Post tagged in "leading under pressure"

As if being busy isn’t enough, we are now crazy busy. Which I get, and I know the world is crazy busy. Most of our clients are leading under pressure. Whether it is the pressure of putting people over productivity or the pressure of pushing performance, leaders are struggling to cope.  And their teams are suffering. If the leader is crazy busy, the team members feel that. They will sense the urgency, and the impact of the pressure on the leader. And more importantly, it is seriously had to lead, and to create conscious control, if you are crazy busy. ... read more

You learn something new every day, right. Of course you do … you wake up and learn what the weather is doing. You learn what is happening in the news, if you watch the tele. And at work, you learn about what your team is struggling with, or what their goals are for the day. But is that really learning? Or is it just living, and passively looking and listening to new information. Every day is a school day; Only if you are active with your learning strategy. And yes, learning is a strategy, and it is the number one... read more

Most people struggle to think on their feet. Especially leaders. More especially leaders under pressure. And that is the most important time to be able to practice the fine art of thinking fast and talking slow.   But what does that really mean?  Well, it means multitasking your emotionality and your languaging. And this is the only thing on planet earth that can effectively be classed as multi-tasking (according to Anton Guinea, of The Guinea Group ?). Most psychology texts will tell you that multi-tasking is not a thing, it is called task switching. I am here to tell you that... read more

The quandary for high performing teams is ‘how do they get even more high performing’? When your team is at the top of its game, how can you elevate it even further? Yes, it is a good quandary to have, but what is the solution? Glad you asked ?  Luckily for our business, we have become somewhat of the experts in this area, because most of our work is with high performing teams. ??? I know right… for every call we get from a team in turmoil (or a leader in turmoil) we get three calls from a high performing team,... read more

Learning how to do something hard is worth the effort. Like a triathlon, and more specifically an endurance triathlon. A sporting event that takes between five and seventeen hours to complete, depending on how much training you have done. But even the short triathlons will be tough, especially when you are first starting out. A little bit like leadership. And for anyone that doesn’t know, a triathlon is a swim, ride, run event, where the bike leg is generally the longest leg of the event, compared to the swim and run. I have been doing triathlons since 2008, and have... read more

Most people struggle to think on their feet. Especially leaders. More especially leaders under pressure. And that is the most important time to be able to practice the fine art of thinking fast and talking slow.   But what does that really mean?  Well, it means multitasking your emotionality and your languaging. And this is the only thing on planet earth that can effectively be classed as multi-tasking (according to Anton Guinea, of The Guinea Group ?). Most psychology texts will tell you that multi-tasking is not a thing, it is called task switching. I am here to tell you that... read more

Maybe there are times when all you can think about is the things you don’t have. The deficits. Just ask Aussies about their life and they are not bad or not great. They have no time, or not enough minutes. They are doing not much or not a lot. Which is not great as a conversation starter, it is even worse as a leader, when we have got no wins, no runs on the board, no clients, or no success to celebrate.  And yes, there are leaders who are in deficit mode. Deficit dialogue is a thing. Now that you know about... read more

If you sometimes feel like you appear to be less professional than you could or should… this post is for you. But what does it mean to look more professional, how do you do that, and why is it important? Note that this content is from another great conversation in another great leadership coaching session.  What does it mean to look professional?  This is an easy one. Looking professional means looking like you are in control (oops, did I say that – yes, being professional is another word for appearing to ‘have it together’, and to be leading on purpose).  ... read more

Some leaders really struggle when they are challenged by their team members. Even if the challenge is just an idea or an opinion, and one that shouldn’t warrant an emotional reaction.   It’s difficult, especially for leaders under pressure, to keep it together, when everyone has got an idea on what could be improved. Or on how the team should be run…  It is ok for your team to offer suggestions.   It is probably better than ok; it’s a great thing that team members want to offer suggestions and have input into the team’s functioning. That needs to be tempered of course,... read more

What a great question. And one that I ask my leadership coaching clients all the time. To work out what they are doing that is not serving them. And to work out why they persist with whatever it is that is not working. Especially if the leader is not getting the results that they want…   And don’t worry, I have to ask myself the same question sometimes. I usually don’t like the answer. Because although doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, the human species is persistent. We don’t give up easily, even... read more