Forget dreaming of a time when your job didn't have any pressure. In good times or bad, successful leadership and high stress are inseparable, so you should think of pressure as your ally, rather than a force that can crush you, advises psychologist and leadership consultant Graham Jones, in his new book Thrive On Pressure: Lead and Succeed When Times Get Tough.
In an interview with The Globe and Mail, he urges leaders, and those they lead, to get mentally tough and stay resilient:
Why is pressure so dangerous now?
It's the two-year mark in the economic downturn, and we still don't know for sure whether things are getting better or whether things may get worse. We know that recessions are cyclical, but this one is so hard to predict that even senior leaders tell me behind closed doors that they are being overwhelmed with the pressure and are trying to inspire people when they are not very inspired themselves. Developing a mindset that pressure is not something to be avoided, and coming up with ways to operate under pressure, will not only help you stay resilient, but keep your people more resilient as well.
Why do you say "real" leaders can't play it safe?
Particularly in tough times, there is a temptation to become risk-averse and play it safe. But when leaders do that, their focus becomes covering their behinds. They avoid conflict and become afraid to question managements' views and demands. The result is they spend less time coaching their people and more time telling their subordinates what to do and how to do it. That feeds on itself and you develop a culture in which employees play it safe as well. There is lots of second guessing and blame while people keep themselves out of the firing line and less gets accomplished.
By contrast, a real leader is constantly trying to find new ways of doing things and keeping others motivated to do them, which you must do if you want to move an organization successfully into the new economic world. The foundations of being a real leader are mental toughness, self-belief, self-control and keeping focused on what matters. The advantage to being a real leader in a situation like this is that you are looking at the long term when everyone is looking at the short term.
How do you become real?
Real leaders make decisions and stand by them and "tell it how it is." But you can't do that unless you believe in yourself and that what you are doing is right thing. So you need to start by telling yourself: "This is going to work for me."
Daily goals and deadlines are important because they give you something to aim at. The best way to grow and feel more confident under pressure is to continually challenge yourself to keep achieving. Setting challenging personal goals may seem like a way to put yourself under more pressure but, in reality, it keeps you focused. I advise leaders to write down lists of goals on a daily basis. Check them off as you achieve them. Include things that you don't necessarily want to do, like having a difficult conversation with boss or a report, but having achieved them rather than avoiding them will help reduce the pressure you feel.
What's "stinking thinking" and how do you avoid it?
When you're on the front lines, everyone can seem to be aiming their worst fears and problems at you. That can easily create a downward spiral of negativity that I call "stinking thinking." You have to keep consciously reminding yourself that you have a choice about the way you think about challenges and self doubts. When I counsel leaders, I talk about how we automatically create negative thoughts that can stop us from thinking of anything but the problem at hand. You have to reframe this stinking thinking, and the easiest way is to ask yourself questions such as: "Is there another way to view this situation?" and "What positive thing I can take from this situation?"
Another handy way to reframe your thinking is to restate your inner doubts. Rather than saying "I have to" or "I can't," tell yourself "I choose to take this on." This will help you come up with choices you have not considered in the panic of the moment. Your focus should always be on the positive and invalidating your negative self talk.
How does this help you motivate others?
Now, more than ever, people need to hear stories about a positive future. Most organizations are so focused on what's going wrong and fixing things that seem to be broken that they miss the fact that there are successes and things going right. As a leader, you should be pointing out the positive regularly.
Leaders need to tell and regularly repeat stories of their vision of a brighter future. It's important to keep talking about a light at the end of the tunnel, not just five years ahead but in three and six months. It's not just brashly stating "We're going to conquer the world," but telling simple stories in a town hall and informal water-cooler discussions day to day about competitive advantages. For instance, if competitors are going under or you've had a downsizing, talk about resilience: "We have lost a few jobs but most of you are still in your jobs and we will find it a different place to work, but because of the changes and stripping away the baggage, we will be a stronger place to work."
The stories you want to tell don't have to include specifics of how you're going to get there. You may not have all the answers, but the main message should be: We are all going to come out of this stronger than before. That will raise their belief in the organization and their trust in the leadership.
Is there a safety valve many forget?
Just as important as switching on real leadership focus under pressure is being able to switch it off. This could be at the end of the day or in the form of taking regular vacations where the BlackBerry is left at home. This reduces the risk of burnout. When you are under pressure for a long time, it is easy to forget about your need for time-outs. During this pressure-filled economic recovery is when you most need opportunities to reflect and recharge, so plan them in your calendar.
Staying in focus
Real leaders identify what matters and keep those things in focus, leadership consultant Graham Jones says. Here are some areas to concentrate on:
Things you can control
Use your influence in areas you can change, because it's a waste of time to try to change things beyond your influence.
The positive
Avoid being swayed by the skeptics and what seems to be going wrong around you and look for what is going right.
The present
The past is history and accepting mistakes saves a lot of effort and bad feeling. Learn the lesson and move on.
Your strengths
Recognizing what you do well without second-guessing yourself will keep you confident in tackling even the toughest challenge.
Repeatable processes
Lay down good models of the way things get done in the organization and set an example by following them.
Staying calm
Having a mantra and taking a deep breath can be effective in helping you keep cool when the pressures are mounting and enable you to see solutions when others are focused on fears.
Wallace Immen