Leadership and pressure often go hand in hand, as the success or failure of a project or a whole business can rest on your shoulders, but handling pressure well is a skill in and of itself – so how can a good leader absorb the pressure of responsibility and manage to turn it into an asset? We take a look.
Learn to pivot
Managing yourself under pressure is just as important as managing other people in a pressurised situation, so learning to subsume your real feelings for the greater good of the team is vital in making sure you put on your best front. While these thoughts might not come naturally to your personality type, it’s important to train yourself to turn negative thoughts on people and situations into positive ones. This can transform panic into assurance, and help project that feeling onto those around you.
Embrace simplicity
This might seem like a naive point to make, as any business situation is bound to be complicated, but your response doesn’t have to be. The more effort you’re investing in complexity, the less energy you have to actually address the issue, which in turn creates more pressure. Conversely, simplicity doesn’t mean a lack of utility, it can also mean a sort of elegance that inspires confidence in your team and makes them more likely to understand and engage with your plan.
Keep checking in
It can be tempting while under pressure to hunker down and avoid questioning the plan or slowing down, in the fear that doing so will cause your team to lose faith or lose their way. In fact, checking in frequently with progress and leaving space for questioning the way you’re going can help avoid rash decisions or mistakes, and can help foster a sense of team spirit that communicates to your team that you trust them.
Pick your battles
One of the primary causes of stress at work is the feeling of being overwhelmed by too many tasks that you can’t complete. One way of successfully mitigating this is to break down larger tasks into one or two smaller goals which will contribute to the success of the larger goal. While it might not get you all the way immediately, it will give your organisation a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of direction that will help them on the way to achieving what you need from them.