRs) or key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with team functions. The cascade can be represented as a tree the team can prune as needed. AI visual tools facilitate Big 4 management because people can see how their actions matter daily. - Thoughtful communication. In Language is Leadership, L. David Marquet explains how words can compromise a leader’s intent. Using non-alarmist, explicit expressions to convey a message is insufficient.
To combat anxiety effectively, ensure your team understands and agrees with your message. By communicating thoughtfully, staff can map words to actions, even when they may not fully agree with the intended goal. - Proactive support. Norwich Football Club created an award-winning 2-minute video carrying the message to check on people to see if they need support. Please share this video after watching it. Don’t wait for people to ask for help.
Use predictive AI to identify and reach out to team members showing signs of anxiety. When you ask, “How are you?” most people say, “Okay.” Ask it again, slowly, and with eyes and ears open to make it apparent that you are there to listen if they want to chat. - Modeling healthy behaviors. To begin defeating stigma and the Big 4, first examine and change your behavior.
Do you need help or guidance? Do you try to keep it all inside? Are you dismissive of those who claim to be anxious or stressed?
As a leader, your behavior must model the way people should react. Begin by praising individuals who use AI-supplied tools to help themselves or develop ideas that benefit others. Above all, celebrate the success of the defeat of stigma and the Big 4.
The anxiety-free future of IT
Imagine an IT landscape where anxiety is no longer a silent struggle but an openly acknowledged and actively addressed challenge. By harnessing the power of AI, we can create a future where stigma holds no sway and individuals feel empowered to seek support without fear of judgment or reprisal.
As IT leaders, we have the unique opportunity to reshape our industry’s culture from the ground up. By integrating AI-powered tools into our teams and modeling healthy behaviors, we can foster environments of psychological safety, inclusivity, and continuous growth. We can build organizations where every voice is valued, every challenge is met with compassion, and every success is celebrated as a shared victory.
But this transformation starts with each one of us. It begins with the courage to confront our biases, to vulnerably share our experiences, and to champion change in the face of resistance. It starts with the willingness to invest in our people, to prioritize their well-being above all else, and to trust in the resilience of the human spirit.
AI is a tool that can help, but the defeat of stigma and the Big 4 is people-based. Let’s create an IT industry where anxiety is not a barrier but a catalyst for growth, and stigma is not a weapon but a relic of the past.