Under Pressure

A few years ago…I was obsessed with winning the corporate fantasy football league. At that time I just kept thinking I was watching a lot more football because I enjoyed it…but it was mostly about my need to win*. As you can imagine I spent a lot of time watching and keeping up with what was happening in the NFL so….I caught a couple of interviews with Aaron Rogers at that time and the press has been tough on him and asking “What is happening this year that the team is not performing?" Before the game that week he got pretty heated with the press saying there was nothing wrong with him or the team. Repeating the performance from last year was not an easy thing to do. They were the same team and they were doing fine. He basically told them to back off and just let them do what they needed to do – stop making a big deal out of it. Fast forward to after that game – Rogers had thrown for 6 touchdown passes and had an amazing game. When he did the post-game interview the reporter said – I guess you showed them all – what do you want to say to your critics and he said “Shhhhhhhh”.

I bring up Aaron Rogers because I feel it is a lot of what is happening to us all right now. Repeating and building on past performance is not as easy to do as a lot of people think. It also takes a leader who can handle the pressure, lead their team in times when the chips are down and execute to the game plan. It’s easy to be good when things are going your way – it is how you perform when things are not going well that is the true test of a leader.

How does this all into our leadership journey? About ten years ago I did my first personality profiling exercise as part of an executive coaching program. The instrument my executive coach used was called LSI and it described who you were under normal circumstances and who you were under pressure. No surprise, what my profile revealed was that under normal circumstances I am an “Influencer”. I like to collaborate, listen and try to influence others and build relationships. Under pressure I am “Dominant” and I tend to take control, be very directive and spend very little time listening to others. I move into “get er done” mode.

This personality profiling also came with a 360 feedback. At the time, Keane was under a tremendous amount of pressure to grow in the market place as well as cut costs. No surprise, my 360 came back with some pretty direct, honest feedback from my peers that I was controlling, directive and wasn’t listening very well. All traits that I exhibit when I feel that we are “under attack and things need to get done”. It was tough feedback for me to get because it contradicts my need to be a pleaser and to be liked. The challenge for me always is...how can I take people with me and continue to be liked even though I am taking charge and attempting to take responsibility and lead in times when it is fight or flight?

What I have been working on throughout the years is acknowledge that is who I am in times of great pressure and work to communicate better not only how I am feeling and the approach I am taking but to set up check points so I can bring people with me. I have found that if I inspect what I expect I can create an environment where others can voice their concerns or ideas so that we can navigate through the tough times more successfully. Part of being able to implement this process is that I tend to treat every task as a project so I build a mental timeline and task plan which includes meetings , checkpoints and communications so that how I am navigating not only my team but trying to help the broader team be successful.

 I can honestly admit that I am not cured and that I am far from perfect at this process but I am a lot better than I have ever been.

I saw an article a while ago that describes some of what I am talking about it was entitled “10 Things Winners do differently”. It starts out saying…“Anyone can give up, and lots of people do, because it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. But to keep going when everyone would understand if you stopped, that’s what winners do differently. In fact, this is the most significant principle of winning.”

Truer words have never been spoken, and for me is the essence of what we need to do as leaders when we are under pressure. Especially when we are persistent...resilient and ready to WIN!

Leadership questions of the week for YOU:

• What are the one or two things you know about yourself when you are under pressure?

• What have you incorporated into your leadership journey to include or bring others along with you when you are under pressure?

• What are your favorite 1-2 items from the “10 Things” list?

• How can we coach our leaders through these tough pressure filled times to bolster them and make them stronger even when they may feel like giving up? 

 I am working through the pressure of the current environment and I am feeling and putting the right cadence and structure in place to ensure we are executing to the most important things that will move our business forward. I am also focusing on the concept of “people will not remember what you said, or what you did but they will remember how you made them feel”.

How about YOU?

Thanks for reading….and remember…YOU make a difference!

Please continue the conversation by liking…commenting or sharing this article. You can also follow me on twitter @marciedwhite

*In case you are interested...I did in fact win the fantasy football league that season. First female inducted into the league and first female to win.